Foxium · Released 2022 · Medium volatility
Released
Nov 22
Volatility
Medium
Reel
5x3
Paylines
25
RTP
96.2
Min bet
0.2
Max bet
100
Max win
2,500
Akiva: Claws of Power from Foxium takes players onto the African savannah alongside Akiva, a rather imposing lion who apparently is not content simply being king of the jungle and has decided to start rearranging slot reels as well. Released on 30 November 2022, it uses a traditional 5x3 grid with 25 fixed paylines, medium volatility and maximum win potential of 2,500x the stake.
The headline RTP is 96.20%, although this is another game where the configuration needs checking. Documented alternatives include 94.01%, 92.03% and 86.70%, so Akiva is best flagged as a variable RTP game rather than treating 96.20% as universal.
Visually, Foxium has gone for a colourful rather than realistic interpretation of Africa. Akiva is joined by zebras, hippos and antelopes against a bright savannah landscape, with drumbeats, animal tracks and bursts of sand providing plenty of movement around the reels.
Mechanically, there is actually quite a bit here. Akiva Sandstorm and Claws of Power can randomly intervene during normal spins to rearrange symbols into wins. Free Spins merge the three middle reels into one enormous symbol position, while Link&Win provides a completely separate Hold and Win style bonus with Cash Coins and three fixed jackpot prizes.
The problem is that almost everything Akiva does feels familiar. He has certainly brought plenty of claws to the savannah. I am just not convinced they are particularly new ones.
The Wild substitutes for regular paying symbols and can appear across all five reels. Five Wilds across a complete payline award 20x the total stake.
There is no special expanding, walking or multiplying behaviour attached to it. It is simply a conventional Wild doing a conventional Wild's job.
Considering Akiva spends much of the game dramatically attacking the reels, his Wild symbol is surprisingly well behaved.
Akiva Sandstorm is a randomly triggered Symbol Transformation modifier that can activate during ordinary play.
Akiva charges across the screen, creating a sandstorm that changes selected symbols in order to produce winning combinations. The modifier can trigger on any spin.
It is a nice way of occasionally rescuing an otherwise unsuccessful spin. There is also some good thematic integration here. Rather than simply flashing a generic mystery win message, Akiva physically charges through the savannah and leaves the reels in a more useful state.
The game's namesake Claws of Power is essentially a Symbol Shuffle modifier.
It can randomly activate on any spin, with Akiva slashing his claws across the screen and shuffling symbols into winning positions.
Mechanically, there is some overlap with Sandstorm because both modifiers ultimately have the same objective: take an unsuccessful or less useful reel configuration and turn it into a winning one. The presentation is different. The result is not particularly different.
That is slightly disappointing for the feature important enough to make it into the game's title.
Three Scatter Symbols trigger the Free Spins feature.
The trigger is unusual because the Scatters need to appear in the appropriate positions across the reels rather than simply anywhere on the grid. Three Scatters provide 5 Free Spins.
Five spins sounds exceptionally stingy. Fortunately, Free Spins completely change the middle of the grid.
During Free Spins, reels 2, 3 and 4 merge into a single giant 3x3 symbol, which we would classify under the broader industry term Mega Symbols. The resulting Big Symbol effectively counts as nine individual matching symbols when evaluating regular wins.
This is easily the most visually interesting part of Free Spins. Instead of simply providing five ordinary spins with a multiplier attached, Foxium completely changes the centre of the playing area.
Having nine matching premium symbols occupying the middle three reels can obviously create some useful combinations with symbols appearing on reels 1 and 5.
It is a good mechanic. I would just rather have more than five attempts to enjoy it.
Free Spins can be Retriggered. Landing another three Scatters during the feature awards 3 Additional Free Spins.
Considering the feature starts with only five spins, those extra three are particularly useful.
There is no additional multiplier or feature upgrade attached to the retrigger, though. It simply keeps the Big Symbol setup running for longer.
Foxium calls its main Respin feature Link&Win, which belongs to the wider Hold and Win family.
Landing six or more Coin Symbols triggers Link&Win with 3 Respins. The triggering Coins remain locked in position while the remaining spaces continue spinning. Every additional Coin is also held and resets the counter to three. The feature ends when the Respins run out or all 15 positions have been filled.
It is an extremely familiar structure. But Hold and Win works because every new Coin simultaneously adds another prize, fills another position and gives you another three attempts to continue.
Foxium has not reinvented it. It does not really need to.
Coins inside Link&Win act as Cash Symbols carrying individual stake multipliers.
Foxium officially lists values of 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 10x, 12x, 15x, 16x, 18x, 20x, 30x and 100x the total stake. When Link&Win finishes, the relevant accumulated prizes are awarded.
The large range gives individual Coins very different importance. A 1x Coin is mainly useful because it resets your Respins. Seeing 100x land is considerably more interesting.
A Coin can reveal the Mini Jackpot, awarding 30x the total stake.
This is a fixed jackpot, not a progressive prize.
The Mega Jackpot can also appear on a Coin and awards 100x the total stake.
Again, this is a fixed stake multiplier rather than a progressive jackpot.
Calling 100x mega might be slightly ambitious, but I will leave that discussion between Akiva and the marketing department.
Completely fill all 15 positions with Coin Symbols during Link&Win and the Grand Jackpot awards 1,000x the stake, in addition to the other prizes collected.
This gives the Hold and Win feature an obvious ultimate objective. Every filled position brings you closer to the full grid, while every new Coin resets the Respins and keeps the chase alive.
Importantly for our rating system, the Grand is fixed at 1,000x. There is no progressive jackpot, so Akiva receives no Jackpot Modifier.
Akiva is easy to understand and there is usually something beyond ordinary paylines to watch for.
Sandstorm and Claws of Power can randomly intervene during base play, Scatters provide one bonus route and six Coins provide another. That prevents the relatively basic 5x3 grid from feeling completely empty.
The two main bonuses also play very differently. Free Spins revolve around an enormous central Mega Symbol, while Link&Win is about locking Coins and keeping the Respin counter alive.
The weakness is that none of this produces much progression. Once you have seen the modifiers and played both bonuses, you have essentially seen everything Akiva has available.
There is a surprisingly substantial feature package here.
Two random base game modifiers, Mega Symbol Free Spins, retriggers and a separate Link&Win feature containing Cash Symbols and three fixed jackpots provide plenty of variety.
I particularly like that Free Spins and Link&Win are not simply two versions of the same bonus. The 3x3 Big Symbol changes the reel structure completely, whereas Link&Win offers the more familiar Cash Symbol collection experience.
What stops the score going higher is depth. The random modifiers are fairly basic and Link&Win follows the established Hold and Win formula almost exactly. Free Spins start with only five spins and do not really develop once you are inside them.
Good quantity. Less impressive invention.
This is one of Akiva's better areas.
The game is bright, colourful and polished, with a beautifully illustrated savannah, animated wildlife and Akiva himself providing plenty of personality. The Sandstorm and Claws modifiers also allow the main character to physically interact with the playing area rather than simply sitting beside the reels looking important. Foxium builds the experience around its African landscape, wildlife, sandstorms and drum driven soundtrack.
The theme itself is not original. African wildlife slots have been around for years. But execution matters, and Akiva looks considerably more polished and characterful than many generic safari games.
This is where the lion loses a few points.
African wildlife is extremely familiar slot territory. Hold and Win was already everywhere by 2022. Cash Coins, fixed jackpots, random symbol transformations, Free Spins and Mega Symbols were not new concepts either.
Foxium does combine them well. The Claws of Power and Sandstorm modifiers fit naturally around Akiva as a character, while changing the three middle reels into a giant 3x3 symbol gives Free Spins a recognisably different appearance.
But there is no single mechanic here that makes me think "that is Akiva". It is a polished collection of proven ideas rather than a particularly inventive one.
Overall Rating
7.7/10
Akiva: Claws of Power certainly has plenty of features in its territory. The problem is that most of them have wandered over from somewhere else.
Foxium's 5x3 game is lifted by two random modifiers during ordinary play. Akiva Sandstorm transforms symbols to create wins, while Claws of Power shuffles the grid into more useful positions. Neither is particularly sophisticated, but having Akiva physically charge and slash his way through the reels gives them plenty of character.
The bonuses provide much better variety. Free Spins merge reels 2, 3 and 4 into one huge 3x3 Mega Symbol, completely changing the centre of the grid. Link&Win then offers something entirely different, with six Coins activating three resetting Respins and Cash Symbols worth up to 100x appearing alongside Mini, Mega and Grand fixed jackpots. Fill all 15 positions and the Grand contributes another 1,000x.
Visually, it is strong. Akiva has personality, the savannah is colourful and the animations make the game feel considerably livelier than its traditional 25 payline foundation suggests.
Originality is the bigger problem. Hold and Win, Cash Coins, Mega Symbols and symbol transformations were all well established by the time Akiva arrived in 2022. Even the African wildlife setting has been thoroughly explored.
The 2,500x maximum win is also fairly modest, although that is not unreasonable for a medium volatility game. The RTP configuration deserves attention too: 96.20% is the best version, but 94.01%, 92.03% and a particularly unattractive 86.70% configuration are documented.
There is no progressive jackpot, so no Jackpot Modifier applies.
Akiva looks every inch the king of the jungle. Mechanically, he has borrowed a few too many tricks from the rest of the pride.
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