Outer space-themed slots are a dime a dozen. Hundreds of such slots are released every year, which likely means that the market for it is not slowing down anytime soon. Thunderkick gets into the game with their recent release Cosmic Voyager.
Cosmic Voyager was released in January 2021. One of the ways Thunderkick innovates with this title is by combining the outer space-theme with an Egyptian god theme—this is clearly a reference to the fairly popular fringe theory that many of the man-made wonders of the world could not have been possible without the help of aliens with advanced technologies.
Despite the trippy theme, Cosmic Voyager as a game is about as basic a video slot as can be. Its action is hosted on a standard 5x3 grid, with 10 fixed paylines up for grabs.
The reels contain a lot of the symbols you would expect from an outer space-themed slot, such as planets and stars. There are also Egyptian-inspired reel symbols, such as death masks, pyramids, and cuboid shapes. The background is a swirling pool of cosmic gases, with a spooky golden-masked hooded figure above the reel grid, the titular Cosmic Voyager.
We’ve praised Thunderkick multiple times for their charming, quirky slots, and a lot of what we love about them is present here in Cosmic Voyager. The backgrounds and reel symbols are rendered well, with lots of tiny details to keep players engaged.
Cosmic Voyager looks good, but we feel that the art style here is more conventional, which might turn off dedicated fans of the Thunderkick house style.
The action here is quite simple. Your goal is to hit three or more low-paying symbols in a row, or two or more mid- or high-paying symbols in a row. The low-paying symbols to watch out for here are all the planet symbols. The mid-paying symbols are the shape symbols, and the high-paying symbols are the death masks and stars.
Snag five straight mid-paying symbols to take home 20x to 30x your bet. If you hit five high-paying symbols, the payout is much heftier, around 100x to 250x your initial stake.
When it comes to Thunderkick slots, Cosmic Voyager is at the lower end of the spectrum. The art here retains the expected Thunderkick polish, but the style feels a bit old and traditional, which is not what fans of this vendor generally expect from their games.
The high-volatility action here is decent enough, but it can get old very fast, especially if you enjoy feature-rich slots that reward multiple sessions. We recommend this more for newer players, or those who enjoy the unusual ancient Egypt and outer-space theme of Cosmic Voyager.
If you have played a few Thunderkick slots recently, you will already know what to expect here. The interface of the game is the same as in most of their slots, with a simple layout that should be friendly even to newbies.
The list of bonus features of this game is short and sweet. There are wild and scatter symbols, expanding wins, and a free spin bonus game.
The expanding symbols feature is triggered by hitting a fully stacked regular symbol on the first reel. Any successful hits on the succeeding reels will also expand. The max payout from hitting a full screen of top symbols in this game is 2,500x.
The Cosmic Voyager symbol functions as both the wild and scatter symbol. Hit the golden mask as a wild and it can be used to bridge gaps, creating winning combinations from what would have been losing spins. As a scatter, three of the symbols transport you to the bonus game with 10 free spins. Hit three scatters in the bonus game to receive another 10 free spins—you can do this infinitely, giving you the chance to run up wins to lofty heights.
In the bonus game, hitting at least one mid- or high-paying symbol in the first reel causes them to expand and fully stack. The only non-expanding symbol here is the Cosmic Voyager symbol.
Cosmic Voyager uses the same basic auto play menu used by almost every other recent Thunderkick slot. Click on the small button beside the spin button to access this menu. Inside the menu, you can set up how many spins you want to play out without your assistance. You can also click the option to pause the spins once you hit a bonus feature.
The biggest theoretical win you can garner in Cosmic Voyager is a solid but not spectacular 5,000x. This is well in line with what many slots out there can offer, but is hardly anything to write home about.
There is a bit of discrepancy when it comes to the volatility of this slot. Some sources classify this as a low volatility slot, but others characterize as a high volatility one. We personally felt that this game is at the lower-end of high volatility.
Play long enough, and you are bound to get some significant wins, but snagging the top payout here often feels like a pipe dream.
Thunderkick is not a new name in the market but it is still relatively new when compared to some of the older developers. They have quietly released several titles that we feel have a fair chance of becoming slot classics. Best known for the charming, quirky vibe of their slots, Thunderkick has made a number of forays into more traditional slot themes, with a bit of mixed results.
Thunderkick’s Cosmic Voyager slot is one of the vendor’s more conventional releases in recent memory. In contrast to most of Thunderkick’s previous releases, Cosmic Voyager feels more standard, offering up a lot of the visual cues and themes you will find in many slots. While the art style here is a step back from their usual standards, we feel that Cosmic Voyager is a great choice for newer players who want to try out a newbie-friendly high-volatility slot.