Samurai Warrior Slot
Famous for wearing distinctive kabuto helmets and wielding razor-sharp katanas, the samurai are one of the most well-known icons of traditional Japanese culture.
As the title suggests, these brave Japanese warriors provide the inspiration for Samurai Warrior by August Gaming. The blood-splattered logo might suggest that you’re about to witness a gory battle ensue across the reels, but that’s not the case. Instead, your journey to medieval Japan sees you pay homage to the fearless warriors, while celebrating other icons of Japanese culture. These include bonsai trees, antique jade vases, koi and beautiful geisha girls, all of which appear as symbols.
A dark and mysterious soundscape echoes out as soon as the reels load, setting a rather dramatic tone. As is the case in most casino slot machines that have been released by August Gaming, the reels are set within an elaborate golden frame. In terms of the hazy backdrop, it showcases a sole samurai protruding from the dark shadows to the right of the reels on horseback. The background isn’t the most spectacular sight you’ll ever see in a samurai-themed slot, but it’s not bad for August Gaming standards. Let’s face it, the company isn’t renowned for its design prowess.
Prepare to Slay the Reels
Rather than samurai warriors slicing each other to pieces with their katanas, the only battle that occurs in Samurai Warrior is you against the reels. Prevail, and you’ll be making a very large cash-out from your online casino. Alternatively, you can play for free below with no download needed.
All the action takes place across a 5x3 game matrix, with winning combinations being formed across 25 fixed paylines. Playing around with razor-sharp katanas isn’t for the faint-hearted, but there is a wide variety of betting options available for you to limit the danger involved. Stakes begin at a low limit of just 0.25 credits per spin, making it accessible for players with small bankrolls. On the other hand, if you’re a high roller who loves dicing with danger, you can stake up to 2,500 credits.
Immerse Yourself in Japanese Culture
At first glance, the pay table of the Samurai Warrior video slot looks perfectly normal, but not to eagle-eyed players who have already spun the reels. That’s because there is no mention of antique jade vases on the pay table, yet they appear as symbols during gameplay. This isn’t something we remember encountering before, but it’s clearly just a mistake that’s been made by one of the artists.
In terms of the symbols that have been listed, none are more powerful than the wild symbol. Represented by a Japanese symbol that means “wu shi” (meaning samurai), wild symbols can appear on all but the first reel. Not only can these wild symbols substitute for all regular symbols, they can also boost base game wins with a multiplier bonus worth up to 4x. Basically, whenever you land between two and four wild symbols in a winning combination, your payout will be multiplied by the number of wild symbols involved. So, if there are two wild symbols, the win is multiplied by 2x, and so on.
Of the four Japanese-inspired symbols that feature on the pay table, it’s the samurai warrior who delivers the largest payouts, worth up to 100x your line bet. White-faced geisha girls waving red paper fans represent the next highest-paying symbol, paying up to 90x. Koi and bonsai trees complete the line-up of premium symbols in Samurai Warrior, offering maximum wins of 80x and 70x respectively.
If you’ve played August Gaming slots before, you won’t be surprised to learn that six playing card symbols represent the least valuable symbols in Samurai Warrior. You’ll be awarded up to 50x for matching J, 10 or 9 symbols. For Kings and Queens, you’ll win up to 60x, while Aces trump the other playing card symbols by paying up to 70x.
Unlock Antique Chests for Free Games
The only symbol that the wild cannot substitute for in this free Samurai Warrior slots game is the scatter symbol, represented by an antique wooden chest. While one or two of these decorative chests are nice to look at, you’ll be hoping three or more of them appear on consecutive reels during the same spin. Every time that happens, you’ll activate the free games feature.
How many free games you receive will be determined by the number of chests you trigger the feature with. Unlocking three chests sees you secure 8 free games along with 3x your stake. Even greater rewards are on offer for unlocking four chests, as you receive 10 free games and 13x your stake. However, it’s five chests that you’ll be crossing your fingers for. Not only will you receive 33x your stake for triggering the feature with five chests, you’ll find yourself armed with 13 free games to inflict as much damage on the reels as possible.
The only disappointing aspect of this free games feature is that it can’t be retriggered. What makes up for this is the inclusion of sticky wild symbols that remain in place until the feature ends. Rather than introducing a new symbol, it’s the “wu shi” wild symbol that becomes sticky.
Follow the Path of the Warrior
We’d be lying if we told you Samurai Warrior is a cut above the other samurai-themed slots that are available to play at online casinos. Simply put, the graphics and animations of Samurai Warrior don’t compare to the mind-blowing visuals featured in other samurai slots. If, like us, you’re disappointed by the lack of katana-wielding action on the reels, we’ve got a couple of other paths for you to follow.
If you give Samurai Heroes by GamingSoft a try, you’d better brace yourself for wins of epic proportions. A host of colorful cartoon warriors help you hack and slash your way to victory in this 5-reeled slot with 25 paylines. The leader of the gang helps you fight your way to the top prize of 1,250x your line bet. The sight of cherry blossom trees can also help your balance bloom, as they can help you trigger up to 30 free spins. Other bonus features in Samurai Heroes include four progressive jackpots and an innovative battle bonus game.
For a greater insight into Japanese culture, check out Rising Samurai by Skywind. Its 5x3 game matrix has been filled with stunning symbols like Japanese drums, geisha girls, gold bars and decorative jugs. Of course, it’s a samurai warrior who is worth most of all, popping up to deliver wins worth up to 7,500x. Free games are triggered by landing scatter symbols, represented by a stunning view of Mount Fuji, while a tribal mask represents the substituting wild symbol.
Not What We Were Expecting
The title of Samurai Warrior had blood pumping through our veins as we braced ourselves for an epic battle playing out on the reels, but Samurai Warrior left us bitterly disappointed.
There is no battle here. Instead, Samurai Warrior is an online slot that celebrates traditional Japanese culture. Despite this, the symbols have been designed very well and the payouts are decent. We also like the variety of bonus features that August Gaming has included, especially the sticky wilds that feature during free games.
To conclude, Samurai Warrior isn’t the adrenaline-pumping encounter that we expected, and we doubt it’s a slot that you’ll return to if you give it a try.
