Pilgrim of Dead

Review

You might wonder whether you’re about to unravel the darker side of Egyptian mythology as the Pilgrim of Dead pokie has quite a scary sounding title. Despite its dark name, Pilgrim of Dead is fun and quite an enjoyable online pokie, although it might feel a bit sinister. This ancient Egyptian themed online pokie carries a standard matrix with 5 reels and 10 fixed paylines. As most experienced players will know, the story behind the game might not be that unique, but the graphics of this launch definitely stand out. There are dark blue reels with hieroglyphs and different original icons that are very interesting to see. Players of the Pilgrim of Dead game will also see two black statues of Anubis on both sides of the layout. These serve as an entrance to a temple behind it which makes it even more mysterious. The lively audio adds even more thrills to this Play’n Go pokie.

Pilgrim of Dead

It looks like game developers randomly add “of Dead” to their title to make it sound a lot more exciting, although Play’n Go is probably best known for their games in this category. We’ve already had Book of Dead, Legacy of Dead, Scroll of Dead, amongst others and in this New Zealand online pokie review you’ll be dealing with Pilgrim of Dead. Whilst the titles of these pokies might lack a bit of originality, the games themselves have turned out to be highly popular amongst players. This latest title is another 10 line pokie with an above average RTP of 96.20% alongside a very decent top win of 10,000x the stake.

How to Play

This is another 5-3 reel, 10-payline launch by Play’n Go that makes it a fairly straightforward game to play. The Pilgrim of Dead pokie is available at different licenced online casinos that are available to New Zealanders of 18 years and older. To give you a better idea of the basics of the game, here is how to play Pilgrim of Dead by Play’n Go:

• Starting a round in the Pilgrim of Dead free demo mode or real money version is conducted in the same way.
• Press the green circle with two white pointers to trigger the 5×3 grid. The Pilgrim of Dead online pokie game lets players set different sized bets. Players can choose to place a minimum bet of $ 0.1, whilst the maximum is set at $ 100 per spin.

Symbol Wins

With an ancient Egyptian theme, the Pilgrim of Dead pokie continues in the same form as countless games in the series from Play’n Go. Pilgrim of Dead is set in the Temple of Seti I in Abydos which is a notorious pilgrimage centre for the worship of the god of the underworld, Osiris. Dark and quite extreme, the audio of the game is without a doubt the first thing that will catch you. It’s truly action-packed and could easily be from a Hollywood blockbuster. On the reels, there are low value symbols such as A, K, Q, J and 10 royals. Then you have green scarab beetles, balance scales, jackal god Anubis and Osiris. Osiris is the most valuable symbol in which 0.5, 5, 20 or 100x the stake is awarded for combos of 2, 3, 4 or 5. As with other Book Of-online pokies, the Tomb symbol acts both as the wild symbol and the scatter symbol. Substituting for all paying symbols, 2, 3, 4 or 5 anywhere on the reels will pay 0.5, 5, 20 or 100x the stake. Three or more though will trigger the Free Spins feature. Here are some more details of all the symbols and their outcomes:

Bonus Features

Pilgrim of Dead has only two features, both of which are connected to the tomb with its dual function: the free spins feature and a wild symbol that we will discuss below. Here is what they do:

Wild Symbol

The tomb is the wild and scatter symbol in Pilgrim of Dead. In the role of wild, it can replace all regular symbols as a kind of joker if that results in or increases a winning combination.

Pilgrim of Dead Free Spins

As a scatter, the tomb symbol can help you with free spins in Pilgrim of Dead. If you manage to spin three or more tombs, you will receive 5 free spins to start with. However, you can earn extra free spins during the bonus round by spinning 3 or more scatters again. The number of free spins can be increased to a maximum of 30 in this way.

Before the free spins round starts, one of the paying symbols is selected. This selected symbol will sometimes expand during the bonus round when it appears on the playing field. You have a say in which symbol this will be by being able to reject the first proposal if it turns out to be a low value symbol. You must however accept the second symbol that is designated as a special symbol.

The symbol will expand when visible on two reels if it is a valuable symbol. Less valuable symbols will need to appear on at least 3 reels to expand. When this is the case, the symbol expands to the full height of the reel after the payout of regular wins. This way it can provide additional combinations. After the spin, the fun doesn’t end yet as the first expanding symbol on a reel sticks for the rest of the free spins. This is not as an expanding symbol but more in its original size.

Payout Metrics

The Pilgrim of Dead RTP is 96.2% which is as expected from Play’n Go and a tad higher than the 96% found in online pokie games. Play’n Go does offer a 94.2% RTP version and even lower versions which may be available at some NZ online pokie sites. We therefore advise you to verify the RTP rate of Pilgrim of Dead at your favourite online casino.

Volatility wise, the Pilgrim of Dead is high and labelled as 8 out of 10. Expect smaller wins most of the time with the occasional big payout. As for the payouts in this game, the maximum win per spin is 10,000x the total bet. This can be won if you fill the reels with either of the two highest value symbols and/or the Tomb wild or Tomb scatter. The chance that this will occur is once every 100 million spins on average.

Summary

The Pilgrim of Dead online pokie is visually very good and has a much more sinister feel than its predecessors. If you like this approach, this game is definitely for you. Both pokies come with 10,000x bet max wins. With the Free Spins feature bonus being the only focus in this game, there is a little twist where the special expanding symbol is sticky when appearing on a reel for the first time. This means that you can land the special expanding symbol on all 5 reels a lot easier than in other Of Dead-pokies. What you really want to happen in this game is to get a high value special expanding symbol. Getting a screen full of 10, J or Q symbols will give you a 40x bet payout whilst a screen full of Osiris symbols will pay you 10,000x the bet. All in all, the Pilgrim of Dead pokie looks perfect, but this darker formula might not be enough to tempt loyal Book of Dead players and make it a classic.