Aiko and the Wind Spirit Slot Review

Aiko and the Wind Spirit Slot Overview

Aiko and the Wind Spirit is a casino slot from Hacksaw Gaming that invites you on a journey through a beautifully animated slot experience. Just only at a glance, many players may be able to pick up that this game is heavily inspired and influenced by the award-winning Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli, which was founded in 1985. While its movies are incredibly beloved and highly-successful, with four of the studio’s films being among the ten highest-grossing Japanese feature Films, such as Spirited Away and The Boy and The Heron, we’re pretty sure this is one of the first Ghibli-themed casino slots that we have seen in recent time, if ever. However, Aiko and the Wind Spirit itself isn’t based on any specific movie, but draws heavy influence from Kiki’s Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke, and uses these influences in its gameplay. Here, you can expect the many Wind Spirits to take over the reels, acting as Expanded Wild Symbols with Multipliers, and when a Zephyr blows past, you’re awarded Respins. However, if you’re looking to hunt down the max win of 10,000X the bet, then the game offers 3 progressively more volatile Free Spin bonus games, just as in classic Hacksaw Gaming fashion.

Aiko and the Wind Spirit is a video slot from Hacksaw Gaming with 5 reels, 4 rows, and 14 paylines. Players can choose between making a Min.bet of 0.1 and a Max.bet of 100. The game sits at an average RTP of 96.29%. Aiko and the Wind Spirit is played with medium/high volatility and a max win of 10,000X. 

Experience serene and beautiful spins in Aiko and the Wind Spirit, where friendly Wild Spirits will help you hit your next big win. The features in Aiko and the Wind Spirit are Expanding Wild Spirit Symbols, Zephyr Crest Symbols, Spirited Spins Bonus Game, Whispering Winds Bonus Game, Midnight Magic Bonus Game, and Feature Buy.

Aiko and the Wind Spirit Slot Information

As you enter the game, you’ll find yourself on the tree crowns in a vast forest, accompanied by Aiko, her cat, and the cute little Wind Spirits, along with a beautiful piano soundtrack. The Studio Ghibli influence only increases during the Bonus Games, as it is here you’ll meet the Forest Guardian when night falls. The game can be played on most desktops, notepads, and mobiles. Wins are made by landing 3 or more of the same symbols in adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel.

The lower-paying symbols are 10, J, Q, K, and A. Landing a win with 5 of the same symbols will pay out 1X the bet. The higher-paying symbols are a wind chime, a flute, a cat, Aiko, and the Forest Guardian. Creating a win with 5 of the same symbols pays out 2.5X to 10X the bet. There are also various special symbols, such as the Wild Spirit, Zephyr Crest, and Scatter Symbols, but you can learn more about those in the next section.

Aiko and the Wind Spirit Slot Features

What is the max win in the slot Aiko and the Wind Spirit?

You can win up to 10,000X the bet.

What features are available in the slot Aiko and the Wind Spirit?

The features are Expanding Wild Spirit Symbols, Zephyr Crest Symbols, Spirited Spins Bonus Game, Whispering Winds Bonus Game, Midnight Magic Bonus Game, and Feature Buy.

Expanding Wild Spirit Symbols

Spirit Symbols act as the game's Wild Symbols, helping form winning combinations by being able to substitute for all other symbols, except Scatter Symbols. When part of a winning combination, the Wild Spirit Symbol will expand upwards and reveal a Multiplier that is applied to the entire Wild Spirit, ranging from 2X to 100X.

Zephyr Crest Symbols

When a Zephyr Crest Symbol lands at the same time as at least one Wild Spirit Symbol, then it will activate, expanding all Spirit Symbols on the grid, even if they are not part of a win. The Zephyr Crest Symbol will nudge all Wild Spirit Symbols one reel to the left and award a Respin, applying new Multiplier values to each Wild. New Spirits and Zephyr Crest Symbols can land during the Respins, triggering more Expanding Spirits and nudges.

Spirited Spins Bonus Game

You can activate this feature by landing 3 Scatter Symbols at the same time during the base game, awarding 10 initial spins. During the bonus game, you’ll have an increased chance of landing Spirit and Zephyr Crest symbols. You can retrigger the bonus game by landing 2 or 3 Scatter Symbols, awarding +2 or +4 additional spins, respectively. 

Whispering Winds Bonus Game

You can activate this feature by landing 4 Scatter Symbols at the same time during the base game, awarding 10 initial spins, and this bonus game keeps the mechanics of the Spirited Spins Bonus Game. In addition, above each reel is a Memory with Multiplying values that start at 0X, increasing for each Wild Spirit Multiplier on the same reel. When a new Wild Spirit lands on a reel with a Memory value of 2X or higher, its Multiplier is combined with the stored Multiplier from the Memory to create a total Multiplier, which is then added to all wins the reel is part of. You can retrigger the bonus game by landing 2 or 3 Scatter Symbols, awarding +2 or +4 additional spins, respectively.

Midnight Magic Bonus Game

You can activate this feature by landing 5 Scatter Symbols at the same time during the base game, awarding 10 initial spins, and this bonus game keeps the mechanics of the Spirited Spins and Whispering Winds Bonus Games. In the Midnight Magic Free Spins, the additional bonus is that on each spin, you will be guaranteed at least 2 Wild Spirits. You can retrigger the bonus game by landing 2 or 3 Scatter Symbols, awarding +2 or +4 additional spins, respectively.

Feature Buy

From the base game, you have 4 Feature Buy options you can turn on at any time, for a price based on the current bet. 

3X = Activates BonusHunt FeatureSpins, making each spin 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game.

50X = Activates Aiko FeatureSpins, making each spin guarantee a win and at least 2 Spirit Symbols.

100X = Triggers the Spirited Spins Bonus Game.

200X = Triggers the Whispering Winds Bonus Game.

Aiko and the Wind Spirit Slot Conclusion

Aiko and the Wind Spirit is quite a visually unique game in the casino industry, as we have seen many anime-style games before, as with games like Starlight Princess or Moon Princess Stargazing, but nothing quite as inspired by the classic Studio Ghibli animation style. If we also take and compare its style to a few other recent Hacksaw Gaming releases, such as Ultimate Slot of America or Invictus, it stands out even more. As we started playing this game, we felt there was quite a bit of soul in it, as if it was a real passion product from fans of the movies, which is always a delight to see. From its cozy vibes, beautiful soundtrack, and cute style, everything ties neatly together, but what about the gameplay?

To answer that question, we need to dive deeper, and we can start with the stats, as the game comes with a slightly higher-than-average RTP of 96.29% and has a very respectable max win of 10,000X the bet. Moving over to the features, we can start off with the Expanded Wild Symbols with Multiplier, which feels like it is becoming more and more of a standard today, as regular Wilds sometimes just aren’t cutting it. Here, however, we have the Zephyr Crest Symbols that add a bit of spice to the Wild Spirits, giving you nudges and Respins. While these features are quite nice in the base game, it’s in the Free Spins where the real action happens, however, here we fall into Hacksaw Gaming’s own little tar pit. This is not the first time, nor the last, where we will see 3 different, progressively more volatile, bonus games that the only difference in activation being the amount of Scatter Symbols present on a spin. While it's always fun to trigger a bonus game, it can feel a bit disheartening if you only hit 3 Scatter Symbols, compared to hitting a more volatile feature if only that one last Scatter would nudge onto the screen on that one last spin. We understand why the studio and players like these bonus games, as for each level of Free Spins, you can really feel the added bonuses and how the Free Spins change. But this can also be to a fault, as the less volatile features just don’t come with that exciting of bonuses that can feel like you won’t hit as big of a payout. This is not the fault of Aiko and the Wind Spirit, as this is a winning formula that Hacksaw Gaming uses for many of its other releases, but at some point, it might just feel like it is growing a bit stale. Even with that said, we love Aiko and the Wind Spirit, and even though it isn’t the end-all be-all of casino slots, it makes a huge impression with its unique style and incredibly fun spins, and we would recommend you check out the game’s demo.

Aiko and the Wind Spirit is a slot with cozy graphics, smooth spins, and Expanding Wild Spirits that will take over the reels, carrying Multipliers to help you hit it big.