Kings of Crystals: Slot Overview
Join a trio of kings in All41 Studios' fantasy slot Kings of Crystals. Who are these three kings? Why are they so hung up on crystals they are presumably willing to go to war for them? No, we don't know either, nor will everything become clear by the end of the review. What is a bit clearer is Kings of Crystals is a game possessing three bonus rounds that mix and match one, two, or three features, all triggered by a collection system.
There was a slight tingle of déjà vu about Kings of Crystals, as it reminded us of a recent review of Reflex Gaming's slot 5 Clans. The makers of both games have used a fantasy approach, filling the screen with castles, sweeping landscapes, and interesting looking characters. Kings of Crystals has three of them. There's a Kratos looking guy, a flowing haired hero type, and a sort of elf chap. Each one has its own pay symbol and is associated to a crystal by colour, which is linked in turn to a set of features. Presumably, these kings are battling for more crystals, hard to say. Perhaps this is just something kings do.
Players can use any device they like to muscle their way onto the battlefield, selecting bets of 20 p/c to $/€20. The RTP comes in a variety of settings, with 96.4% being the most desirable, though volatility remains high in each one. The hit rate is exceptionally high as well, measuring 38.79% and occurs when three or more matching symbols land across the 5x4, 40-payline game grid, reels starting from the left.
The three kings appear on the three top-paying symbols, as does a gauntlet and a chalice. These symbols are worth 2.5 to 5 times your stake when a five of a kind combination lands. The rest of the pay symbols are metallic styled 9-A card icons, all paying 0.75x the bet for a five-symbol win. Wilds help here, appearing on reels 2, 3, or 4, substituting for anything except scatters or money symbols.
Kings of Crystals: Slot Features
Collecting enough scatter symbols eventually triggers free spin bonus rounds with one, two or three modifiers. Three types of scatters land at random, one red, one blue and one green. When they hit, each scatter zooms to its respective collection meter.
Nudging Wilds Free Spins
The red scatter triggers 5 free spins with full reel nudging wilds. This feature is played on an extended reel set with two positions added to each reel, increasing paylines to 100. When at least 1 wild hits, the whole reel nudges, so all positions become wild. Landing a red scatter while this feature is active awards additional free spins.
Jackpot Free Spins
The green scatter triggers 10 free spins with the chance of winning four jackpots. Keep an eye out for the gold coins which may land to reveal a cash prize of 1-10x the bet or a letter. Letters are collected, and spelling the name of a jackpot awards its prize. These are the Mini, Minor, Major, or Grand, worth 25x, 50x, 500x, or 10,000x the bet, respectively.
Multiplier Free Spins
Blue scatters trigger 5 free spins, where a random multiplier of x2, x3, x5, or x10 is awarded on each spin. Landing blue scatters during the feature awards additional free spins.
Free Spin Combinations
It is possible for different scatter types to trigger free spins that have 2 or 3 of the features mentioned above active at the same time. This can happen directly from the base game or when scatters are collected mid-way through an already active bonus game.
Buy Feature
If you are able to buy the feature, Kings of Crystals offers a comprehensive menu of 7 options. These range from 20x the bet for Nudging Wild or Multiplier Free Spins up to 110x the bet for free spins with all three features active.
Kings of Crystals: Slot Verdict
There were good and bad things about Kings of Crystals, but as a whole, we kind of missed the point. There's a tenuous link between the crystal concept and the rough-looking kings, which came across as a bit odd rather than a high stakes win or you're vanquished clash. This high fantasy thing isn't a genre All41 has really taken on before, so one or two points for trying something new. However, the gameplay felt stretched thin at times, and the slot looks dated already, bringing the old Merkur game Dragon's Treasure to mind.
Players who get a kick out of collecting symbols and filling meters might find a level of satisfaction from the three possibilities. It didn't take huge amounts of time to fill the collection meters either. The best results came from the Jackpot Collection round, even though the biggest jackpot we could extract was the Mini. Combining features did add a measure of extra heat, so mixing and matching them from the bonus buy is a nice touch. Another positive point is the 10k max win, though, outside the Grand Jackpot, there is a steep drop off. The archaic look and feel of Kings of Crystals might well be the deal-breaker. Some might like the old-fashioned appearance. It didn't do a whole lot for us.
Strangely, King of Crystals came across underpowered despite all the features and the decent top prize. It was unwilling or unable to really cut loose, at least from what we saw. Imagine an indecisive king, who is hesitant to send his sizeable army to the threats on his borders while everyone is screaming at him to attack, yet he's constantly dithering over maps, his heart not yearning for a scrap. Kings of Crystals felt something like that. It might be okay for a bit of fantasy escapism with a jackpot chase on top if someone is into this thing. Otherwise, it's not the sort of game we'd be scrambling to go to war for.
Kings of Crystals might be okay for a bit of fantasy escapism with a jackpot chase on top if someone is into this thing. Otherwise, it's not the sort of game we'd be scrambling to go to war for.
