Dude, where’s my Legend of the Golden Monkey slot?
A monkey that can do kung fu sounds like a YouTube prank but, and stay with me here, out of all the options, a monkey kung fu master makes the most sense. They’ve got four hands, they’re agile, they have incredible balance, and they’re smarter than a fair amount of people you went to school with. It makes a weird amount of sense.
Now, we’re not saying that the folks over at Ygdrasil Gaming were this level of high when they came up with Legend of the Golden Monkey slot, but we wouldn’t be surprised.
Where’s my monkey?
The slot is called Legend of the Golden Monkey, right? So, where is he… she… it? Well, that’s confusing. Can you misgender a personified monkey? Let’s go with he/him. He does drop in from time to time as part of one of the slot’s bonus features, but for the most part, he’s nowhere to be seen, which is a shame. In the static game art, it looks like a fun character that the slot could have benefited from had he been on the reels more often.
The absence of the slot’s main character would be understandable if the rest of the Legend of the Golden Monkey slot could stand on its own. It can’t! The symbols are dull, and the reels and backdrop are fine but don’t do much to inspire.
Hope comes in the way of a great soundtrack, though. The music is fantastic. It sounds as if it was lifted from a great Chinese kung fu film where the main characters have to journey across a vast landscape, encountering friends and foes through trials and triumphs.
If you’re looking for some of the specs for this slot, it offers a return to player (RTP) rating of 96.1 with low to medium volatility. The slot’s betting range is from €0,25 to €50 and it gives you a chance to win up to 1,000x your bet up to €50,000.
Was that my monkey?
We’ve had a rocky road to get here. Understanding and getting exciting about a monkey who could kick your ass and being disappointed when there was almost no ass-kicking to enjoy. It has been rough. Let’s see if we can get things back on track with some bonus features, shall we?
Back to that monkey that drops in from time to time. Every time he pays you a visit, he’ll show the reels who’s boss and change one symbol into another. And that’s it. That’s the monkey’s entire involvement in the slot. He changes one symbol to another. Now, we have to admit that during one of our test spins, he did turn a low-value symbol into a scatter symbol which unlocked a round of free spins. So, slight redemption arc.
Sure, the monkey is a bust, but the wilds are great. The slot has two wilds features. Sticky Wilds will remain on the reels as long as you keep winning. As soon as you spin a none-winning round, they’ll head out. Gold diggers! Count Down Wilds remain on the reels for three rounds completing wins. Alone, these two small features give a significant amount of life to the slot.
Things are improving here. We’re feeling good about this. It’s a great time for an unexpected interlude. And that’s the Treasure Chest. This surprising little bonus feature awards a random amount of cash. The symbol only appears on the fifth reel, and it’s a great little boost. We approve.
With that delightful interlude concluded, we can move on to the free spins. Karate chop three scatter symbols, and you’ll unlock a round of free spins. That’s not all, though. If you unlock the free spins feature by high kicking four scatter symbols, you’ll also get a cash prize, no questions asked. It’s not a glitch in the game. It’s a feature. Roundhouse kick five scatters symbols, and you’ll get free spins and an even bigger cash prize. That’s a new one for us.
Once you’ve got over the shock of your random cash prize, you’ll get to choose between three free spins features:
- Incremental Wilds – A fixed sticky wild will be added to reels two or four until the reel is filled with wilds
- Stacked Wild – Sticky wilds are permanently stuck on reels two and four. You also have the chance to land a special stacked wild on the third reel.
- Starting Wild – You start with a sticky wild in the middle of the reels. Any sticky wilds on reels two and four will remain stuck
Ygdrasil Gaming may have just pulled it off here. It got hairy at the beginning there, but they pulled it back nicely. Or did they?
That’s not my monkey!
We had an extremely witty and entertaining closing for this review… well, maybe not. We were thinking about a witty and entertaining closing, though. It was going so well until we stumbled across the official 2016 press release for Legend of the Golden Monkey slot.
Ygdrasil Gaming claimed that its Legend of the Golden Monkey slot was based on a “legendary Chinese folklore hero”. It’s not exactly clear who they meant. Even if you’re generous and you ignore the fact that Ygdrasil Gaming failed to achieve the goal they set out for themselves, it’s still not one of their finest outings. However, considering that the slot was released in 2016 and the developer has come a long way since then, we’re going to let this one slide.
If you’re looking for a new slot, we only mildly recommend this one. You can call it begrudgingly recommended. Those bonus features do offer something. Your time might just be better spent somewhere else. You could try out some of Yggdrasil Gaming’s other games. Some of our personal favorites are 12 Trojan Mysteries slot and Double Dragons slot.