Goldaur Guardians slot: Hyperspins, Hero Bonuses and fantastic Free Spins

Alchemy Gaming are perhaps best known as being the team that brought us the new Microgaming progressive jackpot game Wheel of Wishes, complete with the revamped Wowpot Progressive Jackpot prize seeded at £2 million. However, their latest offering moves away from progressive territory and back into the realms of standard slot games with the Goldaur Guardians slot.

Now as part of a review for any slot, I like to do a little research as to what this game is about but I have to admit to drawing a blank for Goldaur Guardians. Suffice to say that it is a fantasy-themed slot that seems to be set in a kind of swamp or glade. It's also a fairly high volatile game that offers the chance to win up to 1,000x your bet.

There is also a Hyperspins feature, although this only triggers when you land a couple of Scatters and not on every spin, as well as a randomly triggered base game bonus and a Free Spins bonus game. So there's plenty for any slots fan to sink their teeth into.

The question is whether Goldaur Guardians has everything you would want in a slot game, or whether it leaves you wanting a little bit more.

Let's take a closer look at the game to find out.

Overview

• Game: Goldaur Guardians
• Developer: Alchemy Gaming (for Microgaming)
• Reels: 5x3
• Pay Lines: 20 (non-selectable)
• Minimum Bet: 0.20
• Maximum Bet: 25.00
• Jackpot: 1,000x
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: High

Presentation

The setting of the Goldaur Guardians slot in a swap or at least a very overgrown glade is a bit of an unusual one, but it is backed up with some atmospheric music that runs alongside you spinning the reels. The graphics are neatly done, and there are clear similarities in style between this game and Wheel of Wishes.

However, and this is a big issue, in the game information it does say that the Hyperspins option should be available and as you can see in the video play-through, at no point in the game did I have this available to me. It does say on the introduction screen that the Hyperspins mode is not available in all regions and that must be the case for the UK, although on the video I have mentioned it too (primarily for people based outside of regions where it is not available).

Other than that, there are the five reels very much central on the screen with the main controls of the slot at the foot of the screen.

What is on the reels?

There are a total of ten symbols on the reels, but two of those are the Scatter and Wild symbols, which we will look at in more detail in the sections below. There are four lower value symbols, the different coloured fairies, which are blie, green, red and orange and pay out in terms of value in that order. Wins range from 0.25x your bet up to 1.75x your bet.

The four higher value symbols are the key guardians in this fairy-filled glade and they are Alaneo, Lila, Diana and Oberon. Their wins range from 0.6x your bet up to 15x your bet for five of the Oberon symbols across the reels.

Those win values don't sound that high but it should be noted that you can win across multiple pay lines as symbols can be stacked on the reels.

Another feature to note here is the randomly triggered base game bonus the Hero Spin. When this triggers, a random hero symbol is activated and stacked over the first two reels, covering them entirely. If you can then match that with the same 3x3 symbol on the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th reels, or the 3x3 Wild, you can win a massive amount, although you may win smaller amounts if only part of the symbol shows on the reel.

Wild features

The Wild symbol is the ornate "W" symbol that appears on all five reels and it too can be stacked on the reels. Not only does it act as a substitute for the standard symbols above, but you can also land Wilds across the reels on their own and if you land three to five, you can win between 2.5x and 50x your bet. The Wild is also the highest value symbol on the Hero Spin bonus, offering you the chance to win up to 1,000x your bet.

Free Spins features

To trigger the Free Spins bonus game in Goldaur Guardians, you need to land three, four or five of the golden Scatter symbol across the reels. When you do you will win a cash prize of between 10x and 100x your bet and trigger the Free Spins bonus game.

During Free Spins you have each of the Hero symbols Stacked on the first two reels and the giant symbols in play on the third, fourth and fifth reels. In addition to that, there is also a re-trigger symbol on the final three reels and if you can land that, you will trigger the next symbol on the Hero trail (which increases the potential top in in the bonus round) and you will re-trigger the same number of Free Spins you did in the original trigger. You can land this symbol, in theory at least, an unlimited number of times.

Manage to do that and you can eventually turn both the first two reels entirely Wild and that is when some of the big money wins in this slot can be won.

Best feature of the Goldaur Guardians slot

Annoyingly, one of the key features of this slot, the Hyperspins bonus, is not available for me to try based on where I live, so that is immediately a bit of a disappointment. The bonuses in the game though I can access were pretty good with the Hero bonus the easiest to trigger, although the results of that were hit and miss. Free Spins is good fun but as you would expect the results and how much you can win can vary a huge amount on the game. However, trigger a few re-trigger symbols and Free Spins can prove to be hugely lucrative.

Conclusion

It's a real blow when one of the main features of the slot is not made available to players and I was disappointed not to see the Hyperspins offering made available. That said, there's still enough in Goldaur Guardians for you to enjoy a few spins but I do feel without the Hyperspins offering, it does lack a little extra depth. It's a decent enough slot game, but one that in truth, I probably would not rush back to play.