Shields of Lambda

Shields of Lambda: Slot Overview

Back in… 2020? Man, time flies; developer Quickspin released Nero's Fortune, a cluster paying slot played in a clever visually tilted grid and gaming environment that made the user feel small and oppressed by the unique way the grandeur of Ancient Rome had been presented. It's a technique the studio touched on a little while later in a few games but pretty much mothballed it after Crown of Valor. Quickspin has decided the time is ripe to dust off the tilted visual effects and revive them for another civilisation of antiquity-themed slot, Shields of Lambda.

The visuals in Shields of Lambda are actually quite immersive. The way the grid's been angled makes it seem like players are making their way up stone steps to a towering temple flanked by towering stone statues. Such is the graphical quality that it's easy for users to pretend they're deep in an Ancient Greek world where Olympian Gods walk the earth and gambling fortunes are tossed about like ships in a storm. If the base game has a heaviness to it, just wait till free spins trigger and play drops way, way down beneath the planet's surface to join a Ferryman in a fiery Underworld. Music helps thicken the atmosphere, and Shields of Lambda is as chorally dramatic as it was in the previous Quickspin slot review, Temple of Paw.

Shields of Lambda is a cluster pays slot that plays out on a 5-reel, 5-row gaming matrix. Winning combinations occur when 5 or more identical pay symbols land in vertically and/or horizontally connected positions. With a medium-high volatile math model, players can expect a theoretical RTP of 96.13% by default and stake levels of 20 c to $/€100.

The pay symbols in Shields of Lambda include stone cut J, Q, K, and A royals, as well as an owl, a goat, a bull, plus a lion. Clusters made up of 5 matching symbols pay 0.25 to 0.5 times the bet, while the biggest clusters of 25+ pay 15 to 30 times the bet. The Wild substitutes for any symbol except scatters for payout purposes.

Shields of Lambda: Slot Features

If you're feeling brave (and lucky), then triggering free spins and heading to the Underworld will be a primary objective, either naturally or via the bonus buy. Complimentary features are Colossal Wilds, Lambda symbol collection, the Unity feature, and a free spins gamble.

Lambda & Colossal Wild

Lambda symbols are placed randomly on the reels. If wins occur above Lambda symbols, they are removed and collected by the meter. In the base game, players must collect 70 Lambda symbols to fill the meter. In free spins, just 20 Lambda symbols are needed to fill the meter. Any additional Lambda symbols are carried over to the next Lambda Meter progress. When the meter is maxed out, it triggers the Unity feature. The meter is persistent for each bet level and saved between sessions.

Colossal Wilds substitute for all symbols except scatters for payout purposes. Colossal Wilds can be added randomly on non-winning spins, and any Lambda symbols beneath wins are collected by the meter.

Unity

When triggered, one low-pay symbol populates the entire grid. A tumble mechanic is active during Unity features, so when a win occurs, the winning symbols are removed, and new symbols tumble in. Unity features continue until there are no more winning tumbles. The Lambda Meter is filled during this feature.

Ferryman's Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. Players have the option to gamble for up to 20 free spins or collect. Winning a gamble awards an extra +5 free spins, but losing the gamble forfeits all free spins. It is possible to gamble until 20 free spins have been won or the gamble is lost.

During Ferryman's Free Spins, the Lambda Meter is filled by 20 Lambda symbols rather than 70. A progressive multiplier applies to all Unity feature wins in a free spins round, too. The multiplier increases by +1 for every winning tumble with no upper limit. If the Unity feature is retriggered during an active Unity feature, then the multiplier does not reset between the two Unity features. Free spins can be retriggered.

Buy Feature

For 70 times the bet, players can buy the Ferryman's Free Spins feature with 3+ scatter symbols. The RTP when buying the feature is 96.63%.

Shields of Lambda: Slot Verdict

It is a little surprising that Quickspin didn't follow up on Nero's Fortune and Crown of Valor sooner than it did with Shields of Lambda. It's a neat visual effect, so maybe Quickspin prefers to keep gamblers on their toes by avoiding predictability. These games have an unusual way of making you feel small and insignificant, as if standing before forces of nature, like, say, a mountain range which has been around a heck of a lot longer than you have and will be around for a heck of a lot longer after you're gone. Maybe this is a similar feeling people of the past had when entering a temple and being dwarfed by soaring columns and statues of deities that hold humanity in the palm of their hands.

The point is, Shields of Lambda has plenty to offer Ancient Greek slot enthusiasts, and heading to the Underworld for free spins, with the chance to gamble for more free spins on the descent, is a nice touch, too. On a technical level, as a cluster paying slot, Shields of Lambda possesses intrigue. It has a collection meter to feature trigger component, but rather than collect winning symbols, it's those underlying Lambdas you want to get. A possible concern is that when the Lambda Meter is full and a full screen of low pays hit, the payout isn't great. No matter the royal, a full-screen win is worth 15x the bet (before multipliers), which is hardly a king's ransom. A multiplier enters the picture during free spins, but it was hard to visualise Shields of Lambda popping really hard unless perhaps an insane amount of repeat tumble winning occurs in back-to-back Unity triggers. It might happen, who knows, and for players keen to find out in a game that feels like a slot version of a Ray Harryhausen epic fantasy, Shields of Lambda could be the thing.