The real world of casino might be closed until further notice, but the online world remains as busy as ever.
It’s a funny old time what with coronavirus keeping us all in isolation (or at least you should be – do the right thing people), but with more time on our hands it’s the perfect opportunity to sample a few new titles.
The great thing is, even if you are strapped for cash the majority of these can be found in demo mode too, so you can play without spending a penny. If you are going to play for real money, just be sure you don’t spend more than usual, no matter how long you have been cooped up indoors.
So without further ado, here are some of the best new slot releases for March 2020!
Playtech
It’s been a busy month at Playtech, with Book of Kings and Midnight Wilds both being released to avid gamers.
The first of these is a simple enough game on the face of it, with average graphics and just a single special feature – the freespins round. However, this is a little more special than your average freespins round because it includes a randomly assigned expanding symbol which can add extra wins, and all freespins wins are tripled if the Book & Snake symbol was present when the round was triggered.
Big big win potential there, up to 15,000x your stake at the top end.
Midnight Wilds is an altogether different slot, with beautiful imagery that is full of colour and light.
There are 243 ways to win and you can play for as little as 5p a spin, plus, there are three features; 5 random wilds, a freespins round, and a bonus called the Wheel of Luck. You can buy your way into the bonus wheel for 40 times your stake if you don’t want to wait to trigger it naturally.
It’s a pretty volatile slot though and with max win potential of just 500x it might not be worth it for everyone. A shame, as it really is a beautiful game.
Microgaming
The game library of this old industry veteran never stops growing, and March saw two more names added to the list, the first of which is 9 Pots of Gold, which comes from Microgaming’s Gameburger Studios.
The soundtrack creates a real party atmosphere with this slot and the wins come thick and fast, although at 2000x max it is not a game to play if you want to hunt for giant wins.
It has a good selection of lower level features though including wilds, retriggers, scatter wins (these are the titular pots of gold you are after), stacked symbols, and freespins, and the RTP is 96.24%, so it’s an average slot in a lot of ways but definitely more fun to play than many others in the same league.
Treasure Skyland is another wacky upbeat release and Just for the Win is the partner studio responsible for its creation.
Again, it won’t make your mouth water at just 1000x maximum win potential, but there’s plenty of opportunity for smaller wins along the way.
The base game includes a Feature Frame that randomly selects a symbol, and if the symbol is included in a winning combination it triggers the feature reel where you can get multipliers, symbol upgrades, win extends, or a pick me game. This makes every spin exciting and means you aren’t sat waiting for a feature round before you win any money.
Play’n GO
These guys always have a trick or two up their sleeve, and while the first of their games I am going to mention actually came out in February, I missed it until just now so i’m including it here.
Riches of Robin is a 5×3 and 20 payline game, so nothing unusual there, but with a max win of up to 10,000x there is certainly plenty to play for. It’s high volatility though, so don’t get in over your head.
Everyone’s favourite outlaw himself is wild, quite fittingly, but the game is all about re-spins and freespins really. Freespins are triggered by 2 scatters, and can give you up to 20 spins with up to a 5x multiplier attached. These can also re-trigger.
Re-spins occur when you land 3 money bags, and during those 3 re-spins any further money bags will reset the re-spin counter.
Fortunes of Ali Baba is a game with a well-worn theme, and Play’n GO don’t really bring anything too original to it here. Nevertheless, it’s a solid game with decent visuals and smooth gameplay.
My issue is that the base game is a little dull because your only real chance of big wins is from the freespins, and you can only get there by getting through the Den of Thieves pick game triggered by 2 scatters. There is also a special wild feature in the freespins round so it’s brilliant if you can get to it, but otherwise…
There is a regular wild in the base game (on every spin) but apart from that, it’s a case of spin until you hit the trigger. Still, with 9,968x max win potential and an RTP of 96.89% I suppose it’s worth the wait.
Play’n GO have also announced a slot called Twisted Sister based on the Heavy Metal band of the same name. I’ll update when there is info, but I have high hopes for that one!
NetEnt
Last but not least, good old NetEnt are still throwing new titles into the mix. They have caught some flak in recent years for resting on their laurels, but they still undeniably have what it takes to make industry leading products.
Sadly, Ocean’s Treasure isn’t one of them.
It’s fine, it’s a decent game that looks and sounds good, but it does feel a little same old same old. There is a wild, a stacked wild, and a scatter which triggers the freespins round.
The freespins round is more interesting than usual because it comes with a 3x multiplier that can go up a level (max level 5 – 12x multiplier) every time a wild lands on the reels during the round. This also adds 2 further freespins to your tally up to a maximum of 102 free spins.
That makes 18,000x potential during maxed out freespins – but it won’t be easy to achieve that.
Their second release is actually an update (sorry, I’m cheating) and it marks another appearance by our favourite outlaw – it’s Robin Hood Shifting Riches.
This is a much better offering, with wins causing the reels to shift to the right and an increasing multiplier up to 5x for continuous wins. That’s a base game I can get on board with.
Accessing freespins is also a bit different to usual, as Robin will collect any money bags you spin in and sotre them in his treasure chest. Once you have 4 of them, it’s freespins time. First, a pick game decides what your money bags are worth, then a random symbol is allocated as an extra wild, before your 10 freespins begin. You can add to them by landing more scatters.