Time for some deep sea diving with developer Pragmatic Play as it heads beneath the waves once again for the sequel slot Release the Kraken 2. The original release clearly struck the right note with enough underwater adventurers with its bounty of wild types, pick-me treasure chests, and Roaming Kraken Free Spins. For the reboot, Pragmatic Play has rejigged much of the gameplay, wedging in Wild Respins, Shifting Stack Wilds, Guaranteed Wins, and a Deal or No Deal element to the free spins feature. It sounds like a lot has changed, and it has, but the same bubbly spirit has remained, let's take a look.
If anything, Release the Kraken 2 is even bubblier than the original game, located at the bottom of the sea, full of weeds, fish, and colourful coral. Injecting extra life into the game is a cheeky set of characters on the reels that do this little animation thing when they create a winning line. Okay, a small thing, but details matter, and Pragmatic Play is good at combining a bunch of details into one big glossy whole. Gotta say the vibe is actually a lot more cheerful than it was in Release the Kraken. The original game had more of a menacing feel emanating from its lead Kraken characters. This has largely been erased in Release the Kraken 2, replaced with a playful attitude rather than hints of an ominous one.
>One thing that has remained constant is the game's layout. Release the Kraken 2 is played once again on a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with 20 paylines utilised in the base game, increasing to 40 paylines in free spins. It's highly volatile, rated as 5 out of 5 by the studio, and has a variety of RTP values depending on how you play the game and on the model. At max settings, playing regularly generates a theoretical return of 96.03%, picking stakes of 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin. This increases by 25% when activating the Ante Bet, which in turn increases the chance of triggering the feature, as well as altering the RTP to 96.01%.
Nine regular pay symbols appear on the grid, divided into 10-A card ranks as the low pays, then four denizens of the deep as the high pays. Landing a five-of-a-kind winning line pays out 1-2 times the stake when made up of card symbols or 3-10x the bet when consisting of premium tiles. A Kraken is displayed on the wild symbols which appear on all five reels. Wilds substitute for all symbols except the bonus symbols and are worth up to 20x the bet for a five-of-a-kind line.
>Release the Kraken 2's extra bits can also be divided up into base game random features such as Wild Repsins, Shifting Stacked Wilds, Guaranteed Wins, plus a free spins bonus round with win multipliers and sticky roaming wilds.
If 4 or more wilds hit in the base game after the payout has been made, respin mode is activated. The wilds stay on the grid, moving to a random position, while the rest of the symbols are respun. The game pays for any winning lines after each respin, and if more wilds hit, one more respin is awarded. When no more wilds hit after a respin, the feature ends.
The Shifting Stack Wild symbols can appear on reels 2, 3, or 4 in the base game at random. When the spin stops, Shifting Wild Stacks are moved, so they cover all positions on their reel. For each position a Shifting Stack Wild is nudged, its multiplier is increased by +1. After the nudging, wins are paid, where multipliers are added together before being applied.
>Randomly, on a non-winning base game spin, the Kraken may come into view and rearrange the symbols to create a win worth 20-50x the bet. In addition, randomly on a spin, 3 scatter symbols can appear as the result of an explosion to award free spins.
Landing 3 or more scatter symbols triggers the free spins feature. Before free spins start, a mini bonus game occurs to determine the number of free spins and the win multiplier Deal or No Deal style.
For the mini-game, 16 boxes are presented, each one containing a mix of free spins and a win multiplier from the limits laid out above. One box is selected, which players can either accept or reject. Accepting the box awards its free spins and win multiplier, and the feature begins. Rejecting the box means several boxes are removed from the list, and the player is presented with a free spins/multiplier offer. Accepting the offer starts the feature; rejecting it removes more boxes, repeating the sequence. Going all the way to the end means one final box and the starting box are left - players must choose one to open.
During free spins, the win multiplier applies to all wins, and the grid increases the number of paylines to 40. Also, when wild symbols hit, they remain on the reels until the round ends, moving to a random cell after each spin. If a golden wild symbol hits, it also increases the win multiplier by +1. Free spins cannot be retriggered.
If available, players are able to buy two types of bonuses. Standard Free Spins costs 100x the bet to land 3-5 scatter symbols (RTP 96.03%); the second one, VIP Free Spins, costs 250x the bet to guarantee a 5 scatter symbol trigger (RTP 96.05%).
>On the whole, Release the Kraken 2 was a fun fish-filled game to play. It has an infectiously positive attitude that's hard not to get on board with, this time playing down the sinister side of the Kraken character. The Kraken certainly looks a lot friendlier than before. Perhaps the influx of so many fishing-themed slots since Release the Kraken was released is an indicator that players prefer a lighter side of the underwater world than a menacing one?
The gameplay mechanics are surely more important than the tone anyway, and here it'll be interesting to see how fans of the first react. Gone are a lot of the pick 'n click elements, the choosing one of three random features bit, and the Sunken Treasure Bonus. Gone too are the giant symbols, Kraken Locking Wilds, and Infectious Kraken Wilds. In their place, the features that come with Release the Kraken 2 have merit. Wilds Respins work well as a sideshow, as does the Shifting Wild Stacks, and who can say no to a guaranteed win?
The Deal or No Deal part of free spins is a little strange, though. It adds an extra dab of excitement over simply being given a random number of free spins and a win multiplier the moment the feature triggers. Again, this particular method isn't a detractor in any way; it's just a bit unexpectedly odd. What might put more of a dampener on fans' spirits is the decision to half the max win by setting the win cap at 5,000x the bet. The reduction is not a deal breaker as such, but it's unusual to see a sequel go smaller rather than larger, although at the time of the release of the original, Pragmatic had a tendency to exaggerate their max win claims.
In the end, there were no real complaints about the Release the Kraken 2 experience. It looks neat, has a fun feel, and possesses a good number of features it can deliver onto the reels. It's tough to say whether Release the Kraken 2 is an outright improvement over the game which preceded it or not, so let's be diplomatic and just call it different.
Play for real money
