When looking into Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways by BGaming, a few curious facts popped up online. Buffalo (or bison) might seem calm enough as they graze in herds, but they can be seriously hazardous. Standing around two metres tall, weighing close to a ton, armed with sharp horns, and able to run at roughly 55 kph, a charging bison would be genuinely savage. It’s far better to admire these impressive animals from a safe distance—or through online slots like Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways. Alongside the buffalo, the game features other wildlife, a Refilling mechanic, and free spins boosted by a win multiplier.

Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways is a reworked version of a BGaming title released shortly beforehand called Savage Buffalo Spirit. This edition adds a Megaways expansion under licence from Big Time Gaming and tweaks parts of the feature set. The presentation has also been refreshed, although both games share the same broad North American backdrop of dust, cacti, and mountains. What’s notable is that even with the huge number of buffalo-themed slots already out there, Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways still manages to look a bit different. There’s nothing wildly extravagant on display, but the artwork has a subtly distinctive feel, and the buffalo is white instead of the usual brown.

The action takes place on a grid featuring 6 vertically spinning reels with 2 to 7 symbols on each, plus a 4-symbol horizontal reel positioned above reels 2, 3, 4, and 5. Because the reel heights vary from spin to spin, the number of ways to win changes too, reaching as high as 200,704. Built on a high volatile math model, the RTP is offered in three different versions depending on how you play, and they’re all fairly strong. With stakes from 10 p/c to $/€35 per spin, the RTP is 97.04%, increasing to 97.25% if you buy free spins for 90x the bet, and falling to 96.87% when the Chance x2 is activated. Chance x2 is an ante bet option that increases the stake by 50%, improving the chance of hitting free spins.

Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways’ paytable splits into low-paying 9-A royals and higher-paying animals like deer, wolves, cougars, eagles, and bears. A 6-of-a-kind royal win returns 0.5 to 0.8 times the bet, while landing 6 premium symbols pays 1 to 10 times the bet. The white buffalo appears as the wild symbol, showing up on reels 2-5 and the top reel. In addition to substituting for all paying symbols, any win that includes wilds is doubled.

Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways: Slot Features

On the features side, Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways stays fairly straightforward, carrying over elements from the original while extending certain parts. In this version, you get a Refilling mechanic and free spins.

Refilling

Refilling is what Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways calls its cascading/reaction/tumble mechanic. Whenever winning ways land, the symbols that form the win are removed from the gaming grid. The gaps are then filled as new symbols drop in from above, and the refilling continues until no further win appears.

Free Spins

Hitting 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols in the base game activates the free spins feature and awards 5x, 10x, 20x, or 50x the bet, respectively. Before the round begins, you receive a random number of free spins (5 to 15) along with a random multiplier (x2 to x25). That multiplier applies to every winning combination during the feature. If 3 or more scatter symbols land during free spins, the round is retriggered. On a retrigger, a random number of extra free spins and a random multiplier are granted and added to the existing totals. Retriggers are unlimited, although free spins will stop if the win cap is reached.

Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways: Slot Verdict

To state the obvious, it doesn’t feel like BGaming set out to reinvent the wheel with Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways. The feature set is on the short side, and what’s included doesn’t exactly promise anything wildly inventive. Instead, Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways sticks to familiar slot ideas, steering clear of experimentation much like a wildlife fan would keep their distance from a grazing buffalo herd.

Even so, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways is still enjoyable to play. As noted earlier, it has a slightly individual visual style that’s tricky to describe. Maybe it’s the way the reels are framed, the choice of a white buffalo, or the fact it doesn’t resemble an Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze painting? Hard to say—something feels a little different, relatively speaking. Of course, it’s still a wilderness setting filled with popular slot animals, so fans of the theme should settle in easily. Feature-wise, it’s fine—nothing groundbreaking—but the reliable mix of cascades, free spins, and a win multiplier is supported by higher-than-average RTP figures.

It would have helped the game’s overall appeal if the maximum win were higher than the 6,000x the bet available. For a Megaways slot, that’s a comparatively modest cap, and it stands out even more next to the generous RTP. Overall, Savage Buffalo Spirit Megaways isn’t the most unforgettable or truly savage buffalo slot around, but it’s a solid pick for anyone wanting a wilderness vibe with a simple feature package. Sorry for the game dump, but players looking for something with a bit more punch have plenty of alternatives close by, including Big Bad Bison Megaways, Buffalo Mania Megaways, Buffalo Toro, Buffalo Stack’ n’ Sync, Bison Battle.