Anubis Rising: Slot Overview

Anubis Rising is an Ancient Egypt-inspired online slot from Blueprint Gaming, a studio that’s been returning to this setting for quite some time. Anubis is a major figure in Egyptian mythology, but given how often Egypt turns up in slots, you hardly need a history lesson on him being tied to the underworld and more. So, let’s jump in with Blueprint Gaming as it revisits the distant past and see how the combination of expanding wilds and an upgrade-driven free spins round holds up.

To put it in context, Anubis Rising is a clear counterpoint to Hacksaw Gaming’s more contemporary take on a similar theme, Hand of Anubis. Where Hacksaw’s version leans toward a horror vibe, Anubis Rising is far more straightforward and a bit old-school—very much the kind of release Blueprint Gaming often produces, with a feel reminiscent of the Eye of Horus series. Some will call it simple, others might say plain, though it’s undeniably clean and easy to read. The audio follows suit with a familiar Egyptian-slot beat: not outstanding, not irritating—just serviceable.

Anubis Rising runs on a 5-reel setup with 3 rows of symbols per reel, and wins are formed across 10 paylines. Winning combos have to begin on the leftmost reel and continue on consecutive reels. In keeping with the fairly traditional presentation, the RTP sits at a middling 95%, while the game’s math is tuned to highly volatile play. Stakes range from 10 c to $/€50 per spin, and the game includes neither an ante bet nor a feature buy.

On the paytable, ornate J-A card ranks make up the lower-paying symbols. The higher pays are stylised icons featuring a lotus, an Ankh, a scarab, Isis, Anubis/jackal, and the Eye of Horus—possibly a small nod to Blueprint’s other titles. Landing 5 of a low-pay symbol returns 10 times the stake, while 5 matching premium symbols pay 20 to 50 times the bet. The wilds are the symbols you’ll really want to connect with. When a wild symbol lands (they can appear on reels 2, 3, and 4), it expands to fill the entire reel if it can help create a winning combination. Wilds substitute for any standard paying symbol.

Anubis Rising: Slot Features

Hopefully the expanding wilds provide enough action, because that’s essentially the only extra you’ll get during the base game. Once the free spins are triggered, however, the door opens for upgrades and improvements to stack up.

Pick A Bonus

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters in the base game awards 12 free spins along with a win worth 2x, 20x, or 50x the bet, respectively. Before the free spins start, a Pick a Bonus feature takes place, allowing up to 5 upgrades to be added to the round. Players keep selecting until ‘Start Free Games’ is revealed. You can end up with anywhere from 5 to 0 upgrades active. The available upgrades are:

• Tablet Boost – improves the lowest-value symbol in the order shown on the meter above the grid to the next symbol along. This can appear multiple times.
• Super Wilds – all wilds become Super Wilds. When 1, 2, or 3 Super Wilds land, players receive an extra 2, 6, or 10 free spins, respectively.
• Extra Wilds – additional wilds are added to the reels during the free spins round.
• Gold Anubis Wild – these wilds apply multipliers of x2, x3, x4, x5, or x10 to any wins they help form. If more than one Gold Anubis contributes to a win, the multipliers are added together.
• Pyramid – grants 2 to 5 extra free spins.

Free Spins

Alongside the potential upgrades listed above, there’s another mechanic in free spins: whenever a wild symbol lands, it upgrades the symbols on the meter above the grid. Any symbol improvements remain in place for the duration of the feature. On top of that, players gain +1, +3, or +5 extra free spins for landing 1, 2, or 3 wilds.

Anubis Rising: Slot Verdict

With Anubis Rising, Blueprint Gaming largely stays in its comfort zone. The game mirrors several earlier releases from the studio, from the Eye of Horus-style expanding wilds and symbol-upgrade element to the pre-bonus upgrade selection—pick an example, and there are plenty. One that springs to mind is Crabbin’ For Cash Megaways, which uses a comparable Pick A Crustacean stage. This is very much Blueprint Gaming’s approach: combining familiar pieces from different titles to shape a “new” release.

Those quotation marks are doing some work, because in many ways Anubis Rising doesn’t feel especially fresh. The visuals lean retro, the features feel familiar, and there’s little here that pushes the genre forward. Still, that lack of novelty may be exactly what appeals to certain players—especially those who prefer to spin with a pretty clear idea of what they’re getting. Here, that generally means a fairly uneventful base game, paired with a free spins bonus that can become genuinely interesting, depending on how many upgrades you secure at the start and how much symbol upgrading you manage once it’s underway. When it all clicks, the mix of upgrading, expanding, and multipliers can produce some very satisfying outcomes.

Just don’t expect monster-sized returns by Blueprint Gaming standards, as the paytable lists a win cap of 5,000x the bet. That’s still a solid ceiling, and a worthwhile goal for anyone who enjoys Ancient Egyptian slots delivered in Blueprint Gaming’s distinctly classic style.