Kingdoms Rise Guardians of the Abyss Slot Review
Kingdoms Rise is an exciting collection of three new slot games by Playtech — Guardians of the Abyss, Forbidden Forest and Sands of Fury.
There are a number of innovative new features contained in the games, most notably an in-game currency that enables you to purchase access to special features using tokens.
Set in a medieval fantasy world (not dissimilar to Game of Thrones), players can immerse themselves in three different kingdoms (there are more to come in the future), encountering along the way a diverse range of characters who each have their own personalities, roles and detailed backstories.
The soundtrack for each game is very impressive, as are the sound effects. The music is lush and inventive and helps to create a sense of a complete world. In particular, the special effects and soundtracks during the bonus rounds are a real highlight. Overall, these are three of the most impressive new slot game releases of recent times in the way graphics and sounds are used.
The games are also notable for their exciting and innovative gameplay, while being able to purchase access to bonus rounds takes online slots play to a new level. Each game has its own distinct special features that further enhance the gameplay and provide a range of opportunities for wins and big payouts.
Each game also offers players a huge variety of coin sizes, with wagers starting from as little as 10p and rising to as much as £2,000 per spin.
There are three different networked progressive jackpots that you can play for in Kingdoms Rise: Epic, Power Strike and Daily Strike. Each is randomly triggered, so any spin of any amount is in the running for a jackpot payout (although the larger the bet, the greater the chance of winning).
How to Play
Guardians of the Abyss is a 5 reel, 25 payline slot where all wins pay left to right and are multiples of the line bet. All 25 paylines are automatically in play on each spin, with wagers ranging in size from 10p to £300.
- Wild symbol substitutes for all other symbols
- 5x wild symbols = 1,250x line bet (up to £14,460)
- 5x Odeon symbols = 1,000x line bet (up to £12,000)
- 5x Akali symbols = 750x line bet (up to £9,000)
- 5x Jax symbols = 500x line bet (up to £6,000)
Special features
Guardians Bonus
Trigged by hitting 3x shell symbols on reels 2, 3 and 4, each shell reveals an element of the free spins feature which is to come i.e., which character’s bonus round is to be played, how many spins are awarded, and the power of the feature (e.g., how many wilds or bonus symbols are added:
Odeon feature
Odeon symbols are added to the reels on each free spin.
Akali feature
Wild symbols are added to reels on each free spin.
Jax feature
Wild symbols receive a multiplier during the free spins.
Graphics and Sounds
Set in an underwater kingdom, blue tones dominate the design of Guardians of the Abyss during base play; however, when the Guardians Bonus is triggered, the reels change to the colour that that character is represented by e.g., red for Alkali, purple for Jax, etc.
The lush orchestral score suits the majesty of the game extremely well, while each bonus round has its own soundtrack appropriate for the character.
Kingdoms Rise Features Shop
One of the biggest innovations in this series of slots games is the Kingdoms Rise Features Shop. As you play, you can randomly be awarded up to 15 tokens at a time, which you can then use to purchase in-game features from the shop.
The ‘price’ of each feature varies (most start at 300 tokens), and they can be purchased at any time once a sufficient number of tokens have collected.
Conclusion
Playtech has really pushed the boundaries with the release of Kingdoms Rise. The overall concept is groundbreaking, while the gameplay in each individual game is innovative and always engaging. In terms of visuals, these are some of the most impressive games we’ve seen, but the graphics and sounds then go up a notch again during the bonus rounds.
Being able to play for a variety of progressive jackpots adds to the excitement, but there is also the potential for huge payouts during base play. We also like the fact that in each game there are features that enable players to pick up multiple wins from a single spin.
No doubt players will all have their favourite game from the trilogy, and in our view, there is more than enough to recommend each on its own merits; however, it will be very exciting to see what happens with the next instalments in the series, due for release during 2020.
Author
Mark Angus is a professional writer and editor currently based in Adelaide and London. Mark writes on a variety of sports betting and gaming topics, most notably football and cricket (he has been a season ticket holder at Fulham for far too many years), as well as horse racing, in particular jumps racing. In addition, Mark produces website content, blogs and articles for a variety of publications, organisations and businesses, and has extensive experience in writing for all forms of online, print and broadcast media.
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