Quick verdict: Rise of Merlin is Play'n GO's 2019 take on Arthurian legend, built around a younger, more hot-headed version of the wizard than the studio's earlier Merlin titles. It's a straightforward 5-reel, 10-payline slot rather than a mechanically dense modern release, but its Free Spins feature — expanding symbols that can retrigger and stack — has kept it a steady UK search term years after launch. At up to 96.58% RTP (Play'n GO also ships lower configurations down to 84.55%, so check which is live at your casino) and a "High," 10-out-of-10 volatility rating, with a 5,000x max win, it rewards patience rather than offering frequent small wins.
The Story
Play'n GO had already built two earlier games around the Arthurian wizard — Merlin's Millions and Merlin: Age of Legend — before releasing Rise of Merlin in June 2019. Rather than revisiting the same aged, robed archetype, the studio reframed the character as a younger, less experienced Merlin: still learning his trade, quicker to temper, and surrounded by the magical creatures of his own legend rather than King Arthur's court directly. Play'n GO's launch messaging leaned into that generational twist, pitching the game as a fresh angle on a wizard players already knew well rather than a retread. The dragon, the owl familiar Archimedes, and a set of floating spellbooks recur through the reels and bonus screen as the visual shorthand for that world.
Theme, Gameplay & Symbols
Rise of Merlin runs on a standard 5-reel grid with an adjustable 1 to 10 paylines rather than the ways-to-win or cluster-pay structures common in more recent releases — a simpler, more traditional format that suits players who want a straightforward paytable over a dense mechanic sheet. Low-value symbols are the usual card royals (10 through Ace), while mid and high-value symbols carry the Arthurian theme: Archimedes the owl, a coiled dragon, an ornate ring, and Merlin's own spellbook. A glowing crystal ball or orb symbol does double duty as both the game's Wild — substituting for every other symbol — and its Scatter, the trigger for the Free Spins feature described below.
Presentation & Sound
Visually, Rise of Merlin favours a moodier, more painterly style than Play'n GO's earlier, more cartoonish Merlin games — the reels sit inside a shadowy, candlelit castle hall with stone archways and drifting magical particles, and Merlin himself is rendered with a harder, more serious expression than the jollier wizard archetype the studio had used before. It's a controlled, atmospheric presentation rather than a loud one: ambient chime and choir-style music underscores the base game, with a more dramatic musical swell reserved for the Free Spins feature and expanding-symbol wins. The tone stays consistently mystical and adult-oriented rather than whimsical, in keeping with the character's slightly more serious rework.
How to Play Rise of Merlin
- Set your stake and paylines. Bets run from roughly €0.01 up to €100 per spin, across an adjustable 1 to 10 paylines.
- Spin the 5-reel grid. Matching symbols pay left to right along active paylines, in the standard fixed-position format.
- Watch for the crystal ball orb. It acts as a Wild, substituting for all other symbols in a winning combination.
- Land 3 or more orbs to trigger Free Spins. The feature awards 8 initial spins with one symbol chosen at random to expand across full reels for the round.
- Retrigger for more. Landing further scatters during the feature adds 8 more spins and a second expanding symbol, stacking the round's potential.
- Try the demo first. Rise of Merlin has a free-play demo available on this page, a sensible way to see the expanding-symbol mechanic before staking real money.
Features & Mechanics
Rise of Merlin's entire feature set sits behind one trigger: landing three or more of the game's crystal ball Scatter symbols anywhere on the reels. That launches an initial 8 Free Spins, with one regular-paying symbol chosen at random to become an expanding symbol — filling an entire reel whenever it appears — for the remainder of that round. Landing three or more scatters again during the feature retriggers it, adding a further 8 spins and selecting a second expanding symbol, so a well-timed retrigger stacks multiple expanding symbols across the same free spins round rather than simply extending the spin count. Outside the Free Spins feature, the game also carries Play'n GO's standard Gamble option, letting a win be risked on a double-or-nothing card-guess for players who want it — an optional feature rather than a requirement to progress.
Volatility & Win Potential
Play'n GO rates Rise of Merlin's volatility at the top of its own 1-to-10 scale — a 10, or "High" in the game's own info screen — and ships the game across several RTP configurations rather than a single fixed figure: 96.58%, 94.51%, 91.51%, 87.56%, and 84.55% have all been recorded live at different operators, so it's worth checking the in-game paytable at whichever casino you play on to confirm which version is running. The maximum win is 5,000x your stake, reached through a heavily stacked Free Spins round with multiple expanding symbols active at once. Bets span roughly €0.01 to €100 per spin across the adjustable 1-10 paylines. With a top-tier volatility rating and no bonus-buy option on this title, the Free Spins feature has to be earned the natural way — long dry spells between triggers are the norm for a slot built this way, not an exception.
Pros & Cons
- Pro: the stacking expanding-symbol mechanic gives retriggers real escalating value rather than just adding spin count.
- Pro: a straightforward 10-payline format that's easy to read at a glance, useful for players who find modern ways-to-win or cluster-pay slots harder to follow.
- Pro: a genuinely atmospheric, moodier reskin of Play'n GO's Merlin lore rather than a straight reuse of the studio's earlier Merlin titles.
- Con: RTP is published across five different configurations (84.55% to 96.58%) — the version live at any given casino can sit well below the headline figure.
- Con: top-tier volatility with no feature-buy option means the Free Spins round can take a genuinely long time to appear naturally.
- Con: the base game outside of Free Spins offers comparatively little beyond standard payline wins — the Wild/Scatter orb is doing most of the mechanical work.
Final Verdict
Rise of Merlin is a well-judged reworking of ground Play'n GO had already covered twice before — a younger, sharper Merlin, a moodier castle-hall presentation, and a Free Spins feature whose stacking expanding symbols reward a well-timed retrigger more than most single-mechanic slots manage. It won't suit players looking for a dense modern feature sheet, but for anyone who wants a classic 10-payline format with a genuinely high ceiling on the right spin, it holds up. Given the top-tier volatility and the spread across five different RTP configurations, trying the demo first to get a feel for how long the Free Spins feature can take to land is worth doing before spinning for real money.
