John Hunter And The Aztec Treasure Slot Review

Similar to how creativity fuels innovation in the music or video game industry, slot developers draw inspiration from each other, striving to craft something entirely distinctive. However, as the industry grows increasingly crowded, the boundary between inspiration and imitation seems to blur. Cloning, while not a novel occurrence, has a longstanding history in the iGaming sector, with almost every studio boasting at least one clone or near-clone in their repertoire.

With the meteoric rise of the Megaways engine, it was inevitable that Big Time Gaming would face imitators. Before mid-2019, competing providers seeking to offer players the thrill of Megaways did so by licensing from Big Time Gaming. However, with Play'n GO's release of the Bonanza lookalike Perfect Gems and the ensuing success, they may have inadvertently paved the way for less scrupulous providers to follow suit. The game under review today is a prime example of this trend.

In this offering from Pragmatic Play, the adventurer John Hunter returns in his quest for Aztec treasures. Originally titled "Book of Mystery," the game was later rebranded as John Hunter and the Aztec Treasure for reasons undisclosed. Essentially, it blends the Megaways game engine with elements reminiscent of William Interactive's popular Montezuma slot. Playable on all devices from 20 cents to 100€/$ per spin, each reel can randomly display between 2 and 6 symbols, offering up to 7,776 ways to win when fully expanded. In John Hunter and the Aztec Treasure, the pivotal action unfolds during the free spins round, where a multiplier of up to 10x can amplify your rewards.

Visually, it adheres closely to the familiar tropes of Aztec-themed slots prevalent in the market. Set in the Mesoamerican rainforest, the backdrop features a customary temple flanked by stone torches. While not lacking in design quality, it does suffer from the generic aesthetic typical of many Pragmatic slots. On the reels, standard royal symbols (A, K, Q, J) mingle with thematic icons like torches, hats, bullwhips, toucans, snakes, panthers, and, of course, the protagonist John Hunter himself, who is the highest paying symbol, offering 4 times the stake for five on a full payline. The golden totem mask serves as the wild, appearing stacked on the middle three reels exclusively.