Theme and Design Overview
Golden Empire is a video slot developed by Amaya (now known as GamesOS) that takes players on an adventure through ancient China. The game’s theme revolves around the imperial era, with intricate designs and visuals inspired by Golden Empire free play traditional Chinese architecture and artistry. Upon launching the game, players are immersed in a stunning backdrop of golden pagodas, temples, and gardens, setting the tone for an immersive experience.
The slot features vibrant colors, ornate details, and detailed animations that transport players to a mythical world of wealth and prosperity. The overall design is characterized by its opulent style, creating a sense of grandeur and majesty. Players will find themselves surrounded by Chinese-inspired imagery, including traditional music and sound effects, all aimed at immersing the player in an authentic experience.
Symbols and Payouts
The game’s symbols are carefully crafted to fit within the imperial theme. There are five regular paying icons:
- Golden Dragon: The highest-paying symbol in the base game, awarding 250x for five-of-a-kind.
- Phoenix: A majestic creature that awards 100x for five-of-a-kind.
- Emperor: Representing wealth and power, this symbol pays up to 75x for five-of-a-kind.
- Queen of Hearts: Awarding 50x for five-of-a-kind.
- Traditional Chinese Card Suits (Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades): Pay out smaller wins, ranging from 5x to 20x.
Additionally, Golden Empire Slot features a range of special symbols that contribute significantly to gameplay and payouts:
- Wild: The game’s wild symbol is represented by the Imperial Dragon. It can replace any regular paying icon, including scatters.
- Scatter: Triggering free spins when three or more land on the reels, the Phoenix serves as both a scatter and a wild.
Payouts and Winning Combinations
In Golden Empire Slot, winning combinations are awarded based on symbol types and their respective payouts. The slot offers various ways to form wins:
- Matching three or more identical symbols in any consecutive order (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal).
- Replacing symbols with the Wild Emperor to create a winning combination.
Bonus Features and Free Spins
One of Golden Empire’s most exciting features is its bonus game triggered by landing at least two scatters. However, there are variations based on the number of scatter icons that trigger it:
- Three Scatters: Offers 15 free spins with double wild multipliers.
- Four or five Scatters: Awards up to 20 or 25 free spins.
During these rounds, each free spin generates a multiplier between 2 and 5 times for all wins. Players can also expect more frequent occurrences of scatters during this feature. With the help of scatter combinations occurring on reels two through five, Golden Empire’s bonus features offer an unparalleled level of excitement in an already action-packed slot.
Wilds
As mentioned earlier, the Imperial Dragon serves as both a wild and a high-paying symbol. As such, it substitutes for other symbols to form winning lines but does not add any additional pay-outs on its own. This is true unless part of a combination that triggers extra rewards or enhanced multipliers in bonus rounds.
RTP (Return-to-Player) and Volatility
Golden Empire has an average Return-To-Player percentage at 95%, which means the theoretical return to players over millions of spins approaches this level, making it neither overly generous nor miserly. However, like other slots developed by Amaya or GamesOS, its exact volatility is somewhat tricky to predict.
While some may find Golden Empire’s RTP a bit lower than expected, others appreciate that such games can occasionally award significantly higher winnings thanks to their medium-low volatility nature.
Betting Range and Max Win
When playing Golden Empire Slot, players have access to 20 bet levels. Starting from the lowest ($0.01), each subsequent level increases by $0.05 until it reaches a high limit of $10 per spin at the top tier (Level 20).
As for maximum win potential, if a player’s five-of-a-kind Wild combination is triggered and he or she wins all available free spins with maximum multipliers applied across them, there is technically a possibility to win as much as $250 x 200 = $50,000.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay mechanics, Golden Empire follows the standard procedure for slots. The game allows players to select their desired bet levels using adjustable coin controls and spin buttons located at the bottom of each screen. It has a relatively smooth animation, although it might feel slightly sluggish if you have slower connections due to its sizeable visuals.
When compared with modern titles or other recent Amaya/ GamesOS slots like Buffalo Chief 50 (an enhanced take on their classic), Golden Empire shows off some differences in the way wilds behave and bonus round free spins unfold.