Archangels:Salvation

When you hear NetEnt got something cooking, you know you're in for a ride. And when they announce the novelty as being the revolutionary game that will turn slot world upside down, you know they're gonna rise to the occasion and deliver. What if we told you that games with 100 paylines, 12 rows and six reels are no longer just a figment of one's imagination? It's as real as it gets, and all neatly packed in this RPG/epic fantasy package. So read on and witness yet another conflict between heaven and hell!

Theme

One of the recurring, eternal subjects in the world of literature and philosophy, ingrained within the minds of humans since the dawn of time, is the dichotomy and dualism of good and evil. How they compliment each other, where they get conflicted and how they influence our moral compass. Archangels: Salvation is, to our knowledge, the first attempt of bringing those questions to the forefront of the video slot world. The form it takes is a tad obvious and, perhaps, banal – but quite effective: two epic fantasy/RPG protagonists, wielding their magic and weapon n equal measure are the epitome of two sides. The blonde angel, taking the left portion of the screen with blue skies and white clouds represent heaven, while fiery right side in its deep red and dark hues is the domain of a hellish creature with horns, epitomizing Satan and hell itself. The visuals, as one such demanding theme requests, are spectacular: huge screen and a very unorthodox configuration of the slot itself convey the undeniable feeling that a player is facing something immense. The accompanying soundtrack, a score quite capable of holding a candle to fantasy movies' OST's, gets quite dramatic once a special feature is triggered or big win accomplished. The game operates with ten symbols in total: two high paying symbols of the angel and the devil, four medium value symbols (two of each belonging to one of the forces) and four low-value card symbols. There is also the Wild symbol that can appear either in stacks or singleton. Scatter symbols also occupy two positions on the reels.

Betting Options and Functions

Just below the main gameplay screen is the player's dashboard. The left-most “i” button opens up a screen containing all the valuable info on game's symbols' values, how features work and all 100 payline diagrams. You can set the bet level from 1 to 10 and the coin value from 0.01 to 0.50. Max Bet button cashes everything in for the spin to come, and the Autoplay feature lets you set up to 1000 automatic spins. The remaining balance of coins is visible to the very right. The thin line right at the bottom, below all this, has a little settings tool as well as a sound setting option. The question mark next to it will open a screen containing all the game rules, glossary of terms and general info about the game.

Features

One of the first things you will notice is that the first couple of rows, as well as a bottom-most couple of rows, are surrounded by the lightning akin to one of the forces: the top belongs to heaven, the bottom to hell. Those are Hot Spot areas: they can activate Heaven and Hell features and they are triggered if 2x2 Wild symbols land in any of the areas. The hotspot areas enlarge by one row when extra spins mode is triggered.

Heaven feature

If a 2x2 Wild symbol lands within the Heaven hotspot area (fully or partially), the Heaven feature activates and, depending on whether Wild symbol has landed fully or in part, 2 or 4 stacks of Wilds will land on reels.

Hell feature

Similarly, if a 2x2 Wild symbol lands fully or partially in the Hell hotspot area at the bottom, Hell feature commences. This will generate 8 or 16 singleton Wild symbols during the feature – again, depending on how the 2x2 Wild landed in a hotspot.

Extra spin feature is activated if three or more Scatter symbols land anywhere on reels. You can get 10, 15, 20 or 25 extra spins (if you land 3, 4, 5 or 6 Scatter symbols, respectively).

All special features can be reactivated if Wild symbols land in the hotspot areas again.

Our Take

Archangels: Salvation is definitely making its mark as one of the best games of 2018. With RTP of 96.08%, plethora of features, innovative gameplay and ground-breaking grid, it's yet another title giving a good name to NetEnt. It's “on the edge of your seat” stuff all the way as you progress from one feature to the next, collecting wins after wins. Stunning graphics are just the icing on the delicious cake. We hope that NetEnt won't give up on the supposed project of creating games with a configuration such as this one, as they have really captured lightning in the jar this time.