Lost Relics drops you into a dungeon crawl across a 5x5 grid where wins are built from clusters, not paylines. NetEnt released this one in May 2018, and the cluster pays mechanic combined with random bonus features and a hidden chest system in free spins gives it a layered treasure hunt feel that most adventure-themed slots completely miss.
How It Plays
The game uses a 5x5 grid with Cluster Pays - you need six or more matching symbols touching horizontally or vertically to form a winning cluster. Multiple separate clusters can pay independently on the same spin, so a busy board can deliver several wins at once. Bets run from 0.20 to 400 per spin, and the hit frequency sits around 20%, meaning roughly one in five spins produces something.
RTP comes in at 96.3% with volatility rated 6.5 out of 10, placing it in medium-high territory. The max payout caps at 900x your stake. That ceiling is not enormous, but the layered feature system means there are a lot of routes to decent mid-range wins along the way.
Random Features
Every time you land a winning cluster, up to five instances of three different random features can activate. These features are hidden under the symbols in your winning cluster, and they only reveal themselves after the cluster registers.
The three feature types are Coin Win, Extra Wild, and Extra Scatter. Coin Win awards an instant prize of 3x to 30x your bet. Extra Wild places three additional wilds randomly on the reels - positions outside the winning cluster and existing wilds or scatters - and since up to five instances can trigger, you could see up to 15 extra wilds land in a single round. Extra Scatter drops an additional scatter symbol, with a maximum of three scatters possible on the board at once.
The layering here is what makes Lost Relics tick. A single winning cluster can unlock wilds that create new clusters, which then reveal their own hidden features. It creates a chain reaction that builds momentum without needing a traditional cascading reels mechanic.
Free Spins and the Hidden Chest
Collecting three scatter symbols - either naturally on reels 1, 3, and 5, or through the Extra Scatter feature during base game play - triggers 10 free spins. The free spins round plays identically to the base game with one major addition: the Hidden Chest feature.
Behind the 5x5 grid sits a treasure chest, concealed beneath the reel positions. Every time a winning cluster forms, it uncovers the grid spaces it occupies. Once all the spaces covering a chest are uncovered, the chest opens and awards one of three prizes: Extra Free Spins, a Sticky Wild, or a Coin Win worth 1x to 30x your bet.
There are three chest sizes - small, medium, and large - and the first two chests you uncover are always small or medium. The large chest requires you to keep winning consistently enough to clear a bigger section of the grid. This progression mechanic turns free spins into something more than just spinning with a multiplier attached. You are actively working toward uncovering chests, and every winning cluster matters because it peels back more of the grid.
Cluster Pays Explained
If you have not played a cluster pays slot before, the concept is simple but changes how you read the reels. Instead of matching symbols along a fixed payline from left to right, any group of six or more identical symbols touching each other horizontally or vertically counts as a win. Diagonal connections do not count.
This means wins can form in irregular shapes - L-bends, T-shapes, long snaking lines. The 5x5 grid gives 25 symbol positions, and since there are no paylines to track, the entire grid is always in play. Bigger clusters pay proportionally more, and because multiple clusters can form independently, a single spin can deliver several separate payouts.
RTP and Volatility Breakdown
The 96.3% RTP is solid for a feature-heavy slot. Medium-high volatility at 6.5 out of 10 means you will hit dry patches, but they are shorter than what you get from high-volatility games. The 20% hit frequency backs this up - you are landing wins on roughly every fifth spin, which keeps your balance from draining too quickly between feature triggers.
The 900x max payout sits below what some cluster pays games offer, but Lost Relics trades headline-grabbing max wins for a more consistent feature rate. The random features triggering on every winning cluster mean that when you do hit a productive run, features stack on top of each other quickly.
Worth Playing?
Lost Relics works because of how its features interconnect. The random features feeding into scatter collection, the cluster wins uncovering chests in free spins, the progression from small to large chests - it all ties together into a game that rewards sustained play rather than relying on a single big-hit mechanic. The adventure theme is well executed without being overwrought, and the cluster pays format keeps every spin visually interesting. For players who like their slots with depth and layered mechanics, this one delivers.
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