Sword of Khans Online Slot Machine – Free Play & Review

The Mongol empire has been chosen a couple of times already, to be used as inspiration in slots, but Thunderkick does a better job than most, when it comes to the actual design quality. The symbols they picked are relatively common though, including the Sword, Khan, Helmet, Armor, Shield and five playing cards.

Developer

A younger developer, but appreciated and recognized for the games they release, Thunderkick doesn’t always offer innovative content, and Sword of Khans is proof of that. Nonetheless, you can count on their most common slots, to have good graphics and a little bit extra in the features section.

How To Play It

Thunderkick’s wagers tend to all look the same. The developer doesn’t mess around with a line bet, it just  gives you the option to pick a bet value, and it covers everything. Here, the range of the bets is from $0.10 to $100, all values being available via a bet menu.

You get 10 lines on 5×3 reels, and if you’ve played any Book of Ra clones in the past, then the type of gameplay found in Sword of Khans should be familiar to you. They might’ve changed the book for the sword, but the mechanics have remained the same.

Special Features

For the most part, what you’re getting from Sword of Khans is a Book-style slot machine, but I was glad to see that Thunderkick tried to make it their own, and changed a couple of things, here and there. The substance remains the same though.

You get a single feature symbol, acting as both the wild and the scatter. It’s a Sword here, rather than the Book that we see in dozens of other slot machines.

Since as a wild it can be helpful even when appearing only once, it’s in this role that you will usually get to take advantage of it. When landing on a payline, with matching symbols present in other positions, they will form a combo together, if at all possible.

At the same time, wild symbols act as scatters when you get a minimum of three in view. You get a prize, reaching 200x the stake, and there is also a random number of free spins (5 to 15 rounds). One symbol is chosen to get the ability to expand, making it easier for 10 combinations at a time to form, and even to fill the reels with matching symbols.

If the free spins retrigger, then the game chooses a second special symbol. If the same symbol gets chosen, a multiplier is added to it, and it can reach 3x if this happens twice.

Maximum Payouts

If there is one thing that’s to be appreciated in the Book-style slots, it’s that the volatility of the game is there for a reason, and ultimately there is awesome potential as well. With a 10,000x the stake top jackpot for you to win, you may just be capable of turning a $100 bet into a $1,000,000 prize.

The volatility score I’ve seen mentioned for Sword of Khans is 9.4 out of 10, so the game is pretty close to the highest point on Thunderkick’s scale.

It’s certainly capable of paying well, but long-term I don’t really like how it’s doing with its Return to Player percentage. At 95.36%, the level is lower than in most Book-style slots I’ve seen, so you have lower odds in exchange for prettier graphics.

Summary

Sword of Khans is a nice change for the Book-style genre, since we’re not looking at books for the main symbols. The switch to swords, along with prettier graphics and 10,000x top payouts, might make the game a good pick for some players, but many others will not like the lower RTP, of just 95.36%.