The Phoenix, known for centuries as a mythical symbol, lands in Pragmatic Play’s slots portfolio in their latest videoslot, Phoenix Forge. This type of bird isn’t new to our generation. Many of us have known what a Phoenix’s main ability is from the Harry Potter movies, where Dumbledore told Harry that Fawkes, his Phoenix, is reborn from his own ashes. However, the slot itself doesn’t have much to do with the legend of the Phoenix. The wins aren’t reborn from their…ashes. Or are they? The Tumble Feature, active throughout the entire gameplay, removes the symbols that formed winning combos from the reels, filling the screen with new symbols. So, it might give you the impression that new wins are born right on the spot where the previous one died.
I don’t what to disclose everything right away. Read the entire review to see what Pragmatic Play’s Phoenix has to offer.
The Phoenix Forge slot has a rather classic layout. Played across a grid with three rows and five reels, this videoslot comes with a Tumble Feature and a Hot Spot Multiplier mode that spices up the gameplay significantly. These multipliers stay on the grid until the Free Games round ends, bringing the game closer to the symbol it hosts.
PROS
CONS
The Phoenix Forge slot features a Phoenix bird, obviously, which isn’t exactly new in the slots industry. Many providers integrated the legendary bird into their offers, so I can’t say Pragmatic Play blew all our minds with this theme. However, the encrusted gems and the fairy backdrop, depicting a chamber full of gold, haloed with a bright light, where the title stands, give the slot the mythical vibe it deserves. An aspect I would like to point out is the abundance of gems as symbols. While I understand that the creation of gems is strongly related to the forging in the title, I still believe a little diversity wouldn’t have killed anybody. Especially not the Phoenix bird. It can’t die, remember? It just burst into flames and then reborn from the ashes.
Anyway, the symbols bring decent wins, with the red gem offering up to 25x the stake for five on a payline. The Wild portraying a Gold Egg is also part of the game, but it doesn’t pay out. The Bonus symbol, represented by the Phoenix itself, lands anywhere on the screen, awarding up to 20x the bet for five on the reels.
The Phoenix Forge slot doesn’t impress from the start. You’ll see a fixed layout with five reels and three reels where up to nine symbols can land. The RTP remains at a stable value of 96.51%, while the volatility is rated as high. Also, there are 20 active paylines during the whole game session.
The symbols come with fair payouts, although it’s pretty hard to tell the high-paying ones from the low-paying ones, as they are all gems. Let me see if I can help you tell them apart. The red, yellow, and green ones are the high values symbols, with prizes of up to 25x, 20x, and 12.5x the stake. The dark blue, purple, orange, and light blue ones offer smaller payouts, of 5x and 3.75x for five on the reels. I don’t know what we would have done if they had used different shades of the same colour for the gems. It’s all about seeing the bright side of things.
The Tumble Feature makes another appearance in this Pragmatic Play title. I included it in this section in the Buffalo King Megaways slot review, so I think the right thing to do is talk about it here too. The tumble feature cleans the grid off the symbols that formed winning combos and brings new ones from above. In other words, when you form a win, the symbols aren’t just highlighted but disappear completely from the screen. This way, the empty positions are filled with new symbols gliding from the top of the grid.
Phoenix Forge works flawlessly on every device. From tablets to mobile devices or PCs, this game adapts to whatever screen you are using.
The features in Phoenix Forge aren’t a novelty in the industry. Many other slots come with tumbles, spot multipliers, and free spins. Individually, they don’t increase the fun of the game much, but together, they can actually deliver an engaging game session. It’s similar to how superhero bands work. They’re ok separate, each fighting in their world, with their enemies, but when the pretty boy tells them to assemble, they become an unbeatable team.
This mode is tied to the tumbles. In Phoenix Forge, the positions where the wins have formed are marked with a 1x multiplier. Now, if you land a new combination in the highlighted spots, the multiplier increases by 1x. So, the win of every combination is multiplied by the sum of all multipliers it contains. This is the kind of thing that sounds more complicated than it really is. Check out the images in this review, or go ahead and play it, and you’ll see that this feature is rather straightforward and clear.
The free spins round in the Phoenix Forge slot can be activated only by the Phoenix bird. If at least three fly and land on the screen, the game awards the bonus round. You can trigger more free games if you bring more birds on the screen:
Now it’s time to let the spot multipliers shine. In the free spins, the spot multipliers don’t disappear when there aren’t any more wins in a tumbling sequence. They stay put until the end of the round, increasing with every tumble.
Also, the game awards more free games if at least three Bonus symbols hit the screen during the bonus round. As a great wizard once said, ‘Fascinating creatures, phoenixes.’
Phoenix Forge can trick you into thinking there can’t be anything interesting in this common-looking slot. Although I agree it doesn’t strike you like a thrilling game from the beginning, give it a few spins and you’ll see the Phoenix forging some pretty big wins. With a max win of 5,000x the stake and a building sticky progressive multiplier in the bonus round, this online slot might be more than meets the eye. There are high chances for dry hands to occur. So, if you aren’t into high volatile slots, this game might not be for you. However, if you are looking for a simple yet engaging experience, you should take Phoenix Forge into account.
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