The Vault: A Jewel Thief Fantasy Come To Life
Entertainment, Gambling
Jewel thieves, cat burglars and gentlemen art thieves have always fascinated us. We can probably lay part of the blame on Hollywood films that glamourize and romanticize anti-heroes such as John Robie (Cary Grant) in Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief and Danny Ocean (George Clooney) in Ocean’s 11. If you’ve ever fantasized about being a suave and debonair jewel thief, then you will love The Vault! This stylish 5-reel online casino slot game will take you on a thrilling heist that will leave you gasping for air! So clear your calendar, because The Vault will be released on 28 April 2020.
Theme and Art Concept of The Vault
Imagine that you’re an international jewel thief, aptly named Jewel. You’ve been given the assignment of robbing the Pink Diamond, the largest diamond in the world (which bears a lot of similarity to the Pink Panther diamond from the 1963 eponymously named film). The diamond is located in a vault inside a swanky art gallery in Paris. The vault is heavily protected by an array of measures, including high-tech laser beams. Intimidated yet?
If you think the entire setting sounds familiar, you’re not wrong. The premise of The Vault is actually inspired by action films and video games from similar genres. If fact, your avatar, Jewel, is based on Lisbeth Salander, the heroine in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy.
Indie Swedish developer Snowborn Games, which developed the game in collaboration with online casino giant Microgaming, has crafted a sophisticated, noir atmosphere to create an air of realism for The Vault. Your immersion in the game is further augmented by the use of emeralds, gold bars, pink diamonds and jewels as reel symbols.
Even the background images, which include a vault room and a display gallery, help to accentuate the suspension of disbelief. The use of navigational elements usually seen on console games also make the game appear more familiar to frequent gamers.
But that’s not all. The developers went a step further and incorporated additional visual and audio effects for the Vault Bonus stage. Sounds of alarms, sirens and helicopter blades, as well as the sights of smoke bombs and spotlights, will amplify the urgency of the bonus stage and raise the adrenalin level of players as they close in on the lucrative jackpot prize!
The riveting combination of high-quality 3D rendering, frenetic music and exciting gameplay will deliver a unique playing experience that very few slots could rival. It seems Snowborn Games and Microgaming have hit the ball out of the park with The Vault! Online slots will never be the same again after this.
The Vault: Game Mechanics
The Vault is designed as a conventional 5-reel, 3-row online slot game. But that’s where the similarity ends. The game has a high-risk and high-reward concept, where the number of paylines is limited to just 20. The winning combinations must also be sequential, since there are no Scatter symbols used. The Wild symbols are present though to increase the probability of wins. The game also offers a healthy dose of free spins and ever-increasing multipliers.
The Vault’s default bet is pegged at 10,000, while the maximum bet can go up to 100,000. The default bet per spin is 2.00, while the minimum spin amount is 0.20 and the maximum amount can go up to 20.
This game offers a reasonable RTP (return-to-player) rate of 96%. Nevertheless, true to its high-risk nature, the game is very volatile, and has a rather low total hit frequency of 19.97%.
Winning paylines are always counted sequentially from left to right. Only one payline, the highest, is paid per spin, but coinciding paylines are calculated for winning totals.
The game boasts a dynamic scaling feature, so it will play well on any screen size. It also provides support in 32 languages. Which is logical, since jewel thief licenses do not require a mastery of the English language (that’s a joke, by the way).
Features of The Vault
The Vault boasts many features, but its three strongest ones are:
• Free Spins
Players will receive many opportunities for free spins during their heist. The free spins are triggered whenever two or more Bonus symbols land during a spin. The free spins are cumulative, so you can earn more free spins while playing free spins.
However, to reach the Vault Bonus free spin stage, you will have to land five Bonus symbols. This will grant you 10 free spins, each with a 3X multiplier. You can earn as many additional spins and multiplier increase during the Vault Bonus stage – there is no built-in limit!
• Expanding Wilds
Wilds, as we all know, can replace any symbols on your reels, bar the Bonus symbols. But that’s not all, though. During the thrilling bonus stage, the Wilds will expand across the entire middle reel. You’re basically playing with four reels now, with one freebie reel!
• Multipliers
A high risk, high reward game needs lucrative multipliers, and The Vault doesn’t disappoint in this respect. Multipliers start from 3X, but can go up with every successive 1X symbol – there is no limit to your earning potential.
Conclusion
The Vault offers immersive escapism of the lucrative sort that very few video slot games can match. Coupled with its high-quality art design, music and gameplay, The Vault is a shining light in a sea of run-of-the-mill slots.
