According to English pop act Tears for Fears, 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World'. However, those enthused by the idea of world domination might not be super enthused about ruling over a kingdom of the dead. However, Kingdom of the Dead is the name of an online slot from Pragmatic Play and partner studio Reel Kingdom. Sneak an 'of' in there somewhere, and there is a good chance the fingerprints of Ra aren't far behind somewhere… So it is in Kingdom of the Dead, which is indeed a 'Book of' style slot but one with two types of expanding symbol bonus rounds – players' choice as to which one activates.
A couple of things popped up after a cursory scan over Kingdom of the Dead. The first is that the character who looked like the Ridiculously Photogenic Guy meme from the previous Reel Kingdom 'Book' slots – Return of the Dead and Book of Kingdoms, has gone. In his place is a more rugged, more cartoonish adventure in his place. Secondly, it was instantly apparent the game has a classic Reel Kingdom look to it, one which is hard to put into words. It's a quality particular to the studio and is somehow old and new at the same time if that makes any sense. An acquired taste, perhaps, but one that instantly singles a game out as a Reel Kingdom product.
Kingdom of the Dead offers budding explorers three ways of playing the game. One is by betting 10 p/c tp $/€250 on individual paid game rounds, or by clicking the Ante Bet, stakes increase by 50% for an extra chance of getting scatters. The third way is by buying free spins for 120x the bet. Each way has a maximum return to player value of 96.07%, while Kingdom of the Dead runs on a highly volatile math model.
The game grid is made up of 5 reels, and 3 rows of symbols, with 10 fixed bet lines for landing wins across. Low pays create wins of 3 to 5 OAK and consist of 10 to A card ranks. High pays trigger a payout for landing 2 to 5 of a kind and include a scarab, Anubis, a Pharaoh, and an adventurer amongst their number. Hitting a 5-of-a-kind winning line awards 10 to 15 times the bet for the royals or 75 to 500 times the bet for the premiums.
In keeping with tradition, Kingdom of the Dead's book symbol is wild and the scatter. As a wild, book symbols can substitute for all other regular symbols. As the scatter, landing 3, 4, or 5 of them awards 2x, 20x, or 200x the bet, respectively, as well as triggering the free spins feature. For the free spins feature, 10 free spins are awarded, and players can pick one of two options:
During free spins, after any regular wins have been awarded, if the expanding special symbol can create a win, they expand to cover all positions on their reel. Expanded symbols pay all lines, and from any position, they do not have to be adjacent or anything like that. Landing 3 or more book scatters during the round awards +10 free spins in the currently active Mystery option. There is no limit to the number of retriggers possible.
Kingdom of the Dead leads with a message saying 'The Legend Continues', and it was hard at first to grasp what Reel Kingdom meant. Presumably, it refers to Kingdom of the Dead's continuation of the 'Book' slot tradition, or maybe it refers to the continuation of Reel Kingdom's contributions to it. Maybe both, maybe neither, no matter, here we are with another Egyptian-themed online slot with expanding pay all lines from anywhere game.
Another slightly enigmatic use of language was the use of the words 'Mystery symbol' when describing the two bonus rounds. These aren't the same 'mystery symbols' as they tend to be in slots, as Kingdom of the Dead is firmly part of the 'Book of' slot tradition. It's got the Egyptian outer shell, some classic symbols of the genre, a brave adventure, and so on and so forth. Players who like to stick with tradition, well, Kingdom of the Dead pretty much does that alright.
Its only real deviation is the way players can pick their favoured bonus round once triggered or bought. One is the standard way, while the other injects random elements, like chaos theory or something along those lines. Both have their ups and downs, so which one to choose? Chance it the regular way and get stuck with a symbol you don't want, or vice versa. Or pick the random option and just see what the heck unfolds. It's one of those decisions in which it is pretty much impossible to know whether you chose right or wrong until after the fact. Eh, variety is the spice of life and all that, which Kingdom of the Dead serves a certain amount of. Another thing it's got going in its favour is greater than usual potential of 10,000x the bet.
Weight it all up, and Kingdom of the Dead leans towards being a positive rather than a negative game, and fans of this style probably won't feel like they are losing out if they pick this one over a good chunk of the significant number of alternatives. By the same token, Kingdom of the Dead doesn't really do anything exceptional either, so at the rate these sorts of games are released, there's a suspicion it may get lost amongst the crowd.
Play for real money
