Release the Kraken Megaways

The central theme of the game is the eponymous Kraken, together with everything else that lurks in the deep waters. While the lower-paying symbols are the regular A, K, Q, J, and 10, the upper-paying ones each show a sea creature — a jellyfish, an eel, an anglerfish, a pufferfish, and a shark. The great Kraken himself appears on the wild and scatter symbols.

However, I must say it’s a bit of a disappointment that there’s no related Kraken storyline. The theme doesn’t go beyond the visual style, even though there’s a solid potential for an exciting plot, especially since much effort has been invested into top-notch graphics and gameplay. A sort of a ‘boss battle’ with the Kraken could’ve been a fantastic theme for free spins, but hey, everything else in this game far outweighs this, so let’s focus on the positives.

The visual style is somewhere halfway between cute and terrifying. Actually, a bit of both. Although the Kraken looks horrid and vile, the pufferfish, on the other hand, looks cute and cuddly, almost like a kitten from the deep sea. Similarly, the anglerfish and the shark look menacing but cartoonish. The graphics are excellent, and the colors are very bold and expressive.

As for the animations in Release the Kraken Megaways, they’re pretty basic. The roaming wilds roam without any special effect. A derelict ship runs over the screen between the regular and free spins, and a big win is accompanied by a flashing counter in the middle of the screen and a rain of gold coins all around.

The soundtrack is pleasant but, at the same time, basic and incoherent. Regular spins are accompanied by plain adventure game music, which switches to a pirate violin melody during free spins. And then, when a bigger win hits during free spins, the music suddenly stops, and the counting animation is followed by a default slot sound effect, only to switch back to regular music once the animation is over.

Release the Kraken Megaways RTP stands at a solid 96.08% witha medium volatility. The slot features and mechanics are generous enough to keep you satisfied but also high enough to still make this game a challenge and keep you on the edge of your seat. The max win is 10,000x, which is pretty good, given that this game rewards you generously even during regular spins.

If you like to play free games before betting your real gold coins, I highly suggest you try out the Release the Kraken Megaways slot demo to get yourself familiar with its mechanics and features, especially if you’re new to the Megaways engine. This is a medium volatility game, but nevertheless, you should be prepared before stepping into the salty water for real.

Release the Kraken Megaways slot is played on a spacious grid with 6 reels and up to 7 rows. The game employs the Megaways slot dynamic, where each spin lands a different number of symbols on each reel, from 2 to 7. Therefore, the number of paylines changes with each spin, potentially creating up to 117,649 megaways to win in total. Also, the reels feature a cascading mechanism where all winning symbols disappear, making way for new symbols to land within the same spin. This allows for potentially unlimited wins within a single spin.

The range of bets you can make is pretty wide, from 0.20 to 240, but it can be further boosted by 25%, which brings the upper limit to 300. The boosted bet gives you a significantly higher chance of hitting free spins.

There are 10 regular paying symbols in Release the Kraken Megaways slot, together with 3 special symbols — the wild, the bonus symbol (scatter), and the mystery symbol. As the game is played on 6 reels, there are more symbol combinations than in most slots, which results in one of the largest paytables with a total of 41 payouts, ranging from 0.30x to 15.00x. Besides the regular spins, there are also wild respins and free spins, which I’ll discuss in detail in the following section.

Release the Kraken Megaways by Pragmatic Play employs several features regularly found in slot games across the best online casinos but with a monstrous, deep-sea twist. They include the following:

Wild Symbols – They can land on any reel except the first one. They replace any symbol other than the scatter or mystery symbol, and also trigger the wild respins feature.

Bonus Symbols – Better known as scatters, they can land on any reel and trigger free spins if 3 or more of them land at once.

Mystery Symbols – They can land on any reel and mysteriously transform into any other symbol, which can lead to unexpected wins.

Wild Respins – In the base game, landing 3 or more wild symbols activates the respin mode. During the respins, the wild symbols move to different positions across the reels after each respin, while payouts occur in between. If an additional wild appears, it grants one extra respin and starts roaming as well. The feature continues until no respins are left.

Guaranteed Win – On certain losing spins in the base game, the symbols on the reel can randomly transform to create a win valued at least 10 times the original bet. Play Release the Kraken Megaways worry-free, as this feature helps break dry streaks and acts as a safety net against big losses.

Upgrade Pick – Hitting 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters triggers 6 free spins. Before the free spins start, you dive to the bottom of the ocean, where a collection of chests is presented to you. You can open as many of them as the number of scatters that triggered the feature. Each opened chest unveils a random upgrade, which can be something of the following:

• 1, 2, 3, or 4 additional free spins
• An extra roaming wild to start your free spins with
• An extra +1x or +2x to the global multiplier that applies to all wins
• 2,000, 5,000, or 10,000 minimum megaways to win each round

Free Spins – Any wild that lands during free spins turns into a roaming wild, and the global multiplier increases by one if two roaming wilds overlap on the same position. If a scatter lands on the rightmost reel, it grants an extra free spin along with an additional chest pick.

Feature Buy – Buy your way into free spins for 100x or 150x your base bet for spins with 3 scatters or 4, 5, or 6 scatters, respectively. This is definitely on the pricier side.

Higher Chance to Win – Turn this feature on for 1.25x your base bet to significantly increase your chances of triggering free spins. However, free spins can’t be bought when the feature is on.