Reef Raider slot review

Reef Raider brings us to the bottom of the ocean where a pirate crab is eager to wait for our instructions to find the treasure. What we’ll find is anyone’s guess but we can be sure it will involve cascading reels, free spins and random wilds.

This NetEnt slot released in 2021 brings back memories of old-school games by this developer. It seems that the last few years the company has focused somewhat on simpler slots. This game, however, brings to life the amazing animations, graphics and attention to detail that they have become known for. With a massive 7x7 playing field we can expect a lot of moving parts.

The thing most players will notice immediately is the path that traces around the playing field. The number of wins on any given spin dictates how far along the pirate crab can walk. At set points, they will unlock specific features and bonuses. These include random wilds, treasure chests and finally activating the free spins mode.

Players will also instantly see the amazing graphics that the game is presented with. All the symbols are highly detailed, even if the diamonds and gems aren’t particularly original. The crab is constantly moving even when they’re not walking around. There is also a tonne of small animations that occur during the game. From the treasure chest opening to Wilds shooting rays to illuminate the path.

Symbols

Reef Raider comes with a selection of symbols that are quite hard to tell apart when it comes to their value. They all look distinct enough, using colours and shapes to make them different. However, there’s no real way to say whether or not the red diamond is worth more or less than the purple conch. For that, I needed to dive into the paytable.

The game comes with High Volatility and an RTP of 96.1% which is also on par. Players should not expect a lot of big wins during the standard gameplay. It will require a number of wins in a row to really come out on top. It was quite common for me to only win back pence when my bets were £1. That said, you do win frequently, getting a cluster that pays out even a tiny bit almost every spin.

Players can choose to augment their bets by picking one between £0.20 and £100 per spin. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Playing with smaller bets did help me play for a longer time but I also found my funds to steadily drop. It’s up to the player how much they think bigger bets will help even it out. A maximum win of 8,500x your bet should keep people interested to keep playing.

The game includes the following symbols:

• Multiplier: When a multiplier is part of a winning cluster, that multiplier is applied to the total value.
• Wild: Wilds substitute all symbols in the game except multipliers.
• Red Diamond: Max. 150x your bet with 25-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Pink Gem: Max. 50x your bet with 25-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Orange Ruby: Max. 30x your bet with 25-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Yellow Sapphire: Max. 25x your bet with 25-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Pink Conch: Max. 22.5x your bet with 25-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Blue Conch: Max. 20x your bet with 25-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Yellow Conch: Max. 17.5x your bet with 25-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Green Conch: Max. 15x your bet with 25-or-more symbols in a cluster.

Features

Reef Raider comes with a number of interesting features that do have their ups and downs. The game plays very simply, with the player trying to get clusters of the same symbol on the screen.

Features in the game include:

• Non-standard playing field: The game takes place on a 7x7 playing field.
• Cluster Pays: Wins are calculated by having at least 5 of the same symbol touch either horizontally or vertically.
• Cascading Reels: Whenever there’s a win, the winning symbols disappear and are replaced with new symbols. This continues as long as new wins are generated.
• Wilds: Wilds are added to the screen whenever there’s a win. Wins replace all symbols except the multiplier.
• Multipliers: Multipliers appear randomly on the screen. They are applied to any winning cluster they are connected to.
• Random Wilds: At certain points, random wilds are added to the screen.
• Random Symbols: At certain points, random symbols are either removed from the game or replaced by another symbol.
• Free Spins: If the players get 15 Wilds on the screen during a single spin, the free spins mode is activated.

Players will be spending most of their time in the base game. The main gameplay loop involves getting a cluster and having a Wild spawn. This will cause the reels to cascade but also lights up the trail around the screen. The more Wilds that appear, the more of the trail will be lit up. At certain intervals, players will unlock special features.

The most important one is obviously the free spins mode, but this requires a total of 15 wilds on the screen in one spin. I found this to be utterly impossible, even after playing for more than an hour. The furthest I ever got was 11 wilds. As such, players should probably abandon the idea of getting the free spins mode to activate unless they are extremely committed.

In Conclusion

Reef Raider feels like a return to form for the developer. The game shows off their incredible talent at design and presentation. Everything looks crisp and lively, with a number of subtle animations to bring underwater life to the surface.

While the gameplay is definitely solid, it takes a special kind of player to stick it out. The trail idea is definitely original and I enjoyed it a lot. I didn’t like that it was so hard to trigger the free spins mode. As for the volatility, even though getting sizable wins was difficult, getting regular wins did help keep things interesting.

If you’re someone who can afford to play for a long time or you don’t mind using the smallest bets to last longer, you might get to enjoy the free spins mode. For me, I wasn’t able to enjoy that part of the slot and as such can’t really consider it part of the game in any meaningful way.