Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild: Overview

Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild drops you into a world where wildlife fills the reels and “danger lurks behind every tree” — NetEnt’s phrase, not ours. Beyond the threat, Jungle Spirit is a deeply atmospheric slot packed with strong features and a couple of surprises waiting in the shadows. It all begins with the presentation. Jungle Spirit is a beautiful-looking game. NetEnt has built a reputation on rich, detailed artwork, and this title is another clear showcase of that visual skill. The name gives it away: you’re in the deepest, darkest jungle, overflowing with animals. The scenery is just as busy, too, with the grid wrapped in colourful flowers and dangling greenery.

The audio plays its part as well, with steady drums and a wall of animal calls adding extra weight to the atmosphere. Wild in title and wild in temperament, it runs at a high volatility level that will appeal to bold players, while the above-average RTP of 96.47% is an easy number to appreciate.

The reel setup has a little more going on than it first suggests. In the base game, you spin 5 reels with 3 rows and 243 ways to win — a format that grows during the bonus round, as you’ll see later. For now, you’re aiming to land three or more matching symbols consecutively on any row, starting from the first reel.

With stakes from 20 p/c up to $/€100 per spin, the paytable symbols are as polished as the rest of the production. Even the 10-A low-pay royals look like carved stone overrun with ivy, as if lifted from a forgotten section of Angkor Wat. The game really sparks to life with the premium symbols: cobras, crocs, bears, elephants, and tigers.

Premiums land as 1×1 tiles but can grow larger, and their five-of-a-kind payouts run from 3 times to 7.5 times the stake. Notably, there’s no wild symbol — though with how the mechanics are built, you’re unlikely to miss it.

Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild: Features

There may be no wilds, but the feature set is strong enough to cover that gap. One mechanic available in both the base and bonus game is the Symbol Expansion feature. Any symbol except the scatter can be randomly tagged by butterflies. If a tagged symbol helps form a win, it expands to fill an entire reel, boosting the payout.

Butterflies also show up in the Butterfly Boost feature, which can trigger at random in the main game whenever a win lands. In this mode, butterflies flutter in and expand 1 to 3 of the winning symbols across their reels, increasing the win amount.

The main attraction is the Free Spins round, activated when 3 or more flower scatter symbols appear. If 4 or 5 scatters trigger it, players also receive an extra win of 15x or 50x the stake respectively. During free spins, the layout expands to 5×4, adding an extra row and pushing the ways to win up to 1,024. Before the feature begins, players pick 1 of 5 choices, ranging from low to high risk:

• Cobra: 20 free spins with all high paying symbols transformed into cobra symbols for the duration of the feature.
• Crocodile: 16 free spins with all high paying symbols transformed into crocodile symbols.
• Bear: 12 free spins with all high paying symbols transformed into bear symbols.
• Elephant: 8 free spins with all high paying symbols transformed into elephant symbols.
• Tiger: 4 free spins with all high paying symbols transformed into tiger symbols.

Your selected animal becomes the only premium symbol that can appear for the remainder of the round. Fewer spins means higher risk and higher reward potential, while more spins lowers the risk along with the upside. Also note that free spins cannot be retriggered.

Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild: Verdict

Even the best studios hit quieter patches, and Jungle Spirit definitely helped reset the score after a run of merely decent releases. More than that, it feels like it bursts onto the scene unexpectedly — much like one of the game’s ferocious creatures.

The animals are a major part of the appeal: they’re sharply illustrated and brought to life with smooth, confident animation. The jungle setting is handled with real care, reinforcing NetEnt’s reputation for standout visuals and sound design.

Jungle Spirit also highlights NetEnt’s knack for engaging mechanics. Symbol Expansions and Butterfly Boosts add momentum to the base game, and when those glowing butterflies appear, the suspense builds as you wait to see where they’ll settle.

The free spins feature is equally well thought out, giving high-volatility fans a punchy option while offering a lower-volatility path for players who want their bankroll to last longer. So, does courage pay off in this jungle? It can, with base game potential up to 1,822 time the stake, rising to 7,768 times the stake during free spins.

Overall, Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild is a strong release from the creative chaps at NetEnt and has become one of the studio’s most popular titles. The base game flows smoothly, while the bonus game provides choices that suit a wide range of playing styles — and you can even swap the soundtrack if you want. Add the striking visuals on top, and you’ve got a slot that’s genuinely fun to spend time with.