Rich Wilde and the Amulet of Dead Slot Demo

Rich Wilde and the Amulet of Dead Review

Rich Wilde and the Amulet of Dead from Play N Go focuses on Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, who in Egyptian mythology passes judgement on the deceased. Rich Wilde must travel in his latest adventure to the realm of the dead, beneath the Abu Simbel temples to find the hidden riches of the afterlife in this 3×5 reel 10 payline game with a twist on the classic ‘Book Of…’ game type.

Read on for the full review if you dare!

SLOT FEATURES	Free Games, Special Expanding Symbol, Wild Multipliers
RELEASE DATE	1st April 2021
GAME PROVIDER	Play’n Go
SLOT TYPE	Video Slot
THEME	Egypt
REELS, ROWS, PAYLINES	5×3 Reel, 10 Paylines
BET LEVELS	0.10/100
MAXIMUM WIN	250,000 Coins (capped) 5000x Your Stake (capped)
SCATTER SYMBOL	YES: Amulet
WILD SYMBOL	YES: Amulet, Thoth
BONUS GAME	No
FREE SPINS	Yes
RESPINS	No
MULTIPLIERS	Yes
JACKPOT	No
RETURN TO PLAYER	96.29%
VOLATILITY	High

In any review where a game has been ‘heavily inspired’ by another, the original game should be recognised as a tribute to the designer/developer that first released that game or feature.

Since the release of Novomatic’s land-based iconic slot ‘Book of Ra’ in 2005, many developers have found inspiration from its 10 payline, 10 Free Game feature with Special Symbols, combined SCATTER/WILD format, and have released countless variations of the same model. Play N Go came along in 2016 with Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead, a 100% math and theme facsimile of Book of Ra. Rich Wilde and the Amulet of Dead takes the iconic feature a step further in this 2021 rendition of a cult classic.

Features

Let’s inspect slot features more closely!

Base Game:

• The pendant is a combined WILD and SCATTER and can substitute for any other symbol (except for Special Expanding Symbol) to form a winning combination.
• THOTH WILD appears on reels 2, 3 and 4 only and is Wild. THOTH WILD must appear as a full stack and will trigger the THOTH multiplier.
• 1, 2 or 3 THOTH WILD in full view activates x2, x3 or x5 multipliers respectively. THOTH multiplier is always available in base game and FREE SPINS. Activated multiplier is also applied to the SCATTER wins.

Free Games:

• ANY 3 or more SCATTERS trigger 10 Free Games.
• Before the Free Games begin, a random symbol is chosen to act as a Special Expanding Symbol during the entire Free Game session. After evaluating the wins on every spin in the Free Games, the Special Expanding Symbol may expand to cover all three positions on its reel. This symbol will only expand when there are enough symbols on the reels to create a win. The Special Expanding Symbols do not need to appear adjacent to each other to result in a winning combination.
• During Free Games, only THOTH WILDS in full view can substitute for a Special Expanding Symbol to create a winning combination.

Paytable Review

• Rich Wilde and the Amulet of Dead is a derivative of its donor game Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead. To afford the added THOTH WILD symbol, the developer has severely trimmed prizes. In fact, every prize is uniformly reduced by a factor of 5 from Book of Dead.
• The symbols used in Amulet of Dead are identical to Book of Dead. The game could have been titled ‘Book of Dead 2’.
• Amulet of Dead has 55% of prizes at-or-below bet compared to 29% in Book of Dead. A clear indication of how prizes have been reduced to include the THOTH WILD feature.

Player Profile

Amulet of Dead, being a game in the ‘Book of…’ format, is intended for avid players who aren’t upset with less time on their device. The THOTH WILD addition makes the math model a little less brutal, hopefully opening doors for a wider audience.

Audio

• Nice clunky reelstop sounds in line with the game type.
• Good catchy traditional Egyptian reelspin and ambient tune. Has a great balanced mix so neither game sounds nor tunes are overpowering.
• Unfortunately, the Gamble Feature has an audible ‘Lose’ sound to remind you that you lost.

Playability

One might expect Amulet of Dead to behave much the same as any other ‘Book of..’ game, which it does at face value. The addition of the THOTH WILD brings a lovely twist to the Base Game but its real benefit comes in the Free Games. We all know how ‘Book Of…’ features play out and how brutal they can be; now imagine you had Wilds helping your Special Expanding Symbol wins! Yes, the THOTH WILD not only contributes to boosting up the Special Expanding Symbol win but also multiplies them!

All ‘Book of…’ fans are salivating right about now. Pick your jaw up off the table though as this wonderful addition comes at a cost of a heavily reduced paytable. In every slot there is a balance of delights and concessions and one can’t exist without the other. If a developer adds something, a reduction needs to be made somewhere else in the game.

Something else of note in Amulet of Dead: variable paylines are included after a long absence. This adds a sentimental twist to gameplay. Not many new games these days have player selectable paylines which is a treat if you used to experiment with betting strategies, adjusting paylines and coin value.

Although volatility is rated high, it is less volatile than its parent Book of Dead. The prizes in Amulet of Dead are just too low to be able to maintain the volatility of its parent game.

• Win Hit Rate: 1 in 2.3 (estimated)
• Feature Hit Rate: 1 in 140 (estimated)
• Max Win Hit: 1 in 20,408,163 (compared to 2,666,667 in Book of Dead)

The Gamble Feature is always a nice-to-have for those who like to live on the edge.

Please note: A Gamble Feature does not change the game’s overall RTP as there is a 50% chance to win 2x (or 25% chance to win 4x playing suits). It does however increase volatility considerably.

The Glory Spin

The Glory Spin occurs in the Free Games, but the planets need to align for it to happen, as the max win hit rate is over 7x higher than Book of Dead. Once the Free Games are triggered, RICH WILDE needs to be selected as the Special Symbol. Then you need a spin with RICH WILDE on reels 1 and 5 with THOTH WILD on all reels 2, 3 and 4 to activate the 5x multiplier. Depending on the position of RICH WILDE, you’ll hit 5 of-a-kind on a couple of paylines all at 5x multiplier plus numerous coinciding wins. Once payline wins are counted, the Special Symbol feature kicks in, paying RICH WILDE Special Symbol wins across all 10 paylines.

Delights and Surprises

• THOTH WILD contributes to the Special Symbols win in Free Games.

Shortcomings

• Massively reduced prizes to afford THOTH WILD.
• Gamble Feature ‘Lose’ sound.

Conclusion

There is little to fault in Rich Wilde and the Amulet of Dead other than its lack of originality. Game production is excellent with clean and tidy visuals and reinforcing audio and fx. The game is certainly worth a look especially if you’re a fan of Book of Dead and Book of Ra. You’ll immediately notice the change in prize distribution as the paytable suffers to make a gentler feature. Those pay spikes from 4 and 5 of-a-kind prizes in Book of Dead are replaced with a dependence on the THOTH WILD multiplier.

Rich Wilde and the Amulet of Dead gets 66 Spins out of 100 based on the following ratings:

PLAYABILITY	90
ORIGINALITY	0
BUILD QUALITY	100
MARRIAGE	60
IMMERSION	90
RUN FOR MONEY	60
INTEGRITY	60
TOTAL	66