Sweetening up slots with Play’n GO’s Sweet Alchemy 2
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According to H2 Gambling Capital, last year, online gambling revenue increased by 8% to €38,2bn gross gaming revenue – adding up to 35% of Europe’s total gambling revenue that year. The same year, slots made up a staggeringly high 87.5% of all game content on operators pages.
With this number only set to increase, the creation of innovation and excitement around slots has to keep up with player demand. Play’n GO has the edge when it comes to innovation, continuing to find ways to bring its audience exciting, engaging, and in this case, almost edible slot games. Candy the Witch from Sweet Alchemy 2018 is back for a second helping in this all-new grid format.
“The success of the original Sweet Alchemy was a great impetus for us to expand on the series, as we knew players were eager for more from the Sweet Alchemy universe. We’re really excited about this addition”, Olekszy explains.
Sweet Alchemy 2: Graphics sweeter than ever before
Sweet Alchemy 2 is not just a slot game, but a visual pick n’ mix that aims to captivate its players from the start. The creative team have done what they do best, providing a multi-sensory experience that engages players not only through the slot’s compelling gameplay but also through its rich auditory and visual elements.
Olekszy says that this theme was a no-brainer for the creative team at Play’n GO. “Who doesn’t love candy? Old school candy brings a sense of nostalgia to everyone.” Players have an inherent pull towards the bright, playful world of all things sweet and this pull transfers across to entertainment too.
“When you look outside of the industry, there’s plenty of popular mobile games with candy themes, as well as films and TV shows that use this theme with huge success. For us, it seemed like an easy win to pair up one of our games with such a well-established theme.”
Hitting the sugar rush: How to play
In the original edition of Sweet Alchemy, the game operated on a 5×5 grid where clusters of sweet-themed symbols replace traditional pay lines. The objective of the game was to create winning clusters from the available candy-themed symbols.
Sweet Alchemy 2 diverts from the first game in a number of ways, offering a different challenge for players to tackle to win. Previously, players had to collect winning symbols to trigger free spins, but in the sequel the objective is to destroy the chocolate blocks to win big.
As part of this, Play’n GO has added an all new grid expansion feature, where players are tasked with clearing the grid of chocolate blocker symbols. Clearing all the chocolate blockers unlocks four free spins, where players then have a chance of playing the bonus game, where they can multiply their win by up to 25x. Like the other games in the series, players must generate winning clusters for accumulative wins. With each level conquered, the chocolate blocker symbols will be eliminated during cascades, making space for fresh symbols and increased potential.
Sweet Alchemy 2 takes it one step further with the in-game gobstopper symbol which acts as a permanent wild, leveraging all those additional big wins. Along with this, the creators decided one wild simply wasn’t enough, adding in the new striped treat symbol as the grid’s other wild feature. When wins are reached a burst of flavour explodes – horizontally or vertically – making for an exciting new dimension for players.
Sitting alongside this, the free spins feature can be triggered when all chocolate blocker symbols have been removed in the game. This can award the player four additional spins and unlock larger mega symbols on the reels – the winning potential on this game is sweeter than ever before.
Sweet Alchemy 2: An Assortment of new features
Olekszy explains how the bonus game is an aspect which has drawn in players and increased that all important return-to-player (RTP) rate. “The bonus game can be triggered by collecting random high and low-paying symbols during the free spins. The bonus round features three levels, fusing dynamic layers to the already-immersive grid mechanics. It tasks players with making a path to the centre. Landing on multiplier segments of the grid will increase the overall multiplier.
“The total win multiplier is awarded depending on the player’s progress throughout. It’s not a small portion either, the win multiplier is x25 a player’s existing bet”
The new gameplay offers far more than previous titles – and the individual features only serve to add to this offering. Unlike the prequel which offers 3000x in max win, with Sweet Alchemy 2 players can win up to 10,000x of their bet, giving a better chance of earning fortune-changing wins with a max bet of 100.
However, speaking to Olekszy, it was clear that the big game changer in this slot game is the new grid expansion, which if you wield, players can experience a thrilling sugar rush and potentially win big.
“The difference with Sweet Alchemy 2 is the grid layout; it starts as a 5×5 grid and goes all the way up to 9×9 grid which triggers the bonus.”
“We think that the grid expansion feature is something many players won’t have seen before, especially in the style of Sweet Alchemy 2” says Olekszy. “The chance to win up to 25x on our bonus game is something that is very appealing to players in the new version of the slot. We know this will appeal to fans of the original series, while also attracting new fans.”
Giving the slots market what it wants: Launching Sweet Alchemy 2
Play’n Go launched Sweet Alchemy 2 last month, and the response is already hitting a sugar-high with fans.
Reviews of this new edition have been positive, especially since it appeals to the both the original fans of the Sweet Alchemy original as well as new audiences. One review on Big Win board suggests that the game’s initial success has already positioned it on the frontline of 2023 slot releases. “It’s both similar and different enough to whet the appetites of fans of the original looking for a new yet familiar experience.”
According to Olekszy, this was the intention. “We tried to keep a lot of the elements in this game that made the original Sweet Alchemy so popular, adding some new features and twists to provide our players with high entertainment value.”
Other reviews have hailed the same excitement, with a review on Demo Slots describing it as a “world of sugary goodness. It gives players of the original Sweet Alchemy game and new players to the candy universe a larger maximum win, and a bigger playing grid, it’s a win-win.”
What’s next in (the candy) store?
With Play’n GO already having announced its expansion of more slot games earlier this year, Olekszy says the team are poised and ready to push other titles to the same level of success. “We’re really excited for what’s to come this year. We have another addition to the Sweet Alchemy series coming very soon which we’ve titled Sweet Alchemy 100, which we think players will really fall in love with.”
And it’s clear the team isn’t showing any signs of slowing down with other themes in Play’n GO’s portfolio lining up to win gold. “We’re also bringing out the latest addition to the Dead series, carrying on from Gerard’s Gambit earlier this year, called Scales of Dead. We’re extremely excited to share more about this game in the coming weeks.”
With lots for players to get their teeth into, and more in the works, it’s clear that innovation around online slots has no inclination of slowing down any time soon for the team at Play’n GO. Until then, players can take a dive into the all new sugary sorcery of Sweet Alchemy 2.
