Samurai might be famous in pop culture for their prowess on the battlefield, but they also developed strict codes to define how people could live a good life. This belief was codified in the eight virtues of bushido – honesty, respect, righteousness, courage, compassion, duty, honour, and self-control. In other words, a demanding way of life that some might say cuts much of the joy out of it. Fortunately, players excited by the warrior aspect of bushi culture will be pleased to know Pragmatic Play's Rise of Samurai Megaways prefers to use samurai imagery to paint a cool picture with rather than as inspiration for self-improvement.
Speaking of imagery, Rise of Samurai Megaways has a strong anime quality, its game grid neatly embellished with Asian touches but not overly so. A romantic view of feudal Japan can be made out on the periphery, full of fluttering butterflies, floating cherry blossom petals, and the like. The action is held over 6 main reels, holding 2-7 symbols each, plus a 4-position row sitting up top. Each spin delivers a different number of symbols, producing up to 200,704 ways to win. Pragmatic has plenty of experience developing Asian themed slots, and it shows in Rise of Samurai Megaways, which is neither over the top nor underdeveloped, finding a pleasant zen balance for players to try their luck.
Playable from 20 p/c to $/€125 per spin, Rise of Samurai Megaways is also basically a copy of a previous Pragmatic Play slot, titled Madame Destiny Megaways - though it does generate slightly different numbers. For example, the default RTP has taken a drop to 95.7%, lowering even further to 95.54% when buying free spins or 95.69% when using the Ante Bet feature.
All symbols in Rise of Samurai Megaways pay left to right on adjacent reels, starting from the first reel. Most need at least three to line up, starting with 6 low pay tokens and 4 premium character symbols, the latter lot worth 3 to 40 times the stake for six of a kind. The one symbol flinging off coin wins for a two of a kind combination is the red and gold shogun type. Appearing on any reel except the first is the wild symbol. It substitutes for any pay symbol, and when used in a win, it doubles the value of the payout in the base or bonus game.
At the core of gameplay is the tumble feature - symbols used in every winning combination disappear after they pay, letting new symbols fall downwards to fill the empty positions. Tumbling continues until no more winning combinations appear after the new symbols have dropped into place.
Pragmatic Play's Ante Bet is cropping up quite regularly now, with varying effects each time. In Rise of Samurai Megaways, the Ante Bet ups the stake cost by 25%, increasing the number of scatter symbols on the reels. Despite the slight drop in RTP, the Ante Bet doubles the chance of triggering the bonus feature.
Dragon scatters appear on all reels, and hitting 3, 4, 5, or 6 of them triggers an award of 5, 10, 20, or 100 times the stake while also activating the free spins bonus. Before the round starts, a two-tier Wheel of Fortune is spun. From this, players win 5-20 free spins and a win multiplier of 2x to 25x. The multiplier applies to all wins but is not progressive, so it does not increase after a tumble.
Landing 3 or more scatters during the feature awards another spin of the wheel of fortune. Whatever is won is added to the current values. No limit has been placed on the number of retriggers. Lastly, with the bonus buy option, players can fork out a fee of 100x their stake to go straight to the free spins bonus round.
Rise of Samurai Megaways sits in the middle of the bell curve where each part functions as it should without excelling or innovating in any one area. It has the high standard looks you expect from Pragmatic Play, a couple of okay features, satisfactory potential; there are few complaints, yet little high praise either. Players into films like Sword of the Stranger, Samurai X, or Afro Samurai might be keen on putting Rise of Samurai Megaways through its paces. The theme is all since just about everything else was taken from a previous slot that wasn't overly original to begin with.
Players after a break from a progressive multiplier in free spins might be tempted for a look, though. Swapping the progressive for a fixed multiplier has its ups and downs – great when you get a decent value since and you start high, but a drag getting stuck with an x2 or x5 since it won't grow on a tumble. On to potential, and Pragmatic Play has done a complete 180 recently. Gone are the eye-watering figures of the past, replaced with their current go-to 5,000x win cap. Such was the case in Madame Destiny Megaways, so it is in Rise of Samurai Megaways. As far as Megaways slots go, 5k is hardly headlining stuff, if not a downright turn off for players after big win potential.
Still, it's not exactly a disgraceful figure either, so players enraptured with the Samurai theme still get some room to chase a few thrills. If anime isn't a major drawcard, then there's not much else about Rise of Samurai Megaways to promote interest. Due to the list of standard features and meh stats, there are better options out there.
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