Sanctuary

Review Sanctuary

The Cult had their best moments in the late 80s and early 90s, but they’re still active to this day. Once known as Death Cult, this English band is one of the rock formations that have their own online pokie with other bands being Motörhead, Jimi Hendrix, Guns N’ Roses, and Ozzy Osborne. Sanctuary is the fourth game that finds its inspiration in the rock band The Cure and the dark game theme and atmospheric audio fits the Egypt theme very well, we have to say. When the bonus feature is triggered, it is time to leave the pyramids, to make your spins on one of the five bonus features. The feature is all about sticky wilds, as they’re cloned to up to 4 reel sets. Also, the 44,070x top potential is very high, giving some extra reasons to play this casino game.

How to Play

The action of Sanctuary takes place on a grid of 6 reels and 4 rows, providing a total of 4096 ways to win. Do note that the free spins can come in 4 different versions so this might be a bit tricky to grasp at first. Other than that, Sanctuary is not very difficult to learn. Here is how to play Sanctuary:

• Sanctuary comes on a grid of 6 default reels and 4 rows. There are 4096 paylines.
• Make bets between $0.10 and $12 for every game round after spinning the reels.
• Play the reels by manually pressing the Play button. Alternatively, the autoplay mode is also available.
• Winning combinations are made when several identical symbols land from the far left and on consecutive reels.
• Push the Menu icon to show the Sanctuary game information.
• Play responsibly and stick to licensed online casinos only.

Symbol Wins

As for the symbols in the game, the playing cards are the low value symbols. The 9 and 10 pay 0.1x to 0.5x the bet, J and Q award a bit more up to 0.8x, whilst the K and A pay out 0.2x to 1.2x the stake. As for the medium value symbols we’ll come across the typical Egyptian symbols Eye of Ra, Scarab, and Anubis which are all worth up to 1.5x, 2.5x, and 5x the stake. Out of the different symbols in Sanctuary, the Pharaoh awards between 0.3x and15x for combinations of 2 or more. The wild symbols are found in the Purple and Gold Isis symbols, these can only land on the reels 2-5, whilst the Pyramid is the scatter symbol. Both symbols are known for their ability to unlock the Sanctuary bonus modes. Below, we’ll check out below as well as the regular symbols:

Bonus Features

The Sanctuary pokie comes with a total of 5 bonus features. With Purple Full Reel Wilds with an 8x multiplier in the base game, it’s all about the Sticky Wild Free Spins feature. You can gamble to play with up to 4 reel sets which makes this game rather original. Also, the game comes with sticky Ankh Cross Wilds that are able to duplicate onto all reel sets. Fill reels with sticky wilds for a 4x Wild Reel and more free spins. You also have the Win Exchange element to help you activate the free spins.

Full Reel Wilds Feature

The Full Reel Wilds Feature can be triggered randomly on the reels 2, 3, 4 and/or 5. Purple Full Reel Wilds will come with a 8x multiplier. The Purple Full Reel Wild is also available on the 4 middle reels, with the multiplier values helping each other and thus accumulated before multiplication is applied. In total, this can give a 4,096x multiplier.

Sticky Wild Free Spins Feature

This feature is activated by landing 3+ Pyramid Scatter symbols anywhere on the reels. You’ll get 7 free spins with up to 4 reel sets in play. Each of the reel sets have 6 reels, 4 rows and a total of 4,096 paylines.

• 3 Pyramid Scatters: 1 reel set.
• 4 Pyramid Scatters: 2 reel sets.
• 5 Pyramid Scatters: 3 reel sets.
• 6 Pyramid Scatters: 4 reel sets.

The Ankh Cross Wild symbol serves as sticky wild, staying in position when landed on the reels 2, 3, 4 and/or 5. It also serves as a way to duplicate across all available reel sets. In this case, you will experience true sanctuary, at least when 4 sticky wilds land on a reel. After this, it will transform to 4 reels.

Also, 3 extra free spins are added to your tally. This means up to 12 additional free spins can be won (up to 19 in total). A 4x Wild Reel on the 4 middle reels will lead to a 256x multiplier on each reel set. In all cases, players will have the option to buy direct access via the bonus buy feature or gamble their wins via the gambling feature. Below, we’ll discuss both of these optional features.

Bonus Buy Feature

For Kiwis and players from other countries there is also a Bonus Buy feature which gives players the chance to head straight into the free spins for 80x the bet. This option is enabled via the Bonus Buy icon which is recognised via the gold envelope.

Win Exchange Feature

Like in other pokies by Big Time Gaming, the Sanctuary pokie is provided with a Win Exchange feature. Wins of 25 and 80x the total stake can be exchanged to the chance to activate the Sticky Wild Free Spins feature. This will see a gamble wheel added to the screen after which the green segment will activate the free spins round. The red segment will make you lose the initial win and take you back to the base game. Wins of 80x or more will give you the chance to exchange your win for entry to the free spins round.

Payout Metrics

The Sanctuary RTP is set at 96.38% which is significantly above the 96% average range. Still it is lower than the RTP average of BTG games. Very high volatility, there isn’t any hit frequency rate information at the time of writing. As for the payouts, Sanctuary works with top wins of 44,070x the bet. The game’s biggest wins can be found in the free spins features when the 4 reel sets are active. Do note that during the regular base game spins, the max payout is capped at 20,480x the stake. This game by BTG is available for both demo and real money spins in licenced NZ online casinos.

Summary

The Aussie based developers of Big Time Gaming seem to be huge fans of The Cult, as this is already game number 4 that is based in the rock group. If you ask us, this is a great music taste, so we wouldn’t even mind a fifth instalment at some point. Launched end 2023, it might be a good idea to modernise the game interface. What we very much enjoyed is the way the player is taken to ancient Egypt. Also, this is once again a strong performing pokie by Big Time Gaming which is particularly true for the bonus features, the top win potential and the overall smoothness of the game play. Add the audio to that and you’ve got plenty of reasons to play this game, unless you can’t stand the music of The Cure. Even in that case, the mute button will do the trick whilst the same is true for the top prizes. We suggest all Kiwis to try out the demo version to familiarise yourself with the gameplay and the different bonus features. Once you believe you’re ready then you could opt for real money wagers that make it possible for you to make real money wins.