Shogun of Time Slot Review

Cliff Spiller

| August 23rd, 2019

Overview of Shogun of Time Slot

Powered by Just For The Win in collaboration with Microgaming, Shogun of Time is a 4 reels and 81 pay lines online slot with a cyberpunk theme. The slot is simply a stunning fusion of the Futuristic Tokyo and the ancient Japanese heritage. The female samurai, who bears a resemblance to Battle Angel: Alita, meets her cyberpunk clone in an innovative combination of advanced high-tech cyberpunk with elements of ancient Japan.

The fun begins out on a diminished reel structure and escalates during the free spins bonus feature to occupy a 5 reel structure with 243 ways to win. Trigger the respin feature in the base game, and you still have your expanded grid plus another chance to spin and win.

The game’s background features the skyline of a Japanese Metropolis, bright with typical blue and purple neon lights. Traditional Samurai symbols complete the oriental theme. Animations feature superb designs with a rather generic tune that gets cheerier on every big win or special feature.

Shogun of Time is playable across all the devices from as little as 0.1 to 100 coins.

Game Symbols

Game symbols include neon style playing cards A, K, Q, J, and 10 royals, which of course constitute the low-value bunch. High-value symbols include the ancient coins, Japanese fans, Chest-plates, golden Samurai face masks with helmets and the game logo. Top valued is the game logo which pays 12 times your stake for landing 5 of a kind.

The female Samurai warrior and her cyber clone represent the game’s wilds, while a pot of cherry blossoms represent the scatter. The cyberpunk clone is the regular wild, paying as high as the top value slot logo. It also substitutes all the regular symbols, but the scatter, to create more winning combinations.

Gameplay

You have a 4×3 structure to start with. The line bet ranges from $0.01 to $10. This translates to a $0.1 minimum possible wager and a maximum of $100 on every spin. You can use the autoplay button to automate your spins- if you would rather keep the reels rolling without much interruption. Wins start coming with at least 3 matching symbols on the reels taken from left to right.

The expanded 5×3 structure is activated when you land 4 matching symbols on the reels and automatically when you trigger a free spins round.

Shogun of Time Special Features

The Respin Feature

The base game would have been entirely a flop without a few occasions of triggering the respin feature. This happens when you land a four of a kind combination on the reels which we also found hard to come by. Payouts are allocated for the concluding round before the time-travel portal opens and split the reels in the middle to add an extra reel in the third position. The added reel will then spin while the rest remain in place. This presents you with a chance to get another winning combination or make better your payout.

The Free Spins Bonus Round

Land at least 3 scatters to activate this bonus round. There are precisely 8 free spins for 3 scatter icons and 16 free spins for 4. It’s during this round also that the grid shifts from a 4×3 layout with 81 pay lines to a 5×3 layout with 243 ways to win. The bonus icon appearing on the extra reel turns into a sticky wild and remains so for the entire duration of the feature.

With expanded sticky wilds on the third reel and the both ways winning system, there are pretty good chances that you land matching symbols either on the first two or the last two reels to complete a winning combination. Only a 5 of a kind combination will stick with the traditional left to right payment system. We also noticed that the free spins feature cannot be triggered, which is quite a disappointment.

Shogun of Time Online Slot

More of the Variable Reel Set

We would recommend the Dragon Born slot if you cared for more of the variable reel set slots. The free spin round in this slot features 117,649 ways to win.

Conclusion

Shogun of Time is a great treat if you enjoy the oriental theme delivered with stunning animations and a couple of bonus features. The 96.02% RTP is slightly below the industry average in this medium variance slot. The gameplay wanders from immersive to boring, especially in the base game.

The four reel structure isn’t exactly a brilliant thought, since it robs from players some amount of potential with winning combinations. It becomes particularly hard to trigger the free spins feature, which happens to be the biggest incentive to play this slot. Nevertheless, free spins remain your best shot at a mega win that rises to a maximum of 2717.40 times the size of your bet.