Remember Gulag: Slot Overview
Hey players, you know how people have mental filters that
govern thoughts from forming into words, depending 0️⃣ on their internal guidance system?
These filters appear in other walks of life, too, one being online slots, where not
0️⃣ every cockamamie idea makes it from the whiteboard to casino lobbies. Like people,
software providers have varying degrees of filtration, 0️⃣ and one studio's filter, which
is arguably less vigorous than most, is none other than Nolimit City. This is a 0️⃣ team
that isn't afraid to power walk through territory most others are afraid to tread. If
you're after a prime 0️⃣ example, look no further than the Soviet era-inspired online slot,
Remember Gulag.
Yes, the Gulag, the system of labour camps that 0️⃣ existed in the Soviet
Union in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, which for many were a one-way ticket. This is 0️⃣ deep and
heavy stuff from a studio famous for making deep and heavy slots. Yet, a deeper point
is being 0️⃣ made here, too. As the home screen says: 'Those that fail to learn from
history are doomed to repeat it', 0️⃣ a quote paraphrased from philosopher George
Santayana. Interestingly, Karl Marx also famously said, 'History repeats itself, first
as tragedy, second 0️⃣ as farce.' Is an online slot going to stop tragedy or farce? We'll
let pundits argue that one out. On 0️⃣ a tangible level, Nolimit City has chosen to use
Remember Gulag as a historical reminder and plans to donate a 0️⃣ portion of the game's
profits to Humanitarian Assistance. So, while Nolimit is no stranger to doom-laden
slots, this is one 0️⃣ with a potential silver lining.
Visually, Remember Gulag certainly
looks pretty doom-laden. It's presented as an old black and white show, 0️⃣ the screen
largely monochrome aside from some muted colour on its symbols. Barbed wire surrounds
the 6-reel game grid, laid 0️⃣ out in a 3-3-4-4-5-5 formation, while the national anthem
blasts across the airwaves. The more you think about the theme, 0️⃣ the more mind-blowing
it becomes, a puzzle with countless how's and whys that are tough, if not impossible,
to be 0️⃣ fully grasped by the mind.
Plodding thoughtfully on, we come to the game's inner
workings. Here we find comfort in the 0️⃣ emotionlessness of numbers, such as RTP, which is
either 96.08% or 94.37% when playing naturally. Winning ways consist of at 0️⃣ least 3
matching symbols and have a hit rate of 22.56%, whereas the bonus game hit rate is 1 in
0️⃣ 211 spins. As expected, the volatility is cranked to high, whilst allowing players to
place regular bets of 20 p/c 0️⃣ toR$/€100 or engage the Propaganda Bet, which increases
the cost by 20%. In return, it guarantees a scatter on reel 0️⃣ 2, thereby unlocking reel
5. Or, as Nolimit City puts it, you get a 'more brutal, but less awarding base 0️⃣ game and
increase the probability of triggering Gulag Spins.' In any other arena, Nolimit City
might be accused of being 0️⃣ bad salespeople, yet this is sure to be music to their ears
for certain hardcore gamblers.
Popping over to the paytable, 0️⃣ we find Cyrillic style
10-A royals as the lower value symbols, worth 2 to 3 times the stake for a 0️⃣ six of a
kind win. Moving on up to the highs are five-character symbols, including a saluting
beer, Joseph Stalin, 0️⃣ and someone who looks like Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Landing a winning way of premiums gets you 0️⃣ a payout of 4 to 6 times the stake.
Remember
Gulag: Slot Features
Remember Gulag serves a banquet of features, including xWays,
0️⃣ xNudge Wilds, xSplit Wilds, three types of Gulag Spins, and the Nolimit City bonus
menu. The first thing to know 0️⃣ is at the start of each base game spin, reels 5 and 6 are
locked. Landing 1 scatter unlocks reel 0️⃣ 5, while an additional scatter unlocks reel 6.
When all reels are opened, it is possible to have up to 0️⃣ 614,656 ways to win in
play.
xWays
These land on reels 1-2 in the main game and reels 5-6 in free spins. 0️⃣ When
xWays hit, they reveal 2-3 instances of a random pay symbol – if more than one xWays
hit, they 0️⃣ all show the same symbol. If xWays are split by an xSplit Wild, the xWays
multiplier is doubled.
xNudge Wild
These symbols 0️⃣ land on reels 3-4 in the base or bonus
game. They create a stacked wild symbol that is always nudged 0️⃣ to cover the full reel.
Each nudge increases the wild multiplier by +1. When more than one xNudge Wild
multiplier 0️⃣ is in view, their values are added together, and if split by an xSplit, one
more wild is added to 0️⃣ the reel.
xSplit Wilds
Normal wilds can land on all reels, but
xSplit Wilds appear on reels 5-6 in the base game, 0️⃣ reels 1-2 in the bonus. When xSplits
land, they split all symbols to the left or right, doubling them. If 0️⃣ the split happens
more than once, the symbol shows a multiplier. Also, if scatters do not trigger free
spins and 0️⃣ an xSplit hits them, they are transformed into a full reel of wilds. xSplit
Wilds turn into two wilds after 0️⃣ landing, and they, in turn, can be split by other
xSplit Wilds.
Free Spins
Entering the bonus round occurs when 3, 4 0️⃣ or 5 scatter symbols
land to trigger Gulag Spins, Gulag Spins: All Aboard, or Gulag Spins: Double Vodka,
respectively. In 0️⃣ all cases, the grid is flipped into a 5-5-4-4-3-3 pattern, and all
reels are unlocked for the full duration.
Before the 0️⃣ round begins, a set-up spin takes
place to determine how many spins players are awarded, and what win multiplier the 0️⃣ four
top premium symbols get. In Gulag Spins, only one premium symbol gets a multiplier; in
the other two bonuses, 0️⃣ all symbols get a multiplier. Multipliers are doubled in Gulag
Spins: Double Vodka. During free spins, a reel along the 0️⃣ top of the grid can randomly
increase the active premium symbols' multipliers:
Gulag Spins – randomly increases the
multiplier by +1, 0️⃣ +2, or double the value.
– randomly increases the multiplier by +1,
+2, or double the value. Gulag Spins: Double Vodka 0️⃣ – randomly increases the multiplier
by +2, +4, or double the value.
– randomly increases the multiplier by +2, +4, or
0️⃣ double the value. Players can also collect scatter symbols during the bonus. Each
scatter awards +1 free spin, and every 0️⃣ 3 collected upgrades the bonus round to the next
highest mode.
Nolimit Bonus
If the option is there, players can pick from 0️⃣ four bonus
buys. Gulag Spins cost 78x the bet (RTP 96.56%), Gulag Spins: All Aboard costs 270x the
bet (RTP 0️⃣ 96.82%), Gulag Spins: Double Vodka are 486x the bet (RTP 96.94%), or the
fourth is a lucky dip option costing 0️⃣ 198x the bet where you are given one of the
previous three options (RTP 96.83%).
Remember Gulag: Slot Verdict
Remember Gulag is 0️⃣ a
game that starts heavy and, well, pretty much gets heavier the deeper you go. There is
no denying the 0️⃣ entertainment value to be found from a strictly gaming point of view,
but Nolimit City has done something else too. 0️⃣ Whatever your thoughts on the game are,
and they are bound to be as wide as they are numerous, what's 0️⃣ inescapable is the
maturation of the slot industry, thanks in part to software providers like Nolimit
City. How would one 0️⃣ go about classing Remember Gulag? Historical, political,
philosophical, a signpost reminder of man's inhumanity to man, an act of charity? 0️⃣ You
could say it is all of these things and more, so we wait with bated breath to see how
0️⃣ the enterprise is received by the gambling community at large.
Setting the immense
emotional baggage caused by the theme aside for 0️⃣ a moment, let's look at how Remember
Gulag plays out. The gaming side of things is a lot less controversial 0️⃣ and consists of
many Nolimit City darlings such as xWays, xNudges, and xSplits, which can be shockingly
effective when the 0️⃣ right symbols are split, wayed, or nudged. Factor in a staggering
number of possible ways, and when the full load 0️⃣ is let loose, a single spin can turn a
session on its head. True, you could say that about any 0️⃣ game, but there is something
unique about the way it happens in a Nolimit City slot. Remember Gulag is no
0️⃣ different.
And yet, it is a little different, at least during the bonus round, which
isn't as maniacal as they can 0️⃣ be from Nolimit City. Each reel spins at a fairly relaxed
pace, you can see the symbols land one by 0️⃣ one, and there's time to mentally line
everything up. To use an extreme comparison, Remember Gulag is not like Mental, 0️⃣ where
the bonus round action is so frenzied it's hard to tell what just happened at times. In
Remember Gulag, 0️⃣ you've got time to eyeball symbols as reels stop spinning, weigh up
multipliers, contemplate Marx's words on the power struggle 0️⃣ between the bourgeoisie and
the proletariat, and still have time to work out if you've won something. Sort of.
Anyway, 0️⃣ come out on top, and you're looking at wins of up to 30,000x the bet – or
achieve 'Oligarch Status', 0️⃣ as the game calls it. Seriously, Nolimit certainly live up
to their name.
We've probably said this before, but there are 0️⃣ few, if any, studios that
would have the brass nads to pull off a game like Remember Gulag. Some might 0️⃣ see
Remember Gulag as insensitive, a little too soon, and from a gaming perspective, it's
not quite the red-hot poker 0️⃣ of fiery delights as they can be. However, when viewed in
its totality, Remember Gulag is utterly unique and as 0️⃣ courageous (or foolhardy?) as
anything the studio has done.
