Crusader

Review

This slot centers around the stacked wilds that can nudge in place on the pointed outhermost reels on either side, and this is also the key to the game’s bonus round.

It all plays out on 5 reels, 3 rows and 26 paylines, and you can place bets between 20p and £100 per spin across all platforms and devices. The theme has a heavy feel to it. This is a highly volatile game, and the RTP of 96.1 % is just about the industry average.

The main attraction here is the free spins bonus round, where reel 1 and 5 are stacked sticky wilds and the reel set can expand up to 9 extra rows and 72 extra paylines. The biggest drawback is the 2,500x max win potential.

What symbols are there?

As you probably expect, the symbols are all inspired by typical items, and the highest paying symbol is a golden grail with gemstones. Anyway, you need between 3 and 5 matching symbols on a payline to win, and here we present you with the paytable for this slot:

• Gold grail - Pays 10x for 5 on a payline
• Small chest - Pays 5x for 5 on a payline
• A dagger - Pays 4x for 5 on a payline
• Red cross - Pays 3x for 5 on a payline
• Blue cross - Pays 2.5x for 5 on a payline
• Green cross - Pays 2.25x for 5 on a payline
• Royal symbols - Pay between 2x and 1x for 5 on a payline

What are the bonus features?

Exclusively on reels 1 and 5, you can land a stacked wild symbol, and it will appear 4 symbols high. Whenever you land this symbol only partially on the reels, you trigger the Wild bonus feature. You will then see the stacked wild nudge in place for each respin, and you always get enough respins for the stacked wild to fully cover the reel. If a new Wild lands partially on the other reel on a respin, you will get respins enough for that to nudge in place too.

Free spins

If you’re lucky enough to nudge in place 2 fully stacked Wild symbols on reels 1 and 5 (the pointed reels), you will trigger the game’s free spins bonus round. This gives you 8 spins, and reels 1 and 5 are now covered with a stacked sticky wild for the duration of the feature.

You will also benefit from an expansion symbol that can land on the 3 middle reels only. This is a gold-encrusted symbol with a red arrow in the middle, and it will expand the whole reel set with 1 row every time it lands. You also get 1 extra free spin when this happens, and you can expand the reel set up to 9 times, giving 12 rows in total.

The Sticky Wild on each of the outer reels also expand, which means you get more wilds to benefit from also. Every time you expand the reel set with additional rows, you also expand the number of paylines. If you get the maximum of 12 rows, you will benefit from 98 ways to win on your remaining free spins.

What is the jackpot (max win)?

You will not find any kind of jackpot in this slot, but you can still win decent amounts here. The game’s max win is 2,500 times your stake, which is a bit on the low side for a high volatility slot. The good news is that the win potential applies both in the base game, as well as during the free spins bonus round. If you play with the highest possible stake of £100, you can pocket up to £250,000 on a single spin here.

Where can I play?

You can play for real money at one of the listed casinos.

Don’t want to play for real money? No problem, you can easily play the demo for free.

You can certainly also play on your mobile and tablet. This means that you have the freedom to play on the go, and all you need to join is your Android, iPhone or iPad.

Verdict

This is a game that will definitely test your patience, and the high volatility is no joke here. The sticky stacked wilds on both extremities with expanding rows during the bonus round is somewhat interesting, and it can lead to some decent payouts. However, the 2,500x potential does not really do justice to the volatility here, which is really the biggest issue we have with this game.

Pros	Cons
Nudging stacked wild respins on reels 1 and 5	Max win of 2,500x is too low for this kind of volatility
Free spins with sticky stacked wilds and expanding rows
High volatility and average RTP