Crown of Valor

Overview of Crown of Valor slot

Crown of Valor is the latest slot from the gaming developers at Quickspin that invites players to go back in time to the Dark Ages, where they are put straight into a siege in the middle of a castle. Whilst this is most definitely a test of courage and determination, you will see immediately that it has the gameplay to match. It is rather unusual to find a grid slot that has such an intense theme, as often game creators will use something to cushion the blows, but one thing for sure it is not like this with Quickspin. Instead, this slot offers a huge reward for players that can break out through the gates to the other side.

Theme & Symbols

The slot uses a 3D engine that means players get a bird’s eye view of the battle, whilst the siege and castle walls hang overhead. Due to this you will see that the 5x5 grid sits on an angle, which gives the game a three-dimensional aspect, and if you have never come across this before it will take a few spins for you to get used to it.

The slot offers attractive visuals and proves that the developers are as happy crafting dark, eerie, heavy medieval slots as they are producing a cute and fluffy slot. The vocal chant that makes up the soundtrack is in keeping with the whole ambience as it builds up to a fiery crescendo in the bonus game. Overall, there is a real Game of Thrones vibe going on which is rare particularly in grid slots.

When you look at the pay table you will see that the symbols have been split into high and low payers. The lower paying symbols are the usual card playing royals Jack through to Ace which appear as stone carvings. Landing a cluster of 12 or more will reward you with 5 – 7.5x your bet. The high paying symbols are made up of regal birds, lions, tigers, and gold crowns. If you land clusters of 12 or more, your reward will be 15x – 250x your stake. There is a potent wild which we will look at further down as it is tied to two features.

Game Play

Crown of Valor can be played on all devices and the first thing you need to do is to choose the bet that you are most comfortable playing with. The slot offers a wide range from 20p per spin up to £100 per spin which is sure to appeal to a range of players. In this slot Quickspin has opted to use bright white symbols rather than the bright orange layout on the bottom of the screen that they are known for. The reason for this is to ensure that the game is in keeping with the drama and when it comes to the volatility this is extreme, and the default return to player stands at 96.16%. This can make the slot a little taxing at times but there is the opportunity to some players to pay for the bonus buy and if you do the return to player is increased to 96.48%.

Wins are created when you land five or more of the same symbols connected either horizontally or vertically. When you create a win the cluster of wins symbols are removed, and new symbols then drop into the empty spaces. If you land another win this is added to your existing win until you cannot form any new wins. Not only are there consecutive wins, the tumbles can also provide certain features when the conditions are right, but we will look at this below.

Features

Any of the successful cluster wins you land will tumble into a burning wild symbol which are then moved to the random column of top of the remaining symbols. The wilds replace any regular symbols to create a winning cluster. In the base and bonus game the multiplier meter is activated when you land a burning wild in view. Any burning wild that is involved in a cluster win boosts the win multiplier by +1. The multipliers are then applied to the current win and these reset between each spin in the base game.
The only feature that is on offer is the Wild Fire and this is available in the base game and activated when the wild fire meter is full, it takes 18 winning tumbles to fill it. Once full, four burning wilds are placed in random spaces on the reels apart from any spaces that are populated by scatter symbols.

The bonus game is active when you land 3, 4, or 5, scatters and you are then rewarded with 10, 14, or 18 free spins, respectively. During the bonus game, any tumble win increases the multiplier by +1 as does any burning wild symbol that is part of a win. In the bonus the multiplier is active throughout unlike the base game where is resets between spins, any bonus symbol that lands in the feature will also provide an additional free spin to your total.

If you just want to get to the action you can use the bonus buy feature, which will cost you 80x your bet and guarantees that you have 3 – 5 scatters on the next spin.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the developers have taken some of the spirit from their other slots and when it comes to the mechanics the slot is rather conventional, although it is rare that players are expected to knock clusters together in such an intense game environment. The slot is volatile so players should brace themselves for a challenge.

The free spins are where the slot comes into its own and having a multiplier that does not reset is a great attraction for players even though is this pretty standard in slots today. However, what is not so standard is the increasing multiplier that comes into play when the Burning Wilds create a win. Due to this it is easy to build impressive multipliers increasing the tension and enjoyment you can get from the slot.

I enjoyed trialling this game, and if you are looking for a slot with a serious atmosphere rather than humour this slot is a good bet. It has the right numbers and plenty of potential with the only thing required from the player is to grab your suit and get ready for the onslaught that the base game has waiting for you.