Starlight Princess: Slot Overview

Much like turning the pages of a book, the majority of online slots reward you when matching symbols line up from left to right across the reels. Only a handful stray from that standard approach, but developer Pragmatic Play has shown they’re willing to break the mould. We saw it with the pay-anywhere behaviour of Sweet Bonanza, its Xmas edition, and more recently in Gates of Olympus. Now it returns in an anime/manga-inspired title called Starlight Princess, which uses the same kind of payout mechanic. It may sound like it’s linked to Play’n GO’s classic Moon Princess, but Starlight Princess is entirely Pragmatic Play—essentially a direct clone of Gates of Olympus.

It’s easy to measure any anime/manga-styled slot against Moon Princess, and visually this one does feel close. On the left, a panel shows the current chain of cascading wins, while on the right the wide-eyed Starlight Princess hovers in the air, wings fluttering. Even the upbeat soundtrack sits in the same lane, although Starlight Princess’ track hits a bit harder. Centre stage is the 6-reel, 5-row grid, filled with Moon Princess-like icons, while the edges of the screen are dressed with clouds, a moon, stars, and a tower. The overall vibe is dreamy fantasy, and it suits players who enjoy this aesthetic.

Because Starlight Princess is built on the same framework as Gates of Olympus, the core figures look very familiar. The default RTP is 96.5%, though it’s worth watching out for lower-return variants at 95.51% or even 94.50%. As with its predecessor, volatility is high; Pragmatic Play rates it 5 out of 5, matching the earlier title and coming in higher than the original Sweet Bonanza. Betting options are broad enough for most players, beginning at 20 p/c, rising to $/€100 per spin, and, like the other two games, the Ante Bet feature is included.

What sets these Pragmatic Play releases apart is the lack of paylines. Instead, every paying symbol behaves like a scatter, meaning it can pay from anywhere on the grid. If at least 8 matching symbols appear, you’ll collect a payout. The first five paying symbols are differently shaped gems, followed by four higher icons featuring stars, moons, hearts, and suns. When 12 or more of those four premium symbols land, payouts range from 12 to 50 times the stake. Starlight Princess does use wild symbols – that could have made things messy.

Starlight Princess: Slot Features

So no wilds, but Starlight Princess still brings a tumble mechanic, multiplier symbols, free spins, and the previously mentioned ante bet. Beginning with the tumble feature, once a winning combination has paid out, all winning symbols disappear from the grid. Any remaining symbols fall to the bottom, and the gaps are filled by new symbols dropping in from above. This tumbling keeps going until no further wins are formed, with no cap on how many cascades can occur.

The multiplier symbols are green, blue, pink, and orange winged hearts, and they can appear on all reels. These multipliers hit randomly during base spins as well as during tumbles. When one lands, it receives a random value from x2 to x500. After the tumbling chain finishes, the values of every multiplier symbol visible are totalled and applied to the overall win to determine the final payout.

Landing 4 or more scatter symbols anywhere triggers the bonus and awards 15 free spins. In free spins, whenever a multiplier symbol lands on a winning spin, its value is added to a running multiplier shown in the upper-left. Throughout the free spins, each time a new multiplier lands and produces a win, the total multiplier is also added to multiply that win. During the feature, if 3 or more scatters appear, you receive +5 additional free spins.

Finally, you can switch on the Ante Bet, which boosts the stake by 25%. In return, it doubles the chance of triggering free spins.

Starlight Princess: Slot Verdict

Unless you’re seriously into shojo manga, Starlight Princess may not feel especially striking. There’s nothing glaringly wrong with it; the issue is that, as a clone of Gates of Olympus, it doesn’t leave much new to explore. If you’ve already played the earlier entries in this style, you’ll recognise almost everything. There isn’t even a short bit of story to give Starlight Princess extra character—unless the theme itself is what you’re here for. If it is, the friendly, wide-eyed heroine may win you over with her wand-triggered free spins and energetic callouts.

Of course, not everyone has tried Gates of Olympus, and plenty of players enjoy the princess/fairy/anime vibe, so Starlight Princess could still be a hit. The all-positions payout system is relatively rare, and it pairs nicely with cascades and multipliers. It wasn’t uncommon for free spins to drift for a while without much happening, only to turn around completely when one strong spin stacks up a meaningful win multiplier. Not every time, naturally, but once you’ve built a big multiplier, the anticipation of finally cashing it in can be intense.

As you’d expect, the built-up multipliers were the key factor in how free spins ended up paying. Getting a solid multiplier early could roll into a respectable finish, which felt rewarding. Like Gates of Olympus, Starlight Princess doesn’t tease an outrageously distant max win number like the +20k seen in Sweet Bonanza. Instead, it stays in line with Pragmatic Play’s current standard, keeping the win cap at 5,000x the bet.

In terms of gameplay, Starlight Princess doesn’t really offer anything that Gates of Olympus hadn’t already delivered. Even so, if you love manga themes and want pay-anywhere mechanics, it may be the only game around that blends those two in one package.