For developers to come up with new ways to entertain players, they have many avenues to explore. There has been an increase in studios moving away from the classic periods of ancient history, such as Greece, Rome, or Egypt, for something new in recent years. There has been a minor gold rush in Mesopotamia. It is not as well known as its Ancient Egyptian neighbours, but it is no less exotic. In Age of Akkadia, Red Tiger uses the theme well, but has not extended the desire for novelty to the gameplay or features.

Let's start with the good news. The Age of Akkadia slot is a typical Red Tiger game. There is a sense of centuries bearing down on you from the giant animal stone statues next to the 5x5 game grid. Similar to games like Zeus Lightning Power Reels, Red Tiger presents the ancient Mesopotamian theme in a gravely manner - even the symbols are similar. In spite of the fact that the Akkadians left no monuments as impressive as the Pyramids of Giza, their civilisation must have been quite impressive.

While the visuals are all Red Tiger, the gameplay starts to show influences. Win/bonus trigger systems, for example, are similar to those found in Golden Ticket and Troll Hunters slots. Wins are achieved by matching three or more symbols in a row, whether vertically or horizontally, starting anywhere on the grid. At the same time, the same symbol can appear in more than one combination. A winning combination is removed from the board, but new symbols do not appear.

The math model running the show has a default RTP of 95.67% and a modest maximum win of 2,048 times your stake. You can play this stylistic journey through ancient Mesopotamia on any device where you can set stakes from 10 pence to £/€40. There are eight intricately designed pay symbols listed in the paytable. The low-paying symbols are clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades, while the high-paying symbols are birds, lions, bulls, and Sargon. Premium symbols have values ranging from 0.3x-0.5x for three of a kind, and 3 to 5 times the bet for five of a kind.

Free spins on Age of Akkadia

There are a couple of features in Age of Akkadia that can increase your returns. Akkadia Wilds and multipliers hidden within free spins give you a chance to win big. When high paying symbols form a winning combination, they leave an Akkadia wild symbol in the middle position. When wilds appear, they replace any symbol to create a winning combination, and they remain on the reels for the rest of the cascade. When wild symbols are removed from a win, there is no wild left in the middle.

A word 'BONUS' can be found behind one of the three lowest rows of the game area. When cascades remove enough symbols to reveal the BONUS word, 10 free spins are awarded. When the symbols in front of the word are removed during free spins, five bonus spins are awarded.

When free spins are active, not only is the BONUS word displayed beneath symbols, but also multiplier values. Depending on the spin, up to three can be found with a value of x10. When a multiplier is revealed, it is added to a rising win multiplier that remains throughout the bonus round. You can reach a multiplier of x30 when the multiplier rises.

There appears to be someone at Red Tiger who enjoys Play'n GO slots. We noted this when reviewing Luna Fortuna, which was very similar to PnG's hit Moon Princess in appearance, mechanics, and leggy anime characters. Luna Fortuna hasn't seen much light, if any. We can only speculate whether that's because Play'n GO released the dogs of law.

I think you have a pretty good idea of where we are going after reading the previous paragraph. There are many similarities between Age of Akkadia and Golden Ticket or Troll Hunters. All three games use the pay any direction win system in hopes of uncovering the word BONUS, which in turn triggers free spins. There is a saying that life imitates art, and in iGaming, studios imitate each other in varying degrees.

Positively, Age of Akkadia looks pretty and is a viable ancient history alternative if you're over scarabs, pharaohs, or pyramids. Anyone looking for a Golden Ticket reboot, with lesser values, might find Age of Akkadia to be a more casual alternative to something like Push Gaming's Wheel of Wonders.