Hand of Anubis

Review Hand of Anubis

Hand of Anubis is a new pokie from the producers of Hacksaw Gaming where you’ll meet a powerful god whose origin dates back to Egyptian mythology. You might have heard of Anubis before and if not, this is the protector of the gates to the underworld, which kinda sounds both intimidating and fascinating if you ask us. Anubis played various roles in Egyptian mythology, but his way of weighing the hearts of the dead definitely had a major impact on his mysterious and notorious status.

The story behind it? If the heart turned out to be heavier than the feather, then the person involved would have no afterlife, but if the heart was lighter, this was seen as a sign that the person lived a good and honest life, awarding them a place in the afterlife paradise. This 2022 online pokie bij Hacksaw Gaming takes us to a darker side and gives us a gaming experience most players won’t easily forget, as the odd looking Anubis characters and the audio they come with lead to a spooky ambience. Something that will bring some light to this dark theme, is that the game comes with features that can award wins of up to 10.000x the bet.

How to Play

Bet sizes range in Hand of Anubis range between $0.10 and $100 per spin. The highest payout you’ll find in the paytable is the red gem, which gives you 60x your bet for a cluster of +11. Overall, this is how to play Hand of Anubis by Hacksaw Gaming:

• Once Hand of Anubis has loaded on your screen you’ll see an introduction screen which shows an overview of the game’s features and what to expect. Click to continue.
• Make sure to take some time to familiarise yourself with the game’s features, the rules and paytable by using the menu button and selecting the ‘info’ button.
• For the audio settings also click on the menu button or go for the turbo feature, which will make sure to speed up the game play.
• To adjust your bet to your preferences and bankroll, go for the up and down arrow keys found on the side of the bet amount. The amount shown here is the bet per spin.
• For autoplay, click on the spin button that contains the arrow. This will give you access to the autoplay settings. Go for the number of automatic spins you feel comfortable with and set your maximum loss limits in the advanced section. There is also the option to stop the auto spins manually. Especially if you play this game as a real money pokie, it is advised to keep your eye on the balance.

Symbol Wins

Ancient Egyptian figures are clearly well-used themes in online pokies and Hand of Anubis is yet another example. The Hand of Anubis online pokie has a major difference with other games as it mainly focuses only on the role of Anubis, the god of the afterlife, and of course: mummification. This sounds exciting enough to us to give this pokie a shot and if you agree on this you’ll be presented with a nice selection of symbols as soon as you launch the game on your screen. The reels of Hand of Anubis have been designed to serve as a direct gateway to the afterlife guarded by two Anubis-looking gods. Both their heads and bodies are decorated with gold stripes, and their robes are guided by the wind. The premium symbols are jewels that come in ancient Egyptian-style hieroglyphs, whilst the low value symbols are nicely presented Ace to 10 symbols. The audio and the different sound effects that come with them are part of a dark and mystical ambiance that are probably what you’d expect if you’re already familiar with Anubis.

Bonus Features

This rather spectacular pokie machine by Hacksaw Gaming is characterised by 3 different features: Soul Orbs, the Underworld feature, and the Judgement feature. Here’s what they do:

Soul Orbs

In the base game of Hand of Anubis, red and blue Soul Orb symbols can land on the playfield. These are wild symbols that have progressive multipliers attached to them.

• Red Soul Orb increases its multiplier by +1 for every symbol in a winning cluster.
• Blue Soul Orb increases its multiplier by +1 for each winning cluster.

These multipliers are only applied to the winning combinations involving a Soul Orb symbol.

Underworld feature

You can activate the Underworld feature by spinning 3 bonus symbols in the base game. During this feature, a multiplier can be seen under each reel, which starts at x0. The multiplier is increased by making winning combinations. As this NZ pokie uses the cluster mechanism, winning combinations can come in all kinds of forms. How much a multiplier increases depends on the number of winning symbols seen on the corresponding reel.

Anubis Skull symbols can also land during this feature. The reel this symbol lands on will see the multiplier multiplied by x2, x3, x4, x5 or x10. However, before you can use a roll multiplier, you must first manage to activate it. You can trigger a reel multiplier by spinning a green Soul Orb symbol on that reel giving you 3 Underworld spins as a bonus. Multipliers go up to a max of 9,999x.

Judgement feature

The Judgement feature is triggered by spinning 4 bonus symbols in the base game. In this feature, all low pay symbols are removed from the game. The Judgement feature is a Hold & Win feature where only blank symbols, Ice symbols, Crusher symbols and 4 types of multiplier symbols can land. At first, you get 3 respins with multipliers above each reel. When multiplier symbols land, 1 or more multipliers are added above the reel. There are 4 types of multiplier symbols:

• Skulls: increase the roll multiplier by +1 to x100.
• Epic Skulls: increase all reel multipliers by +1 to x100.
• Anubis Skulls: multiply the roll multiplier by x2 to x10.
• Epic Anubis Skulls: multiply all reel multipliers by x2 to x10.

Ice symbols and Crusher symbols can also land on the reels:

• Ice symbols immediately disappear from the grid as soon as they land. The empty spot is then filled by a multiplier symbol. The height of this multiplier has the same value as the active multiplier that can be seen above the reel.
• Crusher symbols crush all multiplier symbols below them and collect their multipliers. In addition, they also ensure that the number of respins is reset to 3, just like the multiplier symbols and Ice symbols do.

At the end of a spin, all multiplier symbols are stacked at the bottom of the playfield. Blank symbols are then removed, after which a new spin takes place.

Bonus Buy

There is also a Bonus Buy feature available in Hand of Anubis, with which you can buy direct access to the Underworld feature and the Judgement feature. You will need some budget to do so:

• The Underworld Bonus Round costs 129x your stake and comes with a very high volatility and a RTP of 96.29%.
• The Judgement feature costs 200x your stake and comes with a high volatility and a 96.18% RTP.

Payout Metrics

Hand of Anubis is played on a 5×6 grid and a Cluster Pays mechanism. You need to match 5 or more adjacent symbols anywhere on the grid to make a winning combination. The more matching and connecting pay symbols, the bigger the payout. Betting limits range from $0.10 to $100 a spin. As with all Hacksaw Gaming pokies, use the up and down arrows found to to the right of the Bet box to change your stake. The basic Hand of Anubis RTP is set at 96.24%, but be aware of ranging RTP.

There are also 94.32% and 92.28% versions available of the same game, so make sure to check what applies to your favourite online casino. The volatility is set at very high (5 out of 5) whilst the hit frequency rate is around 36.92%. This pretty much means a winning cluster will land every 2.7 spins on average. Speaking of wins, you can win up to 10,000x your total stake. The bigger wins definitely come from the two free spins features where multipliers go up to 9,999x and special blocks boost your bankroll.

Summary

We sure hope other providers have paid close attention with this one, as Hackaw’s Gaming’s Hand of Anubis is a smartly produced example of how to come up with something refreshing in the overcrowded niche of Egypt themes. Hacksaw Gaming’s journey to the dark world has been a pleasure for us to review and this title is high note when it comes to creativity. The speed of the game is excellent too, the audio is captivating and all together the Soul Orbs are exciting enough to keep the tension up even in the base game.

The Underworld bonus round is what we would label as very volatile, but as always with this provider, get ready for the unexpected. Things tend to escalate very fast once a few multipliers are triggered and truly massive win multipliers are also possible in this thrilling pokie. The Judgement feature is very entertaining, but our guess is that it’s a lot easier to go for the 10,000x potential in the Underworld feature. You get a way better average payout from the Judgement bonus however, as you’ll discover when you see the price in the bonus buy feature. Our advice? To give this game a go by making use of the free demo mode whilst you discover what role Anubis has played in ancient Egyptian history.