Rat Royale review
Pragmatic Play
Bit random, but after a nuclear holocaust, one animal that might have a better shot at survival than most is the humble rat, thanks to its rapid reproduction, adaptability, and talent for hiding away underground. There is even a chance, however slim, that given enough time and the right circumstances, rats could rise up the evolutionary ladder, replace humans as the Earth's dominant species, and be ruled over by monarchs. Probably not, but it's a thought, triggered by the Pragmatic Play title Rat Royale, a slot infested with rodents, wilds, multipliers, and more.
If you have seen the Jim Henson film 'The Dark Crystal', the rat king guy on the screen has a vaguely Skeksis look to him, maybe not as sinister, but still, quite sinister. As is the dank, cobwebby location he finds himself in. In the base game, the rat king sits on a throne, surrounded by treasure, before standing all red-eyed, skull staff in one hand, a ball of crackling orange energy in the other, soaking in blood during Blood Lust free spins. The rest of the scene depicts rooms in the castle heavy with a dark, foreboding atmosphere, the sort of place where nasty plans are laid, before minions scurry out and enact their liege's will on their foes. Something like that. It's a grim backdrop for a slot whose main characters are a bunch of gem-clutching rats, giving Rat Royale a distinctly darker personality than a lot of Pragmatic Play's usual fare.
Rat Royale is a medium volatile slot played on a 5x5 gaming area. Regular symbols pay left to right on adjacent reels when they are connected on the same row or one row up or down. This system provides 259 ways to win. The bet selection ranges from $/€0.20 to $/€240, and the highest RTP comes in at precisely 96.52%.
The pay symbols are 10-A royals as the low pays, and four rat symbols clutching blue, green, purple, and red gems as the high pays. Hit a line of 5 matching royals to win 0.3x to 0.6x the bet, or 5 character symbols to get 0.75x to 3x the bet.
Rat Royale's features are its wild symbols, three free spins variants, special bets, and feature buys.
Wilds replace any regular pay symbol in winning combinations, and a 5-wild-only win pays 3x the stake. Regular wilds can come with a multiplier of up to x100, which applies to wins passing through it. Multipliers from wilds are added together when more than one is part of the same winning combination. Up to 3 wilds can land per reel. There are also Rat King Wilds which can only land on the middle reel. These wilds can have a multiplier of up to x500.
Scatters are present on all reels. Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers 10 free spins with the Blood Ritual, Blood Pact, or Blood Lust variant, respectively. Blood Ritual plays like the base game, but all wilds have a multiplier of at least x2. In Blood Pact, a Rat King Wild is always present in the middle position of the grid. On each free spin, it gets a random gem in its hands. Multipliers added to its multiplier stay until the end of the round. In Blood Lust, a fully expanded Rat King Wild is present on the middle reel. On each spin, it gets a random gem, and multipliers added to it stay till the round ends. Hitting 3 or more scatters during the bonus feature awards an extra +5 free spins.
Activating Ante Bet 1 costs 2.5x to make the chance of triggering free spins 4 times higher, while Ante Bet 2, at 5x, also makes the chance of triggering free spins higher and if the bonus triggers, it is guaranteed to be Blood Lust. Players may also pay 100x the bet to trigger free spins or 500x for free spins with Blood Lust.
Got to laugh, just a bit. The previous Pragmatic Play we got to review was the glitzy slot Super Golden Spins, now Rat Royale, which is the complete opposite in just about every way. First, there's the theme, and Rat Royale is darker than they often are from a developer which regularly releases candied, cutey slots. Though in saying that, Prag is no stranger to the dark side if Hell Butcher, Death Dominion, or Harvest Moon are any guide. As for Rat Royale, it inhabits a dingy castle, full of loot and blood, while dirgy music wafts between it all like a dense fog. The candy crowd might be ducking for cover, yet gamblers who like games on the heavy side should be ready to bend the knee to a rat king who looms over all with the menace of a particularly unpleasant liege lord.
Beneath the dour setting is a slot which thrives or wilts by its wild multiplier action. Regular wilds, they're pretty good, tantalising with individual multipliers of up to x100. But Rat King Wilds, those are the ones you want hitting on the middle reel as often as possible, bringing with them their various effects, each of which has a positive ability. It's interesting that Pragmatic Play did not include Super Spin special bets to guarantee Rat King Wilds, so pure luck is needed to land them in the base game. Free spins triggered by four or more scatters increase the frequency, since Rat King Wilds are guaranteed on every spin, though five scatter triggers are obviously best, since you get the sticky full reel wild in that case. In a game which uses connected ways to win rather than regular ways, that might be a huge help.
Rat Royale is an intriguingly dingy change of pace from Pragmatic Play, combining a gloomy theme with gameplay built around a handful of wild multiplier features. Some may have preferred the wild variety being condensed into one or maybe two variants, as some may be more effective than others, and a 4,096 win-all-ways format would have been nice. But what's here has been tidily put together to create a slot where different wild mechanics complement one another, particularly during bonus rounds where the Rat King is given much more opportunity to wreak havoc. With its grim atmosphere and unusual cast of characters, Rat Royale is a unique release boasting a 15,000x the bet win cap, and an array of wild mechanics to potentially assist players on their chase.
Rat Royale pairs a refreshingly grim atmosphere with a strong mix of complementary wild mechanics, delivering a distinctive Pragmatic Play release with plenty of bite.
If you have seen the Jim Henson film 'The Dark Crystal', the rat king guy on the screen has a vaguely Skeksis look to him, maybe not as sinister, but still, quite sinister. As is the dank, cobwebby location he finds himself in. In the base game, the rat king sits on a throne, surrounded by treasure, before standing all red-eyed, skull staff in one hand, a ball of crackling orange energy in the other, soaking in blood during Blood Lust free spins. The rest of the scene depicts rooms in the castle heavy with a dark, foreboding atmosphere, the sort of place where nasty plans are laid, before minions scurry out and enact their liege's will on their foes. Something like that. It's a grim backdrop for a slot whose main characters are a bunch of gem-clutching rats, giving Rat Royale a distinctly darker personality than a lot of Pragmatic Play's usual fare.
Rat Royale is a medium volatile slot played on a 5x5 gaming area. Regular symbols pay left to right on adjacent reels when they are connected on the same row or one row up or down. This system provides 259 ways to win. The bet selection ranges from $/€0.20 to $/€240, and the highest RTP comes in at precisely 96.52%.
The pay symbols are 10-A royals as the low pays, and four rat symbols clutching blue, green, purple, and red gems as the high pays. Hit a line of 5 matching royals to win 0.3x to 0.6x the bet, or 5 character symbols to get 0.75x to 3x the bet.
Rat Royale's features are its wild symbols, three free spins variants, special bets, and feature buys.
Wilds replace any regular pay symbol in winning combinations, and a 5-wild-only win pays 3x the stake. Regular wilds can come with a multiplier of up to x100, which applies to wins passing through it. Multipliers from wilds are added together when more than one is part of the same winning combination. Up to 3 wilds can land per reel. There are also Rat King Wilds which can only land on the middle reel. These wilds can have a multiplier of up to x500.
Scatters are present on all reels. Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers 10 free spins with the Blood Ritual, Blood Pact, or Blood Lust variant, respectively. Blood Ritual plays like the base game, but all wilds have a multiplier of at least x2. In Blood Pact, a Rat King Wild is always present in the middle position of the grid. On each free spin, it gets a random gem in its hands. Multipliers added to its multiplier stay until the end of the round. In Blood Lust, a fully expanded Rat King Wild is present on the middle reel. On each spin, it gets a random gem, and multipliers added to it stay till the round ends. Hitting 3 or more scatters during the bonus feature awards an extra +5 free spins.
Activating Ante Bet 1 costs 2.5x to make the chance of triggering free spins 4 times higher, while Ante Bet 2, at 5x, also makes the chance of triggering free spins higher and if the bonus triggers, it is guaranteed to be Blood Lust. Players may also pay 100x the bet to trigger free spins or 500x for free spins with Blood Lust.
Got to laugh, just a bit. The previous Pragmatic Play we got to review was the glitzy slot Super Golden Spins, now Rat Royale, which is the complete opposite in just about every way. First, there's the theme, and Rat Royale is darker than they often are from a developer which regularly releases candied, cutey slots. Though in saying that, Prag is no stranger to the dark side if Hell Butcher, Death Dominion, or Harvest Moon are any guide. As for Rat Royale, it inhabits a dingy castle, full of loot and blood, while dirgy music wafts between it all like a dense fog. The candy crowd might be ducking for cover, yet gamblers who like games on the heavy side should be ready to bend the knee to a rat king who looms over all with the menace of a particularly unpleasant liege lord.
Beneath the dour setting is a slot which thrives or wilts by its wild multiplier action. Regular wilds, they're pretty good, tantalising with individual multipliers of up to x100. But Rat King Wilds, those are the ones you want hitting on the middle reel as often as possible, bringing with them their various effects, each of which has a positive ability. It's interesting that Pragmatic Play did not include Super Spin special bets to guarantee Rat King Wilds, so pure luck is needed to land them in the base game. Free spins triggered by four or more scatters increase the frequency, since Rat King Wilds are guaranteed on every spin, though five scatter triggers are obviously best, since you get the sticky full reel wild in that case. In a game which uses connected ways to win rather than regular ways, that might be a huge help.
Rat Royale is an intriguingly dingy change of pace from Pragmatic Play, combining a gloomy theme with gameplay built around a handful of wild multiplier features. Some may have preferred the wild variety being condensed into one or maybe two variants, as some may be more effective than others, and a 4,096 win-all-ways format would have been nice. But what's here has been tidily put together to create a slot where different wild mechanics complement one another, particularly during bonus rounds where the Rat King is given much more opportunity to wreak havoc. With its grim atmosphere and unusual cast of characters, Rat Royale is a unique release boasting a 15,000x the bet win cap, and an array of wild mechanics to potentially assist players on their chase.
Rat Royale pairs a refreshingly grim atmosphere with a strong mix of complementary wild mechanics, delivering a distinctive Pragmatic Play release with plenty of bite.