If you spend too much time watching YouTube, as I clearly do, you’ll hear about all kinds of ‘shadow councils’ or ‘shadow cabals’ eventually! These organisations may or may not exist but are typically invoked as a means of explaining why different groups of people hold alternative opinions regarding some divisive topic or another; it’s all a bit childish, really. I wonder what it is that The Shadow Order, as featured here in a slot by Push Gaming, is supposedly responsible for? It could be nothing more than a conspiracy theory, but I hear they offer a 96.51% RTP, pay prizes based on groups of three or more adjacent matching symbols anywhere on a 5×5 grid, and cap their maximum jackpot at 25,471x the total bet.
In the top-left corner of the screen, you’ll see three orbs – these are the ‘orb of destruction, ‘the orb of creation’, and ‘orb of preservation’. The grid includes three hotspots – one for each of the orbs – as well as a single collection tile in the bottom-right corner. To activate an orb and have it drop onto the playfield, you’ll first need to charge it by hitting winning combinations. Should an orb makes its way to its corresponding hotspot, it will activate a relevant feature; if all three orbs land on the collection tile during a single game round, you’ll be treated to a set of free spins instead.
Fancy a peek inside an underground cabal of shadowy figures? We have a free demo slot of The Shadow Order available to play below, just don’t tell anybody I told you about it.
| Provider | Push Gaming |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 5 |
| Paylines | Cluster Pays |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 10 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 25,471x |
| Bonus Buy | No |
| RTP | 96.98% |
| Our Rating | 8.0 |
The Shadow Order Slot Casino Bonuses
The Shadow Order Slot Free Play
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The Shadow Order Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
This game felt awfully familiar when I first began to play, and it wasn’t long before I realised what it was reminding me of – it’s quite similar to the Rise of Olympus and Moon Princess games by Play’N’Go. All three titles use a 5×5 playfield, they all use orbs to activate their special features, and all payout for groups of three or more adjacent matching symbols in a horizontal or vertical line. The Shadow Order isn’t a direct clone though; the way the orbs move in this machine is different from the Play’N’Go titles, and the feature set is much more diverse.
The wild symbol sits firmly at the top of the paytable thanks to its premium five of a kind payout of 300x the current stake. The highest-paying regular symbol is, I believe, supposed to represent the nucleus of an atom and offers a top prize of 120x for all five symbols. The books adorned with large triangle logos can get you up to 80x your bet back in winnings, whilst the, umm, Detonator? Telescope? Bolt? Okay, I admit it, I have no idea; it’s a hexagonal metal tube with lights and buttons though and offers returns of 60x the bet for all five symbols! That’s your lot for the high pays; the lows are divided into two groups, the most valuable of which are the chess pieces that come with prizes of 10x, 8x, or 6x the bet for the king, queen, or knight, respectively, whilst the royal ‘seals’ return just 2x, 1.5x, or 1x the total bet.
The minimum/maximum permitted bets have been set at €0.10 and €100.00 per spin, respectively, but be warned, with only 10 options in between those limits, some players may find themselves forced to bet more or less than they would ideally prefer.
Base Game & Modifiers
The Shadow Order is a grid slot of sorts, as it doesn’t utilise any traditional payways or paylines on its 5×5 reel set. Instead, wins are awarded for lining up three matching symbols in adjacent positions either horizontally or vertically – they don’t need to start from the left-hand side, as with a typical video slot. The game also includes the familiar cascading symbol feature, which removes winning symbols from the screen immediately after your winnings are paid – in fact, this is an essential part of the gameplay here, as you’ll need to hit around a dozen wins in a single round to make your way to the free spins feature.
Orb Symbols & Features
The three coloured orbs displayed above and to the left of the reels count as additional wild symbols when they make their way onto the playfield. Whenever a cascade phase occurs, it will charge up one of the three orbs; when an orb has been fully charged, it will roll onto the playfield. Orbs are returned to the top-left starting position at the end of each game round.
Orbs always want to move down and to the right, towards the three hotspot locations. If an orb makes its way into its corresponding hotspot, it will activate its special feature, these are:
- Orb of Destruction: Destroys low-paying symbols, allowing new symbols to fall onto the grid.
- Orb of Creation: Adds 3-6 wild symbols to the grid in random positions.
- Orb of Preservation: Holds the highest-paying symbols in place and removes all other symbols except the orbs.
Orb Symbols
Three different orb symbols sit above and to the left of the game grid. These are coloured blue, green and purple, and these orbs become active after they are charged up by cascades when you form wins. Orbs on the grid act as additional wilds, substituting and then rolling downward and to the right. Should an orb land in one of the three hotspots of the game, then its specific feature will trigger for you after a cascade resulting in no win forming. These features are:
- Orb of Destruction – the blue orb will destroy all lower paying symbols on the grid, allowing new symbols to fall in and potentially create wins.
- Orb of Creation – the green orb adds between three and six wild symbols to the grid in random locations.
- Orb of Preservation – the purple orb holds the highest paying symbol on the grid and removes all others, except additional orbs. The hold and cascades continue until no instance of the held symbol falls into play.
Ring Symbols & Characters
The first character of the shadow order is unlocked automatically from the moment you begin to play, but there are three more characters that can be unlocked by collecting ring symbols. Unlocking additional characters will increase the game’s RTP to a maximum of 95.99% when all four characters are available. Each character has a modifier attached to it which can trigger randomly at the end of a game round.
The Shadow Order Slot Bonus Features
The free spins feature will activate when all three orbs have been collected in the collection tile located in the bottom-right corner of the playfield. Five free spins will be added to your starting counter, and all three orbs will remain fully activated for the duration of the bonus round.
Free Spins
In this mode, the orb symbols become sticky and remain in their positions between rounds. A cumulative multiplier will be applied to your winnings whenever an orb reaches the collection tile during the free spins feature. You can also win two additional free spins by landing all three orbs in the collection tile, after which the orbs will return to the top left in a fully-charged state.
Pros
- A fun theme that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
- The huge jackpot of over 25,000x the total bet
Cons
- The bonus round feels very difficult to trigger – somehow, getting those orbs into the collection tile seems much harder than landing three scatter symbols!
- The need to unlock characters through gameplay before the full RTP is available is a little unfair.
Final Thoughts
After seeing the people of The Shadow Order at work, I’m almost disappointed – these guys aren’t involved in any shady conspiracy theories; they’re just playing slots like the rest of us! This is a fun game that’s easy to understand, offers frequent wins, and has plenty of potential to award a huge payout. What more could you want?
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