Phoenix Graveyard

Phoenix Graveyard Overview

Developed by ELK studios, this new game is inspired by the icy grip of death and the grim reaper himself. Indeed, players will enter a spooky village into which a range of characters come and go, making the game much more interesting. The game is one of the studio's premium products with some great features, top quality graphics and a top win that is definitely worth taking a few dud spins for. Mechanically this is a five-reel, three-row game with 243 pay lines and an RTP of 95%.

The features for this game start with the Sudden Death feature, which is randomly triggered at any time during gameplay. It slices some symbol positions in half, creating more symbols and a greater number of pay lines. The main feature here, however, is the re-spin feature. This is triggered when the grim reaper walking wild appears on the board. He will then slice high-value symbols and award a re-spin. This feature will also have a wild multiplier equal to the number of symbols on the sliced tombstone when applied. In addition, this game also has a bonus free spins game and the X-iter option available on all ELK studio games. All features will be explained in more detail later in the review.

Theme and Symbols

The theme for this game is a kind of medieval fantasy theme with a special focus on death and resurrection. The death part is personified by the grim reaper character, which you will see as this game's wild icon. On the other hand, the resurrection part is represented by the phoenix wild. If you look carefully, the board actually has a grim reaper on one side and a phoenix on the other. The rest of the characters look like Shakespearean type folk who form the mortal contingent of this game.

The background for this game is the spooky medieval town through which the terrifying reaper walks. To the left and right of the reels are wooden style buildings that actually look more Tudor than medieval. However, it probably doesn't pay to get too hung up on time periods when addressing fantasy games. The town is shrouded in a thick fog and looks cold and damp, the perfect pathetic fallacy background in terms of the conditions for a game concentrating on death.

The gameboard is a stone tablet that could be a gravestone flanked on either side by the grim reaper and phoenix.
The symbols for this game are split into low-value, high-value and special symbols. The low-value symbols are the J, Q, K and A in playing card royals. The most valuable of these is the A which is worth 1.2x the stake for the top combination. On the other hand, the more valuable symbols are the lute-playing bard, the mayor's wife and the mayor. The mayor is the most valuable of these, worth 4x the stake for the top combination. The specials finally are the grim reaper wild, the phoenix wild, the feathers wild, and the bonus scatter.

Game Play

Phoenix Graveyard is played on a 5-reel, 3-row machine with 243 fixed pay lines. To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.

The betting range for Phoenix Graveyard is 20p to £100 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.
Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen.
Volatility for this slot is rated in the high range. The return to player percentage of Phoenix Graveyard is 95%, which is below average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 10,000x your stake.

Features

The sudden death feature is the first bonus available in this game. It is triggered completely at random. When it is, symbols are sliced by the grim reaper into two, growing the number of symbols and pay-lines on the board.
The next feature is the re-spins feature. It triggers when the walking wild grim reaper appears on reels 3, 4 or 5. When he turns up, he slices high-value symbols that are next to him. A re-spin is then awarded, and the grim reaper wild walks one reel left. The expanded pay lines will then apply to all future re-spins. Before the grim reaper begins walking, however, a wild multiplier comes into play that is equal to the number of symbols displayed on the splitting tombstone to the left of the board. This process is repeated until the wild falls off the left-hand reel. During this feature, a grim reaper may also come into contact with a phoenix wild. If this should happen, a battle ensues, resulting in one of the following:

The Grim Reaper Wild gets a doubled Wild Multiplier.
The Phoenix Wild gets a doubled Wild Multiplier.
The Phoenix Wild jumps to a new location leaving a Feather Wild in its place.
The feather wild is created when these two symbols battle. It is turned into a phoenix wild on the next free or re-spin and will jump to a new position.

Next on the feature list is the bonus game, activated when three or more bonus symbols land anywhere on the reels at the same time. The more scatters you land, the more free spins you'll earn, and the more phoenix wild will be in play. These phoenix wilds will help you score more wins during the feature. This game is also re-triggerable by landing additional scatters.
Finally, this game also comes with the X-iter option, which is ELK studio's version of a bonus buy.

Conclusion

High quality, fun and with a hint of spooky thrills, this game delivers in spades on the visual front. Winning potential wise, although the top end of things looks promising, the RTP and volatility suggest it's going to take some time to get many wins, even if they are decent in size. If you like a big risk, big reward dynamic and a premium finish, this is probably a good bet for you. On the other hand, if you like your wins small and regular, maybe leave this one for now.