Area Link Phoenix

Area Link Phoenix Review

The myth of the Phoenix Bird rising from the ashes to be reborn has been a persistent one across different cultures and times, and apparently this special bird also had healing abilities according to some accounts. New studios are emerging rapidly.

They seem to have borrowed from other partner studios, but the concept they’ve chosen is not something you see too often. You get stacked wilds in the base game, and collecting fireballs will eventually trigger the hold and win style Area Link feature with up to 3 Phoenix Upgrades active. These upgrades can greatly enhance the feature, and filling the grid lands you the 5,000x Grand Jackpot.

Area Link Phoenix Slot Features

The premium symbols, consisting of gemstones and a top-tier golden feathers symbol, pay between 2 and 5 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins. The feathers are presumably from the Phoenix bird, which serves as the game’s Wild symbol. The wild will land stacked on all 5 reels to help complete wins by substituting for pay symbols, and it pays 10x your stake for 5 wilds on the same payline.

You can land 3 different colored fireball symbols, and these are collected in the corresponding egg above the grid. Each time this happens there is a chance you’ll trigger the Area Link feature, and the combo of fireballs that trigger the feature will determine which Phoenix Upgrade modifiers you get.

You get 3 respins when the Area Link feature triggers, and the triggering fireballs become sticky on an otherwise cleared grid. Each new fireball symbol that lands becomes sticky as well, and this resets the respins tally to 3 again each time. The fireball symbols come with cash prizes, and you can also land 3 different jackpot symbols.

These are the Mini, Minor, and Major jackpot symbols, and they pay 10x, 20x, and 500x your stake, respectively. Filling all positions ends the feature, and this cracks the game’s win cap as you land the 5,000x Grand Jackpot.

Otherwise the feature ends when you run out of respins, and your total payout is then summed up. As mentioned, the feature will trigger with at least 1 of the 3 Phoenix Upgrades, and they are as follows:

• Orange Phoenix Upgrade - awards a random multiplier of x2, x3, or x5 per spin (and yellow fireball symbols are upgraded only once when they first appear).
• Magenta Phoenix Upgrade - awards an extra grid area that’s identical and independent of the original grid.
• Red Phoenix Upgrade - awards a red fireball that collects all values, and then a yellow fireball becomes sticky in the same position.

The 200 Spins Area Link Phoenix Slot Experience

We trigger the Area Link bonus round at the very beginning of the 3:36-minute highlights video. The feature plays out for the remainder of the video, and you can check it all out for yourself .

Review Summary

This is the first release from a new studio. They have clearly allowed themselves to be inspired by other studios with this release. We have seen a similar concept in several games before, but it’s not something you see too often, really. The base game doesn’t offer much except stacked wilds that can lead to decent top-up wins, and you’re basically crossing your fingers for multiple fireballs to trigger the Area Link bonus round.

The good news is that this happens on a somewhat regular basis, and the bad news is that it can be hard to get more than one Phoenix Upgrade. Getting all 3 upgrades will liven things up for sure, and if you get only 2 we would prefer the double grid and the multiplier upgrades. The visual presentation comes across as a tad too amateurish, and overall this is not the most engaging debut release we’ve seen. Kudos for doing something a bit out of the ordinary though, and it’s hard to judge a new developer after only one game.