Release the Kraken Megaways

The original Release the Kraken from 2020 was a calm sea-themed slot on a fixed grid — tentacles, chests, exactly 4096 ways and a predictable rhythm. Four years later Pragmatic Play took the same kraken and rebuilt it on the Megaways engine: now the reels breathe, their height jumps from 2 to 7 symbols, and the number of ways on a lucky spin reaches up to 117,649. The beast grew bigger — and noticeably toothier.

In numbers the picture is this: a 96.4% base RTP, high volatility, up to 117,649 ways on a cascading grid and a 10,000x ceiling. The main nerve is the roaming wilds that crawl across the screen during respins and stack a global multiplier in free spins, plus a safety net rare for this kind of risk: the slot forcibly pulls a share of dead spins into a win of at least 10x.

How does this version differ from the 2020 kraken?

The skeleton is instantly recognisable — the same deep sea, the same wrath of the abyssal monster — but the maths has been rewritten from scratch. Instead of a fixed grid there are six reels of floating height: each lands between two and seven symbols, and at the maximum layout you get 117,649 ways to win. Winning combinations do not just pay, they vanish — new symbols drop from above (tumble), and this repeats as long as matches keep forming on the cascade. One lucky spin with tumble easily grows into a chain of three or four payouts in a row.

In the base game mystery symbols spin: they land covered and then all reveal at once as a single random paying symbol — sometimes turning a dull screen into a full combination. And to keep the high-volatility base from going silent, Pragmatic wired in a guaranteed win: the slot randomly converts a share of clearly dead spins into a payout of at least 10x. The cushion is modest, but over distance it slightly smooths the dry spells — an uncommon decision for a title this risky. If another sea monster is calling, we also have Captain Kraken Megaways — another Megaways kraken, but built on hold and win instead of roaming wilds.

How do the wild respins and the rising multiplier work?

The heart of the slot is wilds that refuse to stand still. Three or more wilds on screen launch the respin mode, and that is where the main action begins.

The logic is clear: the longer the round lives and the more roaming wilds on screen, the higher the global multiplier by the time a big cascade lands. It is precisely the link of many ways times multiplier times tumble that drags the slot toward its ceiling — but it demands that all three factors converge in a single round.

Breaking down the return: roaming wild, the multiplier and 96.4%

The base RTP is 96.4% at high volatility — for a Megaways slot with a 10,000x ceiling that is the norm. But the base figure is deceptively even: Pragmatic also hands operators three trimmed builds — 96.08%, 95.07% and 94.07%. The gap between the top and bottom version is 2.33 percentage points, and over distance that is not rounding but a tangible slice of the return.

A word on the ceiling. 10,000x is the theoretical maximum, reached only in a perfect free-spin round where the global multiplier has grown through roaming wilds. The stated chance of hitting the max is around 1 in 978,569 — one such spin in a million. A hit frequency of ~1 in 8.23 says wins arrive regularly, but those are small change from cascades; the big money lives strictly in the bonus, and you still have to reach it. Soberly: the ceiling here is a shop window, not a plan for the session.

Is it worth sitting down with this particular kraken?