Anubis Wild Megaways Slot: Overview

Continuing to capitalize on their Megaways license, developer Inspired Gaming is set to launch their second title built around the popular mechanic. The first, Desperados Wild, felt fairly routine at the start – right up until the bonus round, where stacked, multiplier wilds could unleash serious chaos. Some of that spark carries over into this follow-up, although it arrives alongside a few odd tweaks. After a Western setting, we now get an Egyptian slot, suggesting the Megaways theme choices aren’t exactly the most imaginative. Still, gameplay matters most, so it’s worth holding off on judgement and taking it for a spin.

Don’t expect instant fireworks when Anubis Wild Megaways boots up. Visually, it’s polished and perfectly serviceable, but it also plays things safe: familiar genre symbols on the reels and a torch-lit temple backdrop. That said, everything is easy to read and the atmosphere is there. Players use the coin arrows to set their wager, ranging from 20 p/c to $/€20 per spin.

Choose manual or auto spins and the Megaways engine kicks in with 6 main reels plus an additional 4×1 horizontal reel across the top. The main reels display 2-7 symbols each, shifting every spin, and can generate up to 117,649 ways to win – the classic Megaways format. Wins are paid when 2 or 3 matching symbols land in consecutive reels on any row. When a win hits, the cascade mechanic clears the winning symbols and drops new ones into place. Fresh combinations can then form, and cascades keep going as long as new wins appear.

There are 10 standard pay symbols, divided into 6 low-value and 4 higher-paying icons. Low pays are the usual 9-A royals set on a papyrus-style background, while the premium symbols include an Eye of Horus, Pharaoh’s Mask, a Cleopatra lookalike, and a scarab. All require at least three to pay, except the scarab, which only needs two of a kind. It’s also the top payer, awarding 50 times the stake for six of a kind.

Two special symbols round things out – wilds and mystery symbols. In the base game, wilds appear only on the top horizontal reel, while during free spins they show up on reels 2-5 only. As usual, wilds substitute for any symbol except the bonus. When the Mystery Symbols land, every mystery symbol on screen transforms into the same regular pay symbol, boosting the potential for stronger combinations.

Under the hood, the medium volatile math model delivers 95.9% RTP in standard mode, shifting to between 95.81%-95.95% RTP when the Bonus Top Up feature is engaged. More on that below, so read on.

Anubis Wild Megaways Slot: Features

Desperadoes Wild offered a choice between two different bonus games, while Anubis Wild Megaways sticks to a single option. Luckily, it mirrors the mode that made Desperadoes memorable – the Jail House Spins. This time it doesn’t get a unique title; it’s simply called Free Spins and triggers when 3 or more bonus symbols land anywhere on screen. That’s not a mistake: Anubis Wild needs only 3 scatters (rather than the 4 used in many other Megaways titles), and each extra scatter awards 2 more spins, up to a maximum of 82.

Before the free spins start, players see the Bonus Top Up screen. Here you can choose to gamble the free spins you’ve won or take them immediately. If the gamble succeeds, additional spins are added. If it fails, the spins are lost and you receive a mystery prize paid as a multiplier of the total bet. During testing it was typically around x4, so it’s definitely not ideal to miss out.

The free spins mode plays quite differently from a typical Megaways bonus. To begin with, the top bonus reel is removed, and there’s no unlimited win multiplier available. The cascade feature is also gone. Instead, the focus shifts entirely to wilds. When wilds land, they drop to the bottom of their reel and stay locked in place for the rest of the feature. That wild also fixes the Megaways height on that reel, so the number of rows no longer changes from spin to spin. If more wilds land on the same reel, they combine, stack up, and gain a multiplier equal to the number of merged wilds. If a reel becomes fully covered by a merged wild, extra free spins are awarded equal to the number of wilds that merged.

The last feature is a technical option you’ll ideally never need. It’s called the Spin Chance and becomes available when there’s some balance left, but not enough to cover the current spin price. Players can opt into Spin Chance, after which a needle rotates around a wheel: landing on green grants another spin, while landing on red forfeits the remaining credit.

Anubis Wild Megaways Slot: Verdict

Anubis Wild is a decent Egyptian-themed Megaways slot, but it does come across as a step down from Desperadoes Wild. Elements have been altered, introduced, and removed, and the end result feels slightly weaker. It’s difficult to see why Inspired made certain adjustments here, since they don’t really improve the overall experience. One issue is the more restricted bonus offering. What’s included is enjoyable – the sticky, multiplying wilds can be just as exciting when they start building in an Egyptian setting. However, some players may miss a more traditional win multiplier in place of the higher-variance wild approach, and that option simply isn’t here. It’s also tough to find a compelling reason for that decision. On the plus side, needing only 3 scatters to trigger the feature is a benefit, although the RTP reduction somewhat cancels out that advantage.

Inspired’s first Megaways release, Desperadoes Wild, stood out thanks to its fresh and highly effective Jail House Spins feature. It’s good to see that concept return, but as with anything, it naturally feels less impactful the second time around. Anubis Wild is a capable Megaways entry, yet it doesn’t truly shine, and the changes made leave it feeling like a slightly lesser game than its predecessor.