
CASINO REVIEW
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Legion Hot 1 is the debut game from Hot Rise Games, a new studio from Sydney founded by gaming industry veterans. Collect shields, win multipliers and sticky wilds can all help you and your legion as you aim to conquer those big wins.
Review by Arram Bekarian.
CASINO REVIEW
100% Up to €200 + 40 Free Spins on Book of Dead
300% Up to €500
+ 100 Free Spins
100% Up to €200 + 40 Free Spins on Book of Dead
SLOT FEATURES | Collection Trigger, Increased Reel Height, Multipliers |
---|---|
RELEASE DATE | 7th June 2021 |
GAME PROVIDER | Hot Rise Games via YGGDRASIL |
SLOT TYPE | Video Slot |
THEME | Civilisations |
REELS, ROWS, PAYLINES | 5 Reels, 3 Rows, 243 Ways Up To 5 Reels, 3-5-5-5-3 Rows, 1,125 Ways |
BET LEVELS | 0.30 – 90 |
MAXIMUM WIN | 2,525x Your Stake |
SCATTER SYMBOL | Yes – SHIELDS |
WILD SYMBOL | Yes – WILD |
BONUS GAME | No |
FREE SPINS | Yes |
RESPINS | No |
MULTIPLIERS | Yes |
JACKPOT | No |
RETURN TO PLAYER | 96.37% 96.47% via Buy Bonus* |
VOLATILITY | MEDIUM as designed LOW compared to other Yggdrasil games |
The final Free Spin is the ‘Hot 1’.
Upon first glance, Legion Hot 1 looks like another ancient civilisation game: Gladiators, swords and shields amidst warring nations. But this one certainly captured my interest immediately – what are these blocked areas in the middle 3 reels and how do I open them. This slot has something different. I guess, that’s exactly what the developer intended in design. And only after a few spins did it begin to come together. Land a shield and a section opens increasing the reel height on that reel and awarding a 4x bet win. Great! But why did the Roman numeral I appear above that reel? Interest quickly becomes intrigue. Fast forward a few minutes and another SHIELD opens the other section on that reel and the numeral II now appears. Cutting a long story short, each SHIELD that lands on each reel 2, 3, and 4 is part of the Free Games trigger while reel modifiers are gifted along the way. Collect 4 SHIELD symbol on any reel to open the top and bottom parts of the reel, change them into multiplier zones then finally trigger 10 Free Games with ALL your reel modifiers in place!
There are many variables to how the Free Games play out, primarily, what stage the other reels reached before one of the reels hit stage 4 to trigger Free Games. This is the catch in Legion; although the Feature Hit rate of 1 in 100 is low and achievable, the most favourable Free Game situation to be in before triggering is having reels 2, 3, and 4 each on stage III then hitting a SHIELD on reel 2 or 3. This scenario, however, is likely to take many more spins than the average of 100 to reach. Please note SHIELDS become Wilds in Free Games meaning they no longer contribute to collections. What you enter Free Games with is how Free Games are played.
There are more surprises! During Free Games, if a x2 WILD lands in the multiplier zones they become x4.
The surprises continue up until the final Free Game. The final Free Game, aptly named ‘Hot 1’ awards a super spin. One reel from reels 2, 3, 4 is chosen and boosted to its max stage and, a x2 WILD is added to both multiplier zones on that reel!
As this game has a collection trigger, that is any game where the feature can’t be triggered on a single spin, the optimum strategy is to complete any collections or to return to partially completed collection and continue. There is an odd rule mentioning this in the game, but I’m confident this rule was written in to appease a tester for a certain jurisdiction rather than encourage players to play more.
Please note, though, that as with other collection trigger games, progression is locked to each bet level. You can, of course, return to the progress of each individual bet level and continue. You can even have multiple bets in progress if you like.
Having lower volatility means gameplay becomes more predictable, which is not a bad thing. The feature hit rate is fairly consistent as is the win hit rate of 1 in 1.58 spins. I am told by Hot Rise Games that Legion Hot 1 has a medium volatility rating as designed but fell slightly below the medium threshold in comparison to Yggdrasil’s games, for example.
Two high tier and four mid-tier symbols all with distinctly different colouration to assist with win recognition, plus four Royals of equal pay. WILDs and SHIELDs stand out well amongst the paying symbols. Legion has 73% of paytable prizes at-or-below bet. The prizes alone are neither high nor low and seem focused on the middle of the prize distribution curve.
The intended player in Legion Hot 1 is most players while the theme is skewed towards males. The mid volatility doesn’t discriminate against casual players while it offers decent wins for avid players.
The maximum win is 2,525x. Although this figure is not the largest on the market, players need to understand the Glory Spin is a pedestal figure most people won’t see. In any game, it’s the mid-range prizes that make up the bulk of feature wins where a medium volatility game provides the best chance.
It’s refreshing to see new and innovative content of excellent quality emerging from new studios; especially a less volatile and easy to hit game in a sea of brutally high volatility. Excellent work! Welcome to the front, Hot Rise Games and I expect to see a lot more from you in the coming years!
Legion Hot 1 gets 81 Spins out of 100 based on the following ratings:
PLAYABILITY | 85 |
ORIGINALITY | 90 |
BUILD QUALITY | 85 |
MARRIAGE | 80 |
IMMERSION | 80 |
RUN FOR MONEY | 75 |
INTEGRITY | 75 |
TOTAL | 81 |
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