Solar Wilds (All41Studios): Overview

The last time we saw All41Studios, it was with Book of Atem – a nod to older, more established Book-style slots. This time, they’ve taken the idea that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ and dialled it up to the maximum. To the point where it stops feeling like inspiration and starts looking like outright copying. What’s going on at All41Studios? Did the creative team disappear after the first few releases failed to land? Are partners Microgaming pushing them to rush out something that finally hits? Whatever the reason, All41Studios has once again chosen the imitation path – and this time the target appears to be NetEnt’s legendary Starburst.

While Book of Atem introduced just enough differences for many players to shrug it off, Solar Wilds doesn’t seem to bring enough originality to pull off the same escape act. Long-time slot fans will remember that Play’n GO attempted something similar in 2019 with a game called Starblast. Following a clash with NetEnt’s legal team, Starblast was reworked and eventually relaunched as Crystal Sun.

At first glance, Solar Wilds looks like it could be heading toward a similar outcome. The 5-reel, 3-row layout sits on a deep-space backdrop that feels instantly recognisable. Bets range from 10 p/c up to $/€100 before you spin. The objective is to land clusters of three or more matching symbols across the 10-paylines. It helps that wins can form right to left as well as left to right. The standard symbols are all gemstones, with the classic bars and sevens left out entirely. At the lower end of the paytable you’ll find blue, purple, turquoise, green, and pink gems. The two higher-value symbols are the red, paying 12x, and the yellow, paying 50 times the stake for five.

Looking under the bonnet, there are a few differences compared to Starburst. For starters, RTP is a touch higher at 96.27% (Starburst 96.1%). Volatility has also been nudged up from low to medium. Hit frequency, however, drops slightly, coming in at around 1 in 5, or 19.86%. So yes, there are tweaks – but so far not enough to disguise what is, in practice, a very similar style of slot. Maybe the developers have added some clever, game-changing feature that launches Solar Wilds into a different orbit and finally surprises a tired audience? Don’t count on it.

Solar Wilds (All41Studios): Features

If you’re expecting a fresh mechanic to rescue Solar Wilds from its obvious comparisons, you’re likely to be let down. The entire feature set revolves around the star symbol. This is the wild, and it shows up on reels 2, 3 and 4. It substitutes for any other symbol to complete a win, but it doesn’t pay anything by itself.

When a wild lands, it expands to fill the entire reel and activates a Respin (ringing any bells?). The wild also stays locked in place during the respin. If another wild appears during a respin, it triggers additional respins. If multiple wilds land on the same spin, it still only awards 1 respin. And, just like Starburst, that’s the full package – no bonus round and no extra add-ons.

Solar Wilds (All41Studios): Verdict

All41Studios is either fearless or foolish here. As history shows, NetEnt is perfectly willing to challenge lookalike games. We saw that earlier this year when they forced Play’n GO to rework Starblast into Crystal Sun. Based on what Solar Wilds delivers, there’s a real chance the same story plays out again. While Novomatic appears to have lost the Book battle long ago (given there are hundreds of similar titles available), Startburst is so iconic and so closely tied to NetEnt that they’re likely to fight hard to defend the intellectual property. Sure, purists might point out that Starburst drew inspiration from Novomatic’s Power Stars, but in that case the differences were stronger than the overlap – and the end product was the better slot. Solar Wilds, by contrast, comes across like a studio running short on new ideas.

The previous game, Book of Atem, proved All41Studios can produce a polished slot with strong visuals. Yes, it borrowed heavily in theme and mechanics, but the presentation still felt relatively fresh. Solar Wilds instead raises a simple question: is it really that difficult to create something original? Even the name feels hastily chosen. If the rest of the game showed more creativity, a weak title would be easy to ignore. But when everything else is such an obvious copy, it reads like a rushed, desperate gamble.

To keep things fair, there are a couple of aspects that give Solar Wilds some appeal. The higher volatility and RTP versus the original could attract some players. The one-spin upside is also decent. The dream outcome is a full screen of yellow gems, with or without wilds. Because wins pay both ways, that result returns 1,000 times the stake in a single spin. Credit where it’s due: that’s twice the payout offered by Starburst.

Overall, Solar Wilds may tempt Starburst diehards who want a near-identical experience with slightly stronger stats. The bigger question is whether it even reaches them in its current form. It feels like the people most likely to benefit from Solar Wilds are All41Studio and NetEnt’s legal teams. That distant rumble you hear is lawyers warming up their knuckles. With so much overlap, Solar Wilds could easily end up in the Recycle Bin – or at minimum face a major redesign before it’s properly released to players. For now, it looks like Starburst will keep its crown as one of the most popular welcome bonus slots around. Will Solar Wilds signal the end of Starburst clones? Probably not.