Ryze 2: Slot Overview

Trying to swipe treasure from under the nose of a sleeping dragon is best left to the fearless, the reckless, or anyone lucky enough to own an invisibility ring. Doing it in a virtual online slot instead? That’s a much safer plan, and it’s not exactly new territory for us. A good example is ELK Studios’ slot Ryze, and the reason we’re here is to put its sequel through its paces. The follow-up is Ryze 2, which keeps much of what made the original tick while introducing additions like the new Orb Overload feature.

The first game played out beneath a treasure-packed temple, whereas Ryze 2 shifts the action to an ancient mint buried deep inside a mountain—also overflowing with riches. The display is basically drenched in gold coins, though whether Ryze intends to share any of them is another question. For anyone wondering, Ryze is the dragon’s name, the one standing guard over the loot. It’s a mix of cute and intimidating, so it’s hard to tell if Ryze is secretly rooting for players or ready to melt faces for even thinking about touching the pile. Either way, the dragon brings personality to a classic “guardian of the hoard” fantasy setup, and Ryze 2 delivers that theme in a polished way.

Symbols fall into a 7-row, 5 to 6 column grid that’s deliberately misaligned, meaning Avalanches can send symbols sliding left or right instead of dropping straight down. Since it’s a cluster pays slot, you need 5 connected matching symbols or more to form a win, which then sets off the Avalanche mechanic. With highly volatile math, players can wager from $/€0.20 to $/€100 and the theoretical RTP sits at 94%. That applies to regular play as well as when purchasing features via the X-iter.

Ryze 2 includes seven paying symbols: bronze, silver, and gold coins, plus blue, green, purple, and red gems. The biggest clusters are 15+ OAK and return 1.5x to 10x the stake. Wilds are central to the action, substituting for standard pay symbols and Coins.

Ryze 2: Slot Features

Ryze 2 brings back a lot of what was in the first game—Avalanches, Multiplier Wilds, Burst symbols, Coins, bonus games, and feature buys—while also introducing the new Orb Overload feature.

Avalanche & Multiplier Wild

Whenever a win lands, all instances of the winning symbol types are removed from the grid. Once they disappear, the remaining symbols drop down and fresh ones fall in to plug the gaps. Avalanches keep going until no further winning clusters appear. Any winning cluster made from pay symbols (but not Coins) also creates an x1 Multiplier Wild in one of the available spaces after the win.

Each Multiplier Wild included in a win increases its multiplier by +1 for every winning Coin or pay symbol contained in that cluster. After that, it moves into one of the empty positions created when the winning symbols are removed. If multiple Multiplier Wilds are involved in the same win, their values are added together and applied as a combined total. They then merge into a single Multiplier Wild carrying the summed multiplier value.

Coins

Coins come with an xbet value. When a Coin cluster wins, it pays out the combined value, and that total is then given to a new Coin that remains in one of the empty spaces. A win made up only of Coins won’t generate a Multiplier Wild. That said, if Multiplier Wilds are part of a Coin win, their values are added together first and then applied to the total Coin payout.

Burst Symbol

The Burst symbol acts as a blocker and activates at the end of the spin. When it triggers, it transforms itself and any adjacent pay symbols into matching symbols or Coins. If a Burst symbol goes off next to a dormant Orb, the Orb becomes powered.

Orb Overload

Winning clusters that land next to a dormant Orb activate it. Power all 6 Orbs within a single spin and an Orb Overload triggers at the end of that spin. Powered Orbs then fire one after another, each unleashing a random Orb power, although some Orbs may do nothing. Once an Orb Overload finishes, the Orbs reset and can be powered again during the same spin.

• Spawn Coin – Selects an empty space or a payout symbol not part of a win and converts it to a Coin.
• Symbol Shift – Selects a pay symbol type and upgrades all symbols of that type to a higher value symbol.
• Spawn Burst – Selects an empty space or a payout symbol not part of a win and converts it to a Burst symbol.
• Spawn Wild – Selects an empty space or a payout symbol not part of a win and converts it to a Multiplier Wild.
• Empower Wild – Selects a Multiplier Wild and doubles its value.
• Spawn Great Wild – Selects an empty space or a payout symbol not part of a win and converts it to a Multiplier Wild with a higher than normal value.

Bonus Game

If a bonus scatter reaches the bottom row, players win 7 free spins, where Multiplier Wilds are sticky between spins. Players win an extra +3 spins if a scatter reaches the bottom row. Or the bonus round is upgraded to the super bonus if a super bonus scatter reaches the bottom. If the super bonus scatter reaches the bottom row in the base game, 7 super bonus free spins are awarded. What changes in super free spins is that each spin starts with an Orb Overload.

X-iter Feature Buys

Using the X-iter, players can switch on the Bonus Hunt for 2.5x, which purchases a spin with 4 times the chance to trigger a bonus game, or choose Mega Bonus Hunt for 5x to boost the chance to 8x. Triggering Orb Overload costs 50x, while the regular bonus is available for 100x, and 500x buys the super bonus.

Ryze 2: Slot Verdict

After reviewing Ryze, it didn’t exactly feel like a title that needed a sequel. It was enjoyable, sounded good, looked good, and wrapped up its ideas neatly. ELK Studios clearly saw more room to explore, though. With Ryze 2, the team heads back into the treasure vault and brings along a few fresh concepts. For the most part, the core gameplay stays close to the original, with the mix of winning clusters, Coins, Avalanches, and Multiplier Wilds still acting as the engine that drives everything. The familiar echoes of other games are still there too, from Slotmill‘s Coin Clusters concept (Coin Quest 2, for instance) to Pragmatic Play’s Fire Portals.

How much of it was born in-house at ELK HQ is open to discussion, but even if every element isn’t completely new, the end result is still fun. The more distinctive addition is the Orbs Overload feature. The individual Orb powers aren’t wildly original on their own, yet it’s genuinely satisfying when several of them chain together after all of the Orbs are activated. Depending on how many wins keep landing on the spin, they can even fire again. Free spins remain a major draw thanks to Multiplier Wilds staying on the grid between spins right up to the finish, while the super bonus cranks up the intensity by making Orb Overload trigger at the start of every spin.

The one moment that feels a bit like “Oh, really?” is that even with the expanded grid and extra Orb powers, Ryze 2 still tops out at the same 10,000x the bet maximum win as the original. Still, 10K is a solid ceiling, and the new touches help Ryze 2 feel like a dragon that’s picked up a few extra tricks—even if it hasn’t completely reinvented itself.