Dawn of Kings

Dawn of Kings is a March 2024 release from Hacksaw Gaming that takes the well-established 'Book of' slot formula and layers it with additional bonus structures. Built on a 5-reel, 3-row grid with 13 fixed paylines, the game follows adventurer Amy Dawn through an Ancient Egyptian temple. The setup is immediately recognisable to anyone familiar with the expanding-symbol subgenre that has dominated the market for over a decade.

What sets the title apart within Hacksaw Gaming's catalogue is its positioning. The studio's prior Egyptian outings, such as Temple of Torment and Hand of Anubis, leaned heavily into horror aesthetics. Dawn of Kings opts for a lighter, adventure-film tone, placing it closer to the explorer archetype popularised by titles from other major providers. The 13 paylines mark a modest but notable departure from the 10-line standard that is typical of 'Book of' games, a small structural tweak that influences both hit frequency and payout distribution.

The betting range runs from 0.10 to 100 per spin, a common spread for modern Hacksaw Gaming releases. Visually, the game presents crisp, golden-hued art and a culturally motivated soundtrack. While the Egyptian theme is arguably the most saturated in the slots industry, the execution here is polished rather than perfunctory.

The paytable follows a conventional split between low-pay and high-pay tiers. Low pays are the standard 10-through-Ace card ranks, awarding between 5x and 10x the stake for a five-of-a-kind line. This is unremarkable and in line with virtually every 'Book of' release on the market. High-pay symbols are thematic: a Scarab, Bastet, Anubis, and Horus, paying from 75x up to 200x for five of a kind.

The standout figure is Amy Dawn herself, who doubles as the top-paying regular symbol at 1,000x the bet for five of a kind. This is notably aggressive for the genre. The conventional ceiling for a top symbol in a classic 'Book of' structure sits closer to 500x, so Hacksaw Gaming has effectively doubled it. The Book symbol operates as both Wild and Scatter, a dual-function approach that is the defining hallmark of this slot subgenre rather than anything novel, but it remains essential to the game's entire feature architecture.

The bonus layer in Dawn of Kings is where Hacksaw Gaming has added genuine depth. A base game Book Mechanic can trigger randomly, selecting a symbol to become special. Three to five instances of that symbol then land and expand to fill their reels, paying across all lines regardless of adjacency. This random base game trigger is less common in traditional 'Book of' titles and adds a dimension of action outside the free spins rounds.

Landing three Book Scatters awards 10 free spins in the Book of Dawn Bonus, where one symbol is chosen as the expanding special for the entire round. Four or five Scatters trigger the Triple Book of Dawn Bonus with 12 spins and three expanding symbols, at least one of which is guaranteed to be a high-pay icon. Triggering via five Books also delivers an instant 1,000x payout on top, a generous entry bonus that is unusual even among feature-heavy modern releases. Retriggers award plus-two or plus-four spins, and landing four Scatters during the standard bonus upgrades it to the Triple variant mid-round.

The premium tier introduces 'Best of' variants for both bonus types, a mechanic first seen in Chaos Crew 2. When Book Scatters land alongside a dedicated Best of Bonus scatter symbol, the player receives three consecutive runs of the corresponding bonus, keeping only the highest result. This acts as a variance-reduction mechanism, a sophisticated addition that is still relatively rare across the broader market. Seven bonus buy options are available, ranging from 3x to 600x the stake, with individual RTPs hovering between 96.25% and 96.38%, which is consistent with Hacksaw Gaming's standard approach to feature buy pricing.

The default RTP stands at 96.24%, which sits slightly above the current industry average of roughly 96.00% and is broadly typical for Hacksaw Gaming base game configurations. However, the slot ships in multiple RTP versions -- 94.19%, 92.26%, and 88.07% are also available to operators -- a common practice across the provider's portfolio and increasingly standard across the industry. Players should verify the active configuration before committing real stakes.

Volatility is rated medium at 3 out of 5 on Hacksaw Gaming's internal scale. This is lower than many of the studio's flagship titles, which tend to sit in the mid-to-high or high bands. The maximum win is capped at 10,000x the stake, a figure that appears frequently across Hacksaw Gaming's medium-volatility catalogue and is competitive for a 'Book of' style game, though it falls short of the 12,500x to 20,000x ceilings found in the studio's higher-variance releases.

Dawn of Kings does not attempt to reinvent the 'Book of' template, but it refines it with additions that are meaningful rather than cosmetic. The doubled top symbol value at 1,000x, the base game Book Mechanic, and the 'Best of' bonus structure collectively push the game beyond what the subgenre typically offers. The 13-payline grid is a small but deliberate structural choice that distinguishes it from the 10-line norm.

Within Hacksaw Gaming's own output, the slot occupies a measured middle ground: less volatile than titles like Wanted Dead or a Wild, but denser in feature variety than many of the studio's simpler formats. The Egyptian theme will not win originality points in a market where it has been done hundreds of times over. Yet as a mechanically sound, feature-rich entry into a proven subgenre, it represents a competent and well-considered release that should hold appeal for players who value bonus depth over thematic novelty.