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Serpent King Review
It’s been some eventful years since a similar game was released back in 2021, with the follow-up making an even bigger splash. This developer is back with yet another follow-up in a similar temple setting, but this time focused on reptiles instead of primates. Serpent King plays out on a 5x4 grid deep in the Amazon rainforest, and once again, it’s all about upgrading the wild symbol.
Before we get to that, however, let’s cover the basics. You start by choosing your preferred bet level between €0.2 to €6 per spin, a range that may not cater to high rollers. You win by landing 3 to 6 premium symbols on up to 30 paylines, starting from the leftmost reel. These pay between 6x and 30x your stake for 6 of a kind, while the royal symbols award 0.6x to 1.5x your stake for 5 of a kind. Observant readers may question how you can win with 6 symbols on a 5-reel grid, and we’ll get to that below.
As before, you can unlock a 6th reel when the Wild symbol is fully upgraded. However, royal symbols do not appear on the 6th reel, which is why 5-oak is the most you can win with these symbols. The wild is upgraded with up to 3 special features, increasing the size, adding a random multiplier, and making the wild sticky until you win. Gold Coin icons are collected from pay symbols to upgrade the wilds, with the progress displayed on the reel 6 meter.
While Serpent King does not include a free spins bonus round, you can trigger random streak respins that can lead to full-screen wins. Speaking of, the game’s max win is 12,825x your stake, significantly higher than the original game (but lower than the Megaways version). The top-tier RTP of 95.7 % is around the industry average, but lower RTP settings are something to beware of. This is a high volatility installment, so brace yourself for some bankroll turbulence.
Serpent King Features
You need to upgrade the wild symbol to level 3 to get the most out of this Serpent King game, as this also unlocks the 6th reel. We’ll take a closer look at all the details below.
Gold Coin Progress
Gold Coin icons can land attached to regular symbols as long as there are Serpent Wild upgrades to unlock. The Gold Coins are collected in the progress meter if they appear on the same spin as Serpent Wild. You need to collect 30, 60, and 90 Gold Coins to unlock Serpent Wild upgrades 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and you can follow the progress in the meter on the right. When all 3 upgrades are completed, the progress meter turns into a 6th reel that cannot land the low-value royal symbols.
Serpent Wild Upgrades
The Serpent Wild symbol substitutes for pay symbols to help complete or improve line wins, and here’s an overview of the 3 upgrades you can unlock for this symbol:
- Upgrade 1 - increases the size of the wild to 1x4.
- Upgrade 2 - adds a random multiplier of x2, x3, or x5 to the wild.
- Upgrade 3 - makes the wild stay in place until it partakes in at least one win and is removed on the first non-winning spin after that. The win multiplier increases by +1 per consecutive win, and the wild may move from reel 5 to reels 4 to 1 if it was sticky on reel 5 to begin with.
Multiplier Stone
When the Serpent Wild lands with a multiplier on a non-winning spin, the multiplier may be stored in the Multiplier Stone next to the reels. This stored multiplier value is then added to the wild the next time it appears, in addition to its regular multiplier.
Serpent Respins
The Serpent Respins feature triggers at random times when at least one Serpent Wild is present on a non-winning spin. A randomly selected pay symbol is then highlighted, and all instances remain sticky as the remaining positions respin. This goes on as long as you keep landing new instances of the chosen symbol, and only the chosen symbol pays when the respins end.
Theme & Graphics
Serpent King plunges you deep into the jungle, where a mystical temple towers behind the reels. The symmetrical presentation is pleasing to the eye, with torches placed around the grid and stone serpents framing the reels. You will land skulls with snakes, snake potions, treasure chests brimming with riches, as well as the menacing serpent king itself as the wild symbol. The soundtrack builds up the energy as you spin the reels, egging you on to unlock all its secrets.
Pros and Cons of Serpent King
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Our Verdict
This developer has seen some success with its predecessor releases, and luckily they’ve taken the time to do something original with Serpent King instead of resorting to a reskin job. Sure, the 3 games have a lot in common, so if you liked the previous installments, you’re probably gonna enjoy this one as well. The main idea is to upgrade the wilds, which means you must commit to some spins before the game is optimized for success.
I’m not really a huge fan of this concept myself, as I prefer games that fire on all cylinders from the get-go. I understand the appeal though, as some players enjoy the sense of progress. It also gives you a strong incentive to come back for more later, once you have upgraded the wilds to level 3. Keep in mind that you need to play at the same casino and with the same bet level, otherwise your wild unlocking progress is lost.
Anyway, once the wilds are at level 3, Serpent King does offer plenty of action and avenues to riches, and I do like that the max win has been given a solid overhaul compared to the first game. The 12,825x you get here is still way below what the Primate King Megaways offer, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this developer has a Megaways version in the pipeline for this game too. They took their sweet time with it last time, however, so cynically waiting for that upgrade may not work out too well.
The Serpent Respins feature triggers regularly and usually leads to a decent top-up win, not least if one of the premium symbols is selected (which is somewhat rare). It’s a decent compensation for a fully-fledged free spins bonus, but I still prefer the latter to get a proper break from the base game. All in all, Serpent King is a worthy follow-up to the popular predecessors, but if you didn’t enjoy those, you can probably steer clear of this one as well.
