While the samurai’s ability on the battlefield has earned them a place in popular culture, they also established moral guidelines on how to live a fulfilling life off the battlefield. Honesty, respect, righteousness, bravery, compassion, duty, honor, and self-control are the eight tenets of bushido that embody this philosophy. In other words, a strenuous way of life that, according to some, removes much of the fun. Players interested in the bushi culture’s emphasis on the warrior will be relieved to learn that Pragmatic Play’s Rise of Samurai Megaways uses samurai images more for the purpose of creating an interesting atmosphere than as a source of personal growth.
In terms of visuals, Rise of Samurai Megaways has an anime vibe, with a clean and tasteful game board that has subtle nods to Asian culture. In the distance, you can make out a picturesque scene of medieval Japan, complete with butterflies and drifting cherry blossom petals. The action takes place on 6 primary reels, each of which can display between 2 and 7 symbols, plus a 4 position row located at the very top. There are up to 206,704 possible combinations based on the random number of symbols generated by each spin. Rise of Samurai Megaways demonstrates Pragmatic’s expertise in creating Asian-themed slot machines by striking an effective balance between being too simplistic and being too complex.
Rise of Samurai Megaways, a Pragmatic Play slot with a betting range of 20 pence to £/€125 per play, is essentially a clone of a previous Pragmatic Play game dubbed Madame Destiny Megaways, although with slightly altered numbers being generated. For instance, the RTP has dropped from 95.7 to 95.54% while purchasing free spins and from 95.69% when utilizing the Ante Bet option.
Starting with the first reel, all wins in Rise of the Samurai Megaways cascade from left to right over subsequent reels. The lowest paying symbols are the six low pay tokens, while the highest paying symbols are the four premium character symbols, which pay out anywhere from three to forty times the wager for a full house. The red and gold shogun emblem is the only one that pays out for a pair. The wild symbol can appear on reels 2 through 5 as well as the first reel. When utilized in a winning combination, it may stand in for any other pay symbol and increase the payment by a factor of two in both the regular and bonus games.
Slot Features in “Rise of the Samurai: Megaways”
The game’s central mechanic is a feature called “tumble,” in which symbols that are part of a winning combination vanish after being paid out, and fresh symbols tumble down to replace the vacant spaces. After the new symbols have been placed into position, the tumbling process resumes until no more winning combinations appear.
Ante Bet, from Pragmatic Play, appears frequently lately, with variable results each time. The Ante Bet in Rise of the Samurai Megaways increases the bet by 25% and triggers additional scatter symbols on the reels. The Ante Bet increases the chance of activating the bonus feature by 2, despite the modest decrease in RTP.
Scatters depicting dragons can appear anywhere on the reels, and getting 3, 4, 5, or 6 of them awards 5, 10, 20, or 100 times the wager in addition to launching the free spins bonus. Spin the two-tiered Wheel of Fortune before the round begins. This awards the player with 5-20 free spins and a 2x-25x multiplier on all wins. All victories are multiplied by the non-progressive multiplier, which does not rise after a loss.
If you manage to land three or more scatters while in the bonus round, you’ll be given another chance to spin the wheel. The winnings are added to the existing totals. The potential for reactivation is unlimited. Finally, there is an option to “buy” the free spins bonus by paying 100 times the amount of the player’s initial wager.
The Slot Machine Review of Samurai Megaways’ Rising
Overall, Rise of Samurai Megaways is a competent game with no really strong or innovative features. It has the polished appearance one would expect from Pragmatic Play, a few passable features, and sufficient potential, drawing few complaints but also drawing little acclaim. Fans of movies like Sword of the Stranger, Samurai X, and Afro Samurai may like playing Rise of Samurai Megaways. The only thing that’s really new here is the theme; everything else is recycled from an other slot that wasn’t particularly creative to begin with.
However, players who are looking for a change of pace from free spins with a growing multiplier could be interested. It’s nice when you receive a good value and you start high, but it’s a bummer when you’re trapped with an x2 or x5 and the multiplier won’t increase on a fall. Next, Pragmatic Play has lately made an about-face in terms of potential. The previous staggering numbers have been scrapped in favor of the standard 5,000x victory maximum. As with Madame Destiny Megaways, Rise of the Samurai Megaways follows this pattern. If you’re looking for a Megaways slot with the chance to win large, 5,000 isn’t going to attract you.
Players enamored with the Samurai motif still have some leeway to seek some thrills, and the figure isn’t exactly a shameful one either. If anime isn’t your thing, there isn’t much else going for Rise of Samurai Megaways. There are better alternatives due to the list of standard features and lackluster statistics.