Rise of Merlin (Play’n GO): Review

Spoiler: Rise of Merlin is one of those “same idea, slightly different execution” releases, which probably won’t shock anyone when it comes to Play’n GO—a studio that has built a big part of its success by echoing other providers’ concepts. In this particular situation, though, Greentube got there first, and that’s where things get messy. Greentube has filed a dispute against Play’n GO for allegedly copying their flagship Book of Ra, yet Greentube themselves—after launching Book of Ra Magic—borrowed heavily from Merkur’s flagship Magic Mirror Deluxe, which itself stems from Magic Mirror, a Book of Ra clone. Or maybe it happened in reverse? Phew.

Either way, the reality is that the industry has operated with this kind of anything-goes attitude for ages, and when it comes to mechanics and game engines, protecting intellectual property has proven to be close to impossible. Since we don’t know what happens behind closed doors, the only reasonable assumption is that providers often get away with it—bringing us to this “new” Play’n GO release. If Magic Mirror Deluxe is essentially the successor to Magic Mirror, then Play’n GO’s Rise of Merlin can just as easily be viewed as the follow-up to Book of Dead. If you know the titles mentioned, you likely already have a good idea of what’s coming.

And since it’s a clone, you might expect the Swedish studio to at least switch up the theme—but that doesn’t happen here either. Rise of Merlin is a fantasy-style 5-reel, 3-row slot with up to 10 paylines available, and it lets you wager anywhere from 1 cent up to 100€ per spin. Naturally, that range makes it accessible for pretty much every type of player and bankroll.

You do need to pay attention with Play’n GO slots, because they let operators pick from multiple RTP configurations. In most of our accredited casinos it’s typically set to 96.58%, but as markets have shifted, some operators have opted for the lower 94.51% version. You should be able to confirm the setting in the help file. Regardless, Rise of Merlin is a highly volatile slot where the Free Spins round is what really matters, and where retriggers can add more spins along with extra expanding symbols.

From a visual standpoint, Rise of Merlin is fairly straightforward, though that’s not really the main point—its draw goes beyond the surface. Inspired by the medieval legend of Merlin, the background shows a grand hall with arches and pillars. On the reels you’ll find A to 10 card values, plus owls, dragons, and Merlin the enchanter himself. He’s the top-paying symbol, awarding 500 times your stake for 5 across a full payline. The wild appears as a crystal ball and substitutes for all standard symbols. Just like Merlin, 5 wilds pay 500 times your total stake.

Rise of Merlin (Play’n GO): Features

As with its predecessors Magic Mirror Deluxe and Book of Ra Magic, the main attraction is the Free Spins feature. To activate it, you must land 3 or more crystal ball scatter symbols, which awards 8 free spins. You probably know how this works, but here’s the rundown. Before the bonus begins, one regular symbol is randomly selected as your special expanding symbol. Whenever it lands during the free spins, it expands to cover the entire reel.

Up to this point it mirrors Book of Dead, but the difference shows up when you retrigger by landing 3 or more scatters during the feature. When that happens, you don’t just receive another 8 spins—an additional special expanding symbol is also randomly chosen. Retrigger again, and the same thing happens once more. While it’s extremely rare (with the odds of maximum exposure at roughly 1 in 8,7 million spins), it’s possible to end up with a top win of up to 5000 times your stake*.

Rise of Merlin (Play’n GO): Verdict

Even though players love these kinds of games, the same enthusiasm doesn’t necessarily extend to Play’n GO’s reputation within the industry. Seen by many as a controversial studio, Play’n GO has a track record of irritating competitors. This year alone has already produced at least a couple of notable examples. First came the Starblast situation, which had to be renamed to Crystal Sun after a conflict with NetEnt. Then there was Perfect Gems, which we can assume didn’t sit well with Big Time Gaming given how closely it resembles the Megaways game engine.

Whether Rise of Merlin should be labeled as “theft” is difficult to pin down, since this style of gameplay has become so widespread that it arguably feels like public domain at this point—we’ll leave that call to others. What’s clear is that Rise of Merlin is a strong release, and it’s every bit as good as—if not better than—its predecessors. There’s little doubt it will become another long-running success for Play’n GO.

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*The cap for Rise of Merlin is actually 250000 coins and so the maximum potential differs depending on how many coins or lines you have in play. If you play on maximum coins and maximum lines, you have a lower volatility model and a win potential of 5000x total bet. However, if you play on minimum coins and minimum lines, you have large volatility but a win potential of 250,000x total bet. Hope this answers it. – Magnus Olsson (Play’n GO).

Don’t Miss

There’s also a sequel called Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake worth a look, featuring double the win potential and several fresh, explosive additions.