The working title of this game was apparently ‘Totem Thunder’, but Quickspin must have decided to change it to Primal Spirits at the last minute. Both titles describe the subject matter at hand pretty well though, and this is a visually stylish slot grounded in Native American mysticism. The 5×3 grid is framed by a totem on either side, with a campfire burning against the starry night sky underneath.
A thunderbird sits like a roof on top, and the reels are filled with spirit animals and gems of corresponding colors. The totem on the left initiates symbol upgrade transformations, and each upgraded symbol type that’s also part of a win upgrades its own multiplier by +1 per winning symbol. The multipliers never reset in the bonus round, and this can lead to payoutsup to 8,469x your stake.
The symbols are grouped into 4 different colors, and the premium symbols pay between 2 and 5 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins.Wild symbolscan appear anywhere to step in for pay symbols to help complete winning combos, and pure wild wins pay up to 5x your stake for 5 on a payline. Winning symbols are removed via theTumble mechanic, and this gives you indefinite extra wins per spin as long as you keep winning.
The Totem seen on the left keeps shifting per spin, and the top part of the totem is glowing with either a red, purple, green or blue color. ThisTotem Trance featuretransforms low pay symbols of the corresponding color into premium symbols of the same color. On more rare occasions, the totem top can shine in a golden color. This turns all low pay symbols into their high paying counterparts.
The Totem on the right-hand side comes with multipliers that are upgraded per color, if, and only if, the symbol transformation creates a win. This adds+1 to the multiplierper symbol involved in the win of the corresponding color, and a golden totem will upgrade the multiplier of all 4 colors. The multiplier values reset between paid spins, so they only last for a tumble sequence in the base game.
TheThunder Bonus Roundtriggers from3 scatters, and this gives you10 free spins. You get+5 free spinson top of that for every extra triggering scatter above the minimum of 3. You can retrigger the feature the same way, and symbol color multipliers are carried over from the base game. The big difference is that the multipliers never reset as long as the bonus round lasts.
Finally, non-UK players, and anyone living in an eligible jurisdiction, may take advantage of the bonus buy option. This will set you back150x your stake, and it guarantees 3+ triggering scatters on the spin that follows.
We had a pretty good time testing Primal Spirits from Quickspin, and we have whipped together a brief and edited highlights video for you, as usual. Only the most fun moments from our 200 spin test session made the final cut, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.
The visual presentation in Primal Spirits seems somewhat inspired by the highly distinct style ofPeter & Sons, but not enough to pinpoint it as a deliberate “copycat” attempt. We quite enjoyed the Native American mysticism to be honest, and it’s done in a simple, cartoonish way that should have a broad appeal. The campfire with the starry night sky in the backdrop creates an enjoyable atmosphere.
The ever-changing totem color keeps the base gaming alive and interesting, as you get multiplier-boosted symbol transformation wins on a regular basis. Decent multipliers can be achieved also in the base game, but your chances of closing in on the8,469x potentialincreases significantly when the multipliers never reset in the bonus round. Overall, this game is well worth checking out, not least for fans of the Native American genre.
Pros
Cons
Xibalba- takes you to the Mayan underworld, and this Peter & Sons production comes with cascading win reel expansions that also increases the win multiplier. You get gigantor symbol respins from 2 scatters, and the multiplier never resets in the bonus round. The max win is 10,000x your stake.
Shaman’s Dream 2- is a popular installment in the Native American genre, and it’s quite similar to the original release in most ways. The instant prize feature is new though, but the x3 multiplier bonus round is still the same. The wild comes with an x2 multiplier, and you can win up to 9,500x your stake.
Mystic Chief- is a Native American release from Pragmatic Play, and it comes with a somewhat unusual 3-4-4-4-3 reel set with 576 ways to win. You get expanding multiplier wilds on the 3 middle reels, up to x10, and at least one expanding wild is guaranteed per spin in the bonus round. The overall max win is 5,000x your stake.
