Amber Sterling’s Mystic Shrine Slot Review

12/04/2021 | Categories: Microgaming Slots | Published by: Joe | Last updated: 05/01/2024

Fortune Factory Studios is an independent game developer that is doing big things on Microgaming’s Quickfire platform. For those not in the iGaming loop, Quickfire is a platform developed by Microgaming to help improve browser play. It currently supports over 400 titles, including Fortune Factory ones. In truth, this Isle of Man Microgaming partner only has eight spinners in its arsenal, with this one being their most popular product ever.

Amber Sterling’s Mystic Shrine is a fresh release. It hit online casinos in March of 2021 and became an instant hit, shooting up almost immediately into the number twelve spot. Before it came out, Aliyas Wishes, an Aladdin-like game, was Fortune Factory’s most successful game. Now this spinner is the company’s pride and joy, as it seems like it may have legs. So far, player reviews have been decent, and it utilizes one of the sector’s most popular themes. So, it has those things going for it. However, time will tell if it has staying power.

Theme & Design

This title tries to capitalize on the wild adventurer genre. No doubt, Rich Wilde changed the game. So much so that many other providers have come up with their brave explorer characters. However, no one has come close to replicating the success of Play’n Go’s famous series. In an attempt to further exploit Rich, Play’n Go invented his daughter Cat Wilde, and now she has three reel-spinners to her name. Fortune Factory likely thought that they should get in on this action. Thus Amber Sterling came into existence to compete with Cat. For our taste, she looks a bit tame for a courageous adventuress. Yet, that does not mean that she cannot lead you toward treasures.

The visuals here are eye-pleasing. They mainly consist of painterly images with some 3D elements thrown in the mix. The use of color is pretty good here, as everything is vibrant but in tone. Amber Sterling’s Mystic Shrine incorporates both 2D and 3D animations. The reels in this game spin inside a monument structure deep in the jungles of Asia. You can see temple ruins in the background and a pot of gold in the foreground. There is a movie-like soundtrack that plays throughout the base game, and it gets accompanied by Amber Sterling’s commentary. She boasts a posh English accent while offering words of encouragement and explaining what features are about to come next.

The button configuration here is simple. You have your spin, auto-spin, and max bet buttons in the middle bottom part of your screen. The bet-adjuster is to the left of these, and the mute option is in the bottom right corner. If you click on the three-bar icon in the bottom left corner, you can access the settings and info pages.

Specs & Gameplay

Amber Sterling’s Mystic Shrine is a five-reel, three-row slot with twenty available paylines. It is a high variance title with an average return-to-player of 96.31%. Bet sizes here go as low as $0.2 and as high as $50. The largest prize you can win spinning these reels has a cap of x5,000 your bet, which is acceptable. Wins here get awarded when you land three to five matching symbols on a line. Line wins feature game tokens on adjacent reels, paying from left to right.

The low-paying symbols of this game are different colored A-10 royals, paying x1 or x2 for five-of-a-kind. The high-paying ones are a lantern, a compass, a golden elephant, and a Buddha statue. These provide rewards that range from x3 to x6 your stake for landing five identical symbols from this batch on the grid.

The Wild here is a golden medallion, and it substitutes all other symbols except the Bonus one. You can also snag a win of x6 your wager for hitting five Wilds in view. The Bonus symbol is the word itself.

Bonus Features

Essential to the gameplay here is the Action Reel, which triggers at random. You can see it at the top of the reel grid between the two Buddha heads. It activates marked positions or the Blazing Wild Streak feature. For the first, it displays flame symbols (one to three), and each time a flame shows up here, a position gets marked on the grid. That comes in handy when the Blazing Wild Streak mode is active. You trigger it when the action reel displays re-spin symbols (x1 to x3 multiplier). The landed multiplier gives you a re-spin, and all marked positions turn Wild. These can do so with up to an x5 multiplier attached.

If you manage to land three Bonus symbols on the middle three reels, you will activate the Jackpot Game. In that instance, the standard grid gets replaced with twelve Buddha heads. These heads reveal different color gemstones when clicked that correspond to the four jackpot prizes. Depending on which three you first combine, you will win a corresponding reward from the jackpot stack of four.

GOSU Verdict

We can see why some people would like this game. It looks decent, though a bit flat, and has some charm going for it. We are not going to argue that. However, it seems a bit run-of-the-mill. There is nothing unique about it, sans the action reel, which slightly jazzes the gameplay up a bit. The jackpot reward here is decent, but nothing to write home about. In all honesty, we felt a bit underwhelmed when playing this slot. We cannot wait to see what Fortune Factory comes up with next, but this title gets a pass from us, as we expected more from it.