Knights of Alturia — the chronicle

The chronicle · entry 22017

Knights of Alturia, read closely

01The chronicle opens

Entered into the roll on 1 April 2021, Knights of Alturia is a five-reel, three-row pokie from Boldplay, dressed in ice-blue and set against a shattered crystal palace under a pale moon. A trademark on the logo tells you the studio treats this as a flagship.

The reels sit on dark slate, framed by golden pillars, with a purple 'boldplay SPINS' meter running up the far left. It is a handsome, cold-hued fantasy frame that leans more sword-and-sorcery than strict medieval.

02Theme and atmosphere

The charge is a frozen court: a bearded warrior-king in horned crown, a red-haired sorceress, a crest of axe, shield and swords, and a purple dragon-eye amulet. The royals A, K, Q and J are carved from coloured driftwood in orange, green, blue and yellow.

The palette is all cold blues and icy whites, with the crystal ruins glowing behind the reels. It is atmospheric without being busy — Boldplay keeps the pageantry restrained and the symbols easy to read.

03How the game is played

Wins muster left to right across the reels. The white warhorse is the wild, printed with WILD, and the pool flags it as a walking or moving wild — it shifts across the reels rather than simply landing and paying, which is where a lot of the base-game value comes from.

The 'boldplay SPINS' meter on the left is an energy-collection gauge that charges as you play toward the feature. My run at a £2.00 bet was quiet on the reels, with the interest sitting in that meter and the moving wild.

04Bonus features

This is a feature-rich build for its age. The pool lists Free Spins with a Free Spins Mode Choosing screen — you pick your own bonus configuration — plus a pick-objects Bonus Game, a Progressive Jackpot, moving wilds and a Risk/Gamble double-up on wins.

The Free Spins Mode Choosing is the pick of the bunch: rather than a fixed round, you trade off spin count against volatility. The progressive jackpot sits on top of all that as a random-award ceiling. I did not open the bonus in my demo, so I will not invent what those rounds paid.

05RTP, volatility and max win

The pool lists the return at 95.63%, which sits below the common benchmark — a point and a bit of house edge more than you would like, and worth weighing before you commit. Volatility is marked medium.

The top prize is listed at 5,000× stake. The in-game pay panel does show five-of-a-kind figures, but the digits are small; my best read of the top charge was in the region of 5,000× down to a couple of hundred for the mid symbols, and I am flagging those as approximate rather than dressing them up as exact.

06Who it suits

This suits players who like a feature-choosing bonus, moving wilds and a progressive jackpot in a cold, good-looking fantasy skin. The Free Spins Mode Choosing gives you a rare bit of control over the ride.

If you are sharp on return-to-player, the 95.63% figure will give you pause — it is below benchmark. Whatever you choose, set a limit before you muster in and treat it as entertainment. Free, confidential support is at safergambling.org.nz and the Gambling Helpline on 0800 654 655. 18+.

07The blazon in brief

A handsome, feature-packed Boldplay fantasy pokie whose mode-choosing free spins and moving wilds give it real character, undercut a little by a below-benchmark 95.63% return. The medium volatility keeps it playable. I enter it in the chronicle at 6 out of 10.