Lion Saga Odyssey: Slot Overview

Two elements that developer Play’n GO clearly cherishes are the Arthurian mythos and the expanding-symbol “Book of” style. Those favourites were combined in the 2019 release Rise of Merlin, which also introduced the ability to add extra expanding symbols to the bonus round when it retriggered. That formula proved so effective in Rise of Merlin that the studio later reused essentially the same framework for Legacy of Dead, and it has returned again in the African wildlife-themed Lion Saga Odyssey.

Lion Saga Odyssey may be far removed from Arthurian England, yet it sits on the same continent as Legacy of Dead. That continent is Africa, and Play’n GO presents a good-looking take on it—though the base game can feel a touch arid. Some players may even catch echoes of Disney’s The Lion King. The natural scenery is well illustrated, and the theme also nods to something beyond the physical world through a glowing blue spirit lion that seems to guide, lead, or inspire the main lion on a journey or quest. If we had to guess, the mission is about steering the animals from parched hardship to a watery haven.

Keeping to the familiar “Book of” blueprint, Lion Saga Odyssey places symbols on a 5-reel, 10 payline layout. That said, players can choose how many paylines are active from 1 to 10. As a result, stakes run from 1 c per spin up to $/€100. The game’s volatility is rated high (8 out of 10), and the highest RTP among its five versions is 96.58%.

Unique, tree-framed 10-A card ranks serve as the low-paying symbols in Lion Saga Odyssey, while the higher-value icons are meerkats, a zebra, mummy with baby lion, and daddy lion. Wins are paid in coins, based on the coin size and coin value selected when setting the stake. The Spirit symbol acts as a wild and can land on every reel. It substitutes for all paying symbols except Expanding symbols and can award up to 5,000 coins for 5 wilds across a payline.

Lion Saga Odyssey: Slot Features

The Spirit symbol also functions as Lion Saga Odyssey’s scatter. Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter/wilds awards 2x, 20x, or 200x, the bet, respectively and 8 free spins. Before the free spins begin, one pay symbol is randomly chosen to become a special expanding symbol. Once standard win checks are completed, expanding symbols will expand into fully stacked reels if enough of them are visible.

Expanded symbols pay on all active paylines from any position and do not need to sit next to each other. Landing 3 or more scatter symbols awards an extra +8 free spins, and another special expanding symbol is selected. In total, up to 9 expanding symbols may be active.

Gamble Feature

During the base game, the total win from any spin can be gambled. Guessing the colour of a face-down card correctly doubles the payout, while correctly picking the suit quadruples the win. The Gamble round may be used up to 5 times consecutively, up to a limit of 2,500 coins. The Gamble round does not affect the overall RTP.

Lion Saga Odyssey: Slot Verdict

Rise of Merlin and, later, Legacy of Dead helped push the “Book of” format forward by widening what could happen inside the free spins bonus. Before that, players typically only had one expanding symbol to hope for, and the usual dream was landing the top-value pay symbol to chase full-screen max-win hits. In Rise, even starting with a modest royal as the expanding symbol didn’t automatically rule out big outcomes—hit a retrigger or two (or more), and suddenly anything could be on the cards.

That same “anything could happen” feeling exists in Lion Saga Odyssey as well, because the underlying mechanics are identical. Still, for anyone who knows the earlier titles, there’s little chance of genuine surprise or that first-time thrill of discovery. Nowadays, having multiple expanding symbols active simultaneously is no longer the rarity it once was, which makes Lion Saga Odyssey more of a trend follower than a trend setter. One area where it remains a bit unusual—though not in a negative sense—is the option to choose between 1 and 10 active paylines. In a “Book” slot, you generally want as many lines active as possible to connect expanding symbols. But by reducing paylines, you raise the potential max win multiplier within the capped exposure.

At $/€100 per spin, the maximum win is 5,000x the bet. Drop the stake to, for example, a penny per spin, and you’ll want a calculator with extra space, because Lion Saga Odyssey can pay up to 250,000 coins. So, even if very little has changed under the hood since Rise of Merlin, there’s still a place for a game like Lion Saga Odyssey on the penny-stake shelf. It may not qualify as true old-school gambling yet, but its one payline/coin approach leans toward the middle-school era, which some players will appreciate.