Star Gods slot is Golden Rock’s latest new game release for Microgaming

Sometimes when a company releases a new slot game, there is a massive fanfare and a long, excited build up to the game's release.

On other times, a new games is released into casinos without much of a furore at all and you barely notice it. It is very much a case of the latter for the latest Golden Rock and Microgaming release Star Gods.

The name of the slot sounds like it is going to be based on some kind of space epic, but in actual fact, the Star Gods are based on three of the more popular Chinese gods, known as Fu, Lu and Shou. They represent fortune, prosperity and longevity, all of which are pretty handy if you want to play the slots regularly.

The game is available on mobile and well as desktop and can be played over a wide range of bet sizes from 0.10 up to 200.00 per spin. There are 10 non-selectable pay lines in play and you can win both ways across the reels, left to right and right to left, which is a nice touch. It is a highly volatile slot, which is not surprising since the first game Golden Rock released for Microgaming was called Volatile Slot.

Let's now take a closer look at whether these Star Gods are going to give slot players something exciting to try over the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Overview

• Game: Star Gods
• Developer: Golden Rock Studios (for Microgaming)
• Reels: 5x3
• Pay Lines: 10 (non-selectable)
• Minimum Bet: 0.10
• Maximum Bet: 200.00
• Jackpot: 600x
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: High

Presentation

The presentation of the Star Gods slot is what I would term as typically Asian. What do we mean by that? Well , many Asian slots have a backdrop of pagoda's sunsets, hills and cherry blossom trees and that is pretty much what you have here with the Star Gods slot, although I have to say the ‘watery' texture of the backdrop is a bit more innovative and does give the game a more artistic feel than other slots.

Super-imposed over this are the five reel with the main controls of the reels underneath. The set up is somewhat standard and there are the usual options to play (such as Autoplay). The sound of the slot is also somewhat typically Asian but has been done nicely and does enhance the game as you play.

What is on the reels?

As you would expect, the symbols on the reels are all linked in with Chinese culture and you must land three or more of any of the symbols (which can be stacked on the reels to land win across multiple pay lines) on a single pay line in order to trigger a win.

The lower value symbols are four different types of Chinese coin the green, bronze, silver and gold coins. Higher value symbols come in the form of a number of different items that are prevalent in Chinese culture and include a sealed letter, a pagoda and a Lucky Chinese Cat. The pagoda is the higher of the three better value symbols offering wins of up to 30x your stake for five across a pay line.

The relative value of single pay line wins is very low on the Star Gods slot, but given that all symbols are stacked on the reels, better value wins can be landed by triggering multiple pay line wins by landing stacked symbols on the reels.

Wild features

The main Wild symbol in the Star Gods slot is the Star symbol and this appears on the middle three reels. Whenever you land the slot, it expands to fill the reels and it turns into one of the three Star Gods. The good news when you land a Wild is that it also triggers a free re-spin of the reels. This is known as a Win Respin because the outcome of the re-spin must result in a win. If your re-spin results in no win, then the reels will re-spin again until you do get a win.

Furthermore, if you land a second Wild on the reels during a Win Respin, you will trigger another Win Respin with both reels completely Wild, and you can then add the third expanded Wild to the other reel with this re-spin if you are fortunate enough. All Win Respin triggers must end with a win for the player.

However, landing one of the three Wild symbols on the middle reels can also trigger one other bonus, and this is the main free spins bonus features of the slot as we will explain below.

Free Spins features

If you land one of the three Wild symbols on one of the middle reels and then on your Win Respin, you land the Ingot scatter symbol (which only appears on the first reel), then you trigger the Free Wins Spins Bonus game. You can also land the Ingot and the Wild on the same base game spin, as well as landing the Ingot on a Win Respin.

In this bonus, you get just two free win spins but the good news is that every free spin you have is guaranteed to be a winner. So if any of your first two free spins is not a winner, then you will receive another free win spin added to your total until you have landed two wins. During your free win spins bonus, the Wild landed on the reels will remain in place and any new Wilds landed will also he held in place and will add another free win spin to your total. Also, if you land the Ingot symbol on the first reel with your free win spins, you will earn an additional random selection of between 2 and 5 free win spins.

Furthermore, if you fail to re-trigger the bonus after your first two free win spins and you only have one stacked Wild on the reels, the Comeback feature can trigger and could award you two further spins as a bonus.

Best feature of the Star Gods slot

There's no doubt that there are a number of good features on the Star Gods slot. The win both ways is always a great option, as is the Expanding Wilds and it is pretty clear that this game has been inspired by a number of slots that uses this set up, to great success in the past. However, I do like the way the Free Spins bonus has been tacked on to the game to give it a bit more extra depth and the Free Win Spins Bonus is also a very nice addition, as is the fact that you are guaranteed to win if the bonus is triggered.

Conclusion

Volatile Slot was a game that I thought. Was a decent enough opening gambit from Golden Rock Studios, but I think Star Gods has taken on that mantle a little further. There are a lot of similarities between this game and some other recent Microgaming releasese (Aurora Wilds slot and Banana Odyssey slot to name but two) but I think there is enough differentiation between those games and this one, to ensure that the Star Gods slot attracts plenty of customers who want to try something a little different to the norm.

You can play Star Gods slot at any of the Mega Moolah casinos.