You’ve probably heard of Excalibur if you’ve ever played a medieval-themed slot game or are even remotely interested in the Arthurian stories. If it isn’t, then it’s a fabled sword that Arthur either drew from stone or was handed to him by the Lady of the Lake. Even the events of the past week might be difficult to recall, much less those of hundreds of years ago, before everyone carried a camera about in their pockets. Excalibur Unleashed is the name of today’s game; it was developed by Pragmatic Play and takes the classic story and gives it an animal-human mashup flair.
When Excalibur Unleashed first loads, the legendary sword rests in a peaceful glade, perhaps in Ye Olde England, on the left of the screen, above the bonus purchase. The attention is drawn to the grid of five reels, which is organized in a 3443 configuration. The golden light around it nearly makes the hazy treeline and the bouncing little rabbit on the grass seem to sparkle. There is often intense drama and action in Arthurian and Excalibur stories, yet it seems that Excalibur Unleashed is hosted on a very calm day. I have no problems, man. Every once in a while, it’s important to just relax. Even if the game’s protagonists are a mouse and an owl, history is filled with powerful monarchs.
Twenty paylines for landing winning combos have been included into Excalibur Unleashed’s diamond-shaped grid. Win lines in Excalibur Unleashed pay both left to right and right to left, beginning at the far left of the screen. This technique works wonderfully with several of the game’s focal points. Pragmatic Play considers this to be a very volatile slot, with a maximum RTP of 96.05% (or 96.02% with the purchase of free spins). The minimum wager is 20 pence and the maximum is £/€100 every spin, with the bonus costing 85 times the base bet.
There are 10 regular payments for symbols, with the 10-A royals paying the least and the other five symbols paying the most. A bottle, sphere, crown, mouse, and owl make up the later group. A winning line of five of a type returns anywhere from 2 to 3 times the wager for the lower value lot, and anywhere from 5 to 25 times the wager for the higher value lots. Protecting wild places is crucial. On reels 1 and 5, they may stand in for any other symbol to create a winning combination.
Excalibur Slots: Features Unleashed
The wild symbol also grows to fill the entire reel when it lands. A multiplier of x2, x10, x15, or x20 may also be applied. All winning combinations that include a multiplier are multiplied by that factor. The multipliers for any wins that involve more than one wild are summed together.
Bonus Turns
The free spins bonus is activated by the simultaneous appearance of wild symbols on reels 1 and 5. Initiating this feature awards 6 free games to the player, with the triggering full reel wilds sticking around on reels 1 and 5 for the duration. After contributing to a winning combination, wilds get a multiplier of x1 for the remainder of the round. If a combination including both wilds is a winner, the player receives one more free spin.
Wild multipliers range from x1 to x20 during free games that may be purchased for 85 times the wager.
Excalibur Let Loose: A Slotting Result
Even if there isn’t a dearth of King Arthur-themed slot machines, Excalibur Unleashed manages to stand apart in a few key ways. One of them is the inclusion of animals, and it was difficult to say if this added depth or seemed forced. The employment of a cuddly mouse and a mysterious owl adds a unique twist, but they can’t replace the weight of real knights and wizards. It’s not a huge deal, though. It’s great when a production company, like a gallant knight going into combat, dares to attempt something new.
All right, I exaggerated a bit there, so let’s talk about how Excalibur Unleashed actually plays: the full-reel wild multipliers at both ends of the game grid let you chisel out a respectable result every once in a while. Pragmatic Play has improved Excalibur Unleashed with a pay-both-ways mechanism, making the game’s double wild strategy more effective than it would have been with a standard reel set. Don’t assume this will lead to simple victories. The review’s hit rate appeared low, but that was based on visualizing the outcomes of speed runs rather than proving the idea statistically. And it was as tense as hell. After what felt like the sixth spin of the regular game, the first free spins bonus round kicked in, and the results were terrifyingly bad. What we mean to convey is that while the outcomes were not consistent, the atmosphere was unsettling. Excalibur Unleashed’s payouts can range from underwhelming to over five thousand times the initial wager.
In a nutshell, Excalibur Unleashed has potential joys that can be discovered. It’s a good idea that may be exhilarating in reality to have full-reel multiplier wilds at both ends of a pay-both-ways gaming grid. Unfortunately, Excalibur Unleashed was not as good as it may have been. The game doesn’t have enough “dunno,” “x-factor,” “extra feature,” or “hit hard enough with its theme” to be genuinely memorable, and this is difficult to put into words.