Everyone’s a classicist it would appear. The slots world loves the ancient world and we’ve never been sure why.
But our role is not to question a taste for Ancient Rome – the civilisation given a reel close going over here – it’s to tell you what the game is like!
The Augustus slot is a November 2020 release from Neon Valley Studios, who are a Microgaming developer. It is based very heavily on Gladiator, or at least the main character on the reels looks like he owes more than a small debt to Joaquin Phoenix in that film, even if the character name does not match.
The game is feature-rich, as you would expect from a five-by-three reel with this level of graphical sophistication in 2021, with symbol collections, massive wilds, and free spins.
A lot of things are very standard though: the 5 by 3 game field, the controls, the 20 pay lines, the medium variance are all very much of the moment. As is the RTP range. This means that the game has different house edges depending on where you play it, which is an innovation that we’re very keen on.
This is a sequel of a sort, being a remake of the Age of Conquest game and featuring very similar set-ups and bonus games.
Best Sites to Play Augustus Slot
How to Play Augustus Slot
Load up Augustus and you’ll be shown a very familiar playing field, with a very user-friendly control panel along the bottom of the screen of a standard slot.
Across the top of the reels are the coin slots that feature in the collection game, with the wilds running down the side of the reels to the left.
The control panel runs along the bottom, with, from left to right: the balance, the Bet window (with a simple plus and minus control) the control console with the spin button in the centre flanked by a max bet and autoplay button, finally, there’s a Win window.
Autoplay features will be outlawed in the UK later in 2021.
A three-dot control opens up a number of options, including short-cuts to bet controls, autoplay, settings like sound and screen size, and the pay table.
The pay table has the two giant wilds at the top: the emperor paying 15 times stake for a full prize, and a female gladiator paying 10 times stake.
The Roman logo pays 5-times stake, the helmet pays 3.75-times stake, the goblet pays 3-times, the dagger pays 2.5-times stake, before we reach the low paying symbols, aces, kings, queens and jacks, paying from 1.5 times stake for a full house up to 2-times stake.
Augustus Slot Features
Coin collection puts coins from the reels into the holders above them.
Each reel has a meter, and two coins fill it, releasing the wild reel feature on that reel. This turns all symbols wild on that reel for two spins.
There’s a range of wilds: standard wilds pay 50-times stake for a full house. The Roma symbol is a Free Spins scatter that can appear on odd-numbered reels and pays double bet as well as triggering the free spins round.
Free spins come in three styles with a different number of wilds to be factored against the number of spins. Free spins can be triggered.
The first feature has two spins and 3 wild reels. Feature 2 has 8 free spins and 2 wild reels. Feature 3 has 25 free spins with 1 wild reel.
The Verdict
Thumbs up or thumbs down then?
Thumbs up certainly for the quality of the design and the game experience, which is really good and delivers an authentic (via Hollywood, so not really at all authentic, to be honest) Roman experience to players.
There are a lot of good features in this game – but you’ve seen them all before in what is essentially a rebranding of an older game.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t play and enjoy it though because the features are interesting, adding adrenaline and interest to all phases of the game.
The top prize here is just a 1,000-times stake, which can get up to £200,000, which is not enormous in 2021. RTP ranges seem to be here to stay whatever we say, but we’ll keep on complaining about them wherever we see them because we think they are – or will end up being – bad for players.
Make your voice heard if you agree.
Easy on the eye and easy to play but with some real design sophistication, Augustus is worth opening up a history book for.
Augustus Slot Q&A
Should I play Augustus?
If you like Roman featured games then there aren’t many that are more convincing or steeped in the period than this one, which gives a nice Hollywood style account of one of the world’s great civilisations. There are lots of good features and it’s a very high-quality game as you would expect from a Microgaming developer.
Are there any cool features I should pay attention to?
Keep your eye on the coin meters because everyone loves wilds, and there could be some big wins coming your way if you hit double gold over a reel. This feature keeps the interest going in the base game.
If I like this game, what else should I look at?
Age of Conquest is a very similar game, and Roman titles include Arena of Gold, and Gladiator Jackpot uses the actual film that has influenced this game so heavily in an official tie-in.
Is there anything else that I should know about the Augustus slot?
Check the RTP where you play this game. It is in a range that can be altered.
What’s the best free spins round to pick?
As this is a matter of luck and random chance there is no right answer to this but we think that a large number of free spins gives the player a better chance of success, including the chance of retriggering the feature, so we think you should pick the option with the most spins.