Krakens are no strangers to the world of online slots, and few developers have sighted these mythical creatures more than Pragmatic Play. The studio has built a mini-series around them, containing Release the Kraken and Release the Kraken 2. While today's game Sky Bounty doesn't seem to be directly linked, it contains strands which tenuously echo those two prior slots. One is the appearance of tentacled creatures; another is the word 'Kraken's' next to Sky Bounty's title. As well as that, all three games have some sort of wild-related feature, and the one used here is a pretty good one. So, if you're ready to get all Krakened, let's take to the skies.
Take to the skies with octopi-related characters... aren't they creatures of the sea, you might be asking? Normally yes, but apparently the Kraken of this tale has learnt how to survive out of the water, obtain a flying ship, and pilot it through the clouds looking for loot. Clearly, a certain suspension of disbelief will have to take place when entering Sky Bounty's world. Though soaring through the skies on an aerial pirate ship with tentacles makes a nice change from being cast to the bottom of the sea. It's too bad Pragmatic Play didn't push the theme even further; see where it took players. But as is often the case from this studio, it's come up with an interesting idea, made it look nice, yet for some reason stopped short of really running with it.
Like the theme use, Sky Bounty's grid set-up is slightly odd, too, made up of 6 reels and 6 rows of symbols. Instead of being a cluster pays or a pay anywhere slot, as first suspected, it's got 50 paylines for evaluating wins. Digging deeper like a burrowing crustacean, we find Sky Bounty's math model, which is highly volatile and comes in different RTP ranges. The default value is 96.05% when betting regularly, 96.06% with the Ante Bet switched on, or 96.07% when buying free spins. For all three methods, a base bet will have to be selected, and the options are 25 p/c to $/€250.
Next on the list are 7 variously coloured and shaped gemstones as Sky Bounty's lower paying symbols, followed by a bottle of rum, a wheel, a cannon, and a pair of crossed swords as the higher value picture symbols. Hitting a 6 OAK low pay win awards 2 to 3 times the bet, rising like a floating pirate ship to 6-20 times the bet for the remaining symbols. Wilds are a pretty big deal in Sky Bounty, more so in the bonus game. In both phases of play, wilds can land on any reel, substituting for any pay symbol. If wilds manage to make wins of themselves, they award up to 20 times the stake for a 6-wild win.
Sky Bounty jazzes up its base game by dropping in a Random Expanding Wild feature from time to time. This feature is used in free spins, too, but there, it has more of a persistent nature. Here's how it works.
This feature can trigger randomly in the base game. When it does, a frame of 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, or 6x6 appears over random symbols. If, on that spin, a wild symbol lands within the frame, the wild expands to become the frame's size. If more than one wild lands within a frame, the expanded wild gets a multiplier equal to the number of wilds the frame contains. The multiplier applies to all wins passing through the expanded wild.
Sky Bounty's free spins round is triggered when at least 3 scatter symbols land in view. As well as receiving 6 free spins. In free spins, a frame remains on the grid for its full duration, moving positions between each spin. It starts at 2x2 in size, and wilds that land within it expand to fill it, as in the base game. When scatter symbols hit, they are collected. Every 3 scatter symbols collected increases the frame size to 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, then 6x6, awarding +2 free spins each time. After the fourth time, scatter symbols do not land on the reels. If the feature was triggered with 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols, the round starts with 1, 2, or 3 scatter symbols already collected.
Activating Sky Bounty's Ante Bet places more scatter symbols on the reels for an increase to the stake of 20%, while free spins can be bought for 100x the bet. Bought free spins land 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols to trigger the feature.
On the whole, Sky Bounty provided a satisfactory gaming experience, containing many of the pros and cons that often accompany a Pragmatic Play release. Whilst mostly positive, one suspects that with a bit of a prod, extra time spent on development, or more love poured into the creative process, Sky Bounty might have elevated itself from average/above average to something even greater. But whatever the reason, the studio is happy pushing games out at an astonishing speed, though with few slots really blossoming into classics despite the large number of them.
However, even if Pragmatic Play does favour quantity, the quality is often quite high. Or, high enough. Sky Bounty is another example, containing interesting ideas such as skyfaring Krakens and swabs of the stratosphere, as well as intriguing gaming devices. The expanding wild feature definitely has merits. There's a mildly Fat Rabbit feel to it, but this is no straightforward expanding wild. It has one or two extra parts that have to synchronise before the feature really goes off. An interesting symbiotic effect is created between the bonus symbol collection and the growing frame since the larger the frame gets, the greater the likelihood of landing a wild within it, potentially leading to a sizable wild symbol - full screen in the best-case scenario. If you're lucky, a multiplier might compound the thrills. The growing frame feature helps balance the reels and ways set-up, which felt a little off in the beginning. It's also good for producing wins of up to 5,000x the bet at the most too, which is Sky Bounty's win cap.
So there are positive things to say about Sky Bounty, but again, it's a Pragmatic Play slot that takes you up to a compelling point, then kind of leaves you there wanting more. This is an excellent trait in a storyteller, perhaps, but it can be frustrating when reviewing slots, imagining how a stronger push could have made a game that little bit extra special. Add up everything Sky Bounty has to offer, and you've got a good Kraken game on your hands. Good, but one suspects with a bit of additional time, resources, or love, Sky Bounty could have been more uniquely memorable.
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