Hellcatraz 2 Dream Drop: Slot Review and Free Play Demo

Hellcatraz 2 Dream Drop Review

We were charmed by the retro 8-bit audiovisuals in the original Hellcatraz, and you get more of the same in Hellcatraz 2 Dream Drop. There is a non-jackpot version of this game as well, just to be clear, and you’re taken back once again to the legendary prison island. Judging from the backdrop the island seems to have moved, as the Golden Gate Bridge is no longer on the right-hand side. It’s further away as well, but these are minor details.

You get to meet 3 new inmates this time, and they will try to escape when the bonus round triggers. The Countdown Mystery Symbols are back with a vengeance, so to speak, as they will expand the grid with up to 5 extra rows when the reveal happens. This happens more frequently in the bonus round, but the main attraction in this version is the Dream Drop pick game. It can land you life-changing jackpots, and the Mega Jackpot can go as high as £10 million (at least eventually).

Hellcatraz 2 Dream Drop Slot - Reels Screen

Hellcatraz 2 Dream Drop Slot Features

The premium character symbols pay between 1 and 2.5 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins, and winning symbols are removed via the Cascading mechanic. This makes room for new and/or existing symbols to drop down to fill the gaps, and the process repeats as long as you keep winning. You can land ‘W’ wild symbols as well, and these step in for pay symbols to help complete wins.

You get at least one Mystery symbol per spin, but these symbols appear on the top row only. They come with numbers of 1 to 5, and the numbers count down per cascading win. You need the number to go to zero to get the mystery reveal feature, and then all instances of the mystery symbol turns into a randomly chosen pay symbol.

The revealed mystery symbols also expand 2 to 5 positions upwards, which expands the grid accordingly. This, of course, increases the number of win ways as well, up to 59,049 at best. The mystery symbols can sometimes reveal instant cash coin symbols instead, and they come with prizes between 1x and 1,000x your stake per coin. The total value of the coins are paid instantly.

You need 3 bonus scatters in view to trigger the Bonus Round, and this gives you 6 free spins. You get +2 additional spins on top of that per additional triggering scatter above the minimum of 3. You get a lower average counter value on the mystery reveal symbols in the bonus round, and you get extra spins per scatter symbol that appears in the feature. The non-Dream Drop version of this game comes with a 70x bonus buy option (not in the UK, of course).

You need 5 Dream Drop symbols on the top row to trigger the Dream Drop Bonus Game. You then get to pick from 15 icons on the screen, and each pick reveals 1 of the 5 progressive jackpots. You win the corresponding prize when you have revealed 3 of the same jackpot, and these are the Rapid, Midi, Maxi, Major, and Mega jackpots. The jackpots seed at £1, £5, £100, £25,000, and £500,000, respectively, and the big one can eventually go as high as £10 million.

The 200 Spins Hellcatraz 2 Dream Drop Slot Experience

You get to see the grid expand via the mystery reveal feature in the base game, before we purchase and trigger the bonus round at 0:55 into the 2:25-minute highlights video. We got the minimum of 6 free spins for starters, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.

Review Summary

We are suckers for everything retro and 8-bit, as many players old enough to remember the original Nintendo video game system probably are. What was leading edge back then is now a cute nostalgia, and you get that in spades in Hellcatraz 2 Dream Drop. The visuals are similar to the original Hellcatraz, but the Golden Gate Bridge has somehow moved far into the backdrop. The top-tier cop symbol looks the same, but the 3 bad guys are brand new for this release.

The Mystery Reveal expanding grid system is also a new innovation, making each reveal more significant. This also means that the reveal doesn’t happen as often, as getting enough consecutive cascades is not always easy. The 10,000x potential is more than 5x lower than in the original game though, but you can still land life-changing payouts as long as you play the Dream Drop version. The drawback is the 93.99 % RTP (of which 12 percentage points goes to feed the jackpots), and we tend to favor the original over this follow-up to be honest.