Ancient China may provide the setting for the latest slot from Red Tiger, but the style of the game is as modern as can be. Innovative bonus tiles, mini-games, and a surprisingly wide range of possible bet sizes are only a few of the many features that take this already well-designed five reel, 20 payline game to a higher, more exciting level.
Theme
Epic Journey is set in Ancient China, and the design team’s Orientalist approach is evident in the game’s visual interface. The main screen presents a stage in the style of Chinese Opera, with a background of rice paper (shoji) instead of a Western-style curtain. The lower-value symbols, ten through ace, seem drawn with calligraphy, and many of the higher-value and bonus symbols drawn from Chinese antiquity: scrolls, crowns, massive golden treasure chests, and giant wilds of pigs, monkeys, and resplendent warriors. An Eastern-style temple and the Epic Staff complete the most valuable symbols of the game.
Betting Options and Functions
The user interface is very simple, even by the standards of online slots. There are only four buttons involving gameplay, all at the bottom of the screen: the bet size can be adjusted, spins can be set to auto, the “play” button launches a pop-up screen explaining the various bonuses, and the spin button itself. Epic Journey offers a remarkably wide range of bet sizes for a online slot, ranging from 2 to 500 times the currency setting.
It must be said that the higher-value, wild, and scatter symbols occur less often than they do in many other games. When they do appear, however, they more than make up the difference: the bonuses are massive, and many of them launch mini-games where winnings are multiplied many times, even as high as 888 times the bet size!
Features
As with other games by Red Tiger, it’s in its special features that Epic Journey distinguishes itself. Let’s begin with the wild symbols, which, unlike usual slots, consist not of one normal-sized symbol but super-sized ones: several wilds take up three spaces on any given reel, and a rare but especially delightful wild that stands three reels tall and three lines wide. As one might imagine, the opportunities for winnings in the latter case are astronomical.
The one of a kind Epic Staff feature flies across the screen independent of what’s on the reels, resulting in a range of possible outcomes, all to the player’s major advantage. The Staff might trigger the Magic Wheel option, which continues to spin each reel until only highest-value tiles remain. Another possibility is called Nudge, which causes an almost-stopped set of reels to continue to spin until a major win is revealed.
There are also two mini-games, each triggered when three or more of the appropriate bonus tiles appear on the reels. These games can be set in motion by the Epic Staff, or just by a fortunate normal spin. Each is supported by lovely animated sequences and forces the user to guess which treasure chest holds which bonus. It’s in these games that the largest possible bonuses can be unlocked, and where the game gets its title: one of these games lets the player travel up a long, winding road, up a mountain to a beautiful temple, where the Epic Journey reveals its highest level bonuses.
Our Take
Though graphics, sound, gameplay, and other elements of Epic Journey are entirely satisfactory, the special bonuses and mini-games make this an exceptional title.
Video Slot game data and features
- 5Reels
- 20Pay lines
- $25,000.00Max cash jackpot
- 96Payout Percent
- YesWild Symbol
- NoMultiplier
- $0.2 - $500Betting Range
- 0.01 - 25.0Coin bet range
- 1Coins per line
- NoProgressive
- 1000Max coins jackpot
- 20Max coins
- YesScatter Symbol
- NoFree spins available
- YesBonus Game
- NoBuy feature
- Medium Volatility
