Legacy of Dead

Legacy of Dead (Play'n GO): Overview

Play n’ Go has just released a new addition to the Legacy/Book/Dead range of slots. A review might seem almost redundant at this stage because if you have played one, you have kind of played them all. No matter, it’s time to slather on some factor 50 sunscreen and head on back to Ancient Egypt one more time. Is it worth your time? Budding archaeologist can light up their well-worn flaming torch and join us to find out.

As far as these Legacy/Book/Dead slots go, the graphics are better than most. This 5 reel, 10 payline video slot is set in, you guessed it, an Egyptian temple replete with burning torches and stone pillars. Symbols are well-drawn and have a nice modern crispness due to a high resolution. They will look familiar as they are almost all the same as those used in Book of Dead. At the pay table’s less exciting end are 10 - Ace card royals. The upper end is made up of the god Horus, a Pharaoh, Anubis, and Tutankhamen. That last one pays out 500 times the stake for five of a kind and is key to the game’s top payout potential.

Legacy of Dead can be played from 10 c/p per spin up to $/€100 on most devices. As expected, volatility is set on high, which works well with the style of the bonus game and symbol values. So far we’ve heard this sort of thing before, a couple of times. What saves Legacy of Dead from being completely written off as a cynical clone is the same thing that has kept slots like Book of Ra popular. An ace bonus game that can change a frustrating gaming session in a moment.

Legacy of Dead (Play'n GO): Features

Legacy of Dead’s features include free spins with expanding symbols - plus a twist. The most desirable symbol in the game is the burial chamber icon. It plays several roles and also pays out 1x, 10x, 100x, and 500 times the stake when 2 or more of a kind land. It is the games wild symbol and will substitute for any other symbol from the paytable. However, its most powerful role is that of the scatter.

Like other Legacy/Book slots, it's during Free Spins that the real magic happens. To launch this feature, players need to land 3 or more scatters to be awarded 10 free spins. Along with opening up the bonus game, 3, 4, and 5 scatters also awards players with 2x, 20x, and 200x their stake. Just before the free spins leap into play, a scroll is unrolled, and one of the paytable symbols is selected at random to become special. When this special symbol lands it expands to cover a whole reel. The killer blow, though, is that special symbols payout when three or more land anywhere - they do not need to be next to each other. The goal of the game is to get one special symbol on each reel (preferably Tutankhamen) to expand and completely max out the grid. If 3 scatters land during the bonus round, then 10 more free spins are added to the total.

One new feature is the row of symbols that sits just above the reels. Players know which symbols are special because they will be in colour on that bar while the others are grey. Now, what gives Legacy of Dead its unique twist is that when free spins are retriggered another special symbol is added to the mix. This process can be repeated again and again until all 9 symbols are turned special and expandable at the same time.

Legacy of Dead (Play'n GO): Verdict

There were definitely mixed emotions about Legacy of Dead. The initial reaction is that it feels like a lazy rehash of a previous slot. Having said that, you can't help getting pulled in by the strong brand awareness and familiarity here. If you have played previous Dead/Ra slots before you will have a good idea of what you are getting into even before Legacy of Dead loads - it doesn’t disappoint, yet nor does it dazzle either.

Book of Dead and Book of Ra have huge followings, so it is a shame that Legacy of Dead can only be found at one casino at the moment. Is it worth dropping everything just to play it? Of course not. But that doesn’t detract from what is a solid, if unoriginal slot, with a decent payout potential. At the end of the day, fans of Book of Dead will surely enjoy Legacy of Dead. It does everything its predecessor does but offers some variety. If you've ever felt like one expanding symbol during free spins was a brilliant feature, then having up to 9 at once takes it to a whole new level. As a standalone game, Legacy of Dead is a good one, though in the overall evolution of slots it is somewhat forgettable.

Don't Miss

If you're a fan of this style of gaming, be sure to check out the other two games in the series - Scroll of Dead and Secret of Dead.