Microgaming have teamed up with Crazy Tooth Studio to produce an all-new, highly interactive video slot, Fortress Charge. Team-ups don’t always work out for the best when designing slot games, and Microgaming has had a few hits and many misses with their previous collaborations, but the early signs are that by working with the innovative Crazy Tooth Studios, they’ve created a gaming gem. Here we are going to take a deeper dive into Fortress Charge, and find out what all the fuss is about.
When playing Fortress Charge, there are some aspects you will be able to recognize right away. It uses 6 reels, with 3 rows and 3 paylines. This is fewer paylines than you may be used to, but it reduces volatility and makes the game more playable and suitable for longer sessions; and this game wants you to play for longer and explore. You can play for small stakes per spin too, letting you get more game for your money.
The theme of Fortress Charge is medieval, but with a fantasy twist that lets the game introduce mythological monsters for your knight to battle. The lines between video games and video slots are becoming more and more blurred, and this game does a good job of bringing them into focus and giving you the best of both in one.
This slot uses a range of features and bonuses to keep the play interesting. Unlike most slots, it doesn’t rely on free spins or wilds to keep play fun; instead it gives you targets to aim for and bonuses to unlock.
You are the hero in this story, a knight of the realm, and when you slay each beast, you claim the gold; in this case, a cash prize. Your knight charges his way to the fortress, felling the villainous threats before him until he claims the jackpot inside. The big jackpot is as much as 1500x your initial stake, and there are multipliers that can hit 16x.
The Fireball and Wand symbols on the reels are probably your most powerful weapons. The wand can vanquish any foe instantly, and the fireballs crash down across the reels causing huge and often fatal damage to the beasts that stand between you and your prize.
The RTP here is average for the industry, and keeps this game in line with what consumers and regulators expect of any style of video slot machine. The return to player percentage is 96.45%, which is good for any slot game. The mechanics of the game are slanted toward longer playtime, so if you want to make your play pay, be prepared to sit down and get stuck in. Fortunately, the game is a lot of fun to play, with excellent animation and sound design.
The future of the gaming industry is going to look a lot like Fortress Charge. Newer and younger players are coming to online casinos with decades of video game experience, and are used to more of a grind on games, with longer play times and games with narrative and structure. Spinning reels and quirky themes are no longer enough for slot machines, and in the coming years, expect more RPG and quest elements. We are all for it!