Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake Slot Review

Where To Play Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake

Play’n Go’s Rise of Merlin proved to be a major success for the game developer, and they showed that it was possible to modify the hugely popular “Book of” format, change things up a bit – and still offer players an exciting, action-packed gaming experience with big win-potential. Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake is a follow-on from Rise of Merlin, and while it contains many of the same elements, the game differs substantially, largely due to the way in which the bonus round plays out.

Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake is a new mobile slot game built around a 5-reel, 3-row format, and there are 10 paylines in play. The game has two different RTP settings; 96.20% and 94.20%; I’d always check with the online casino you’re playing at to see which RTP setting they have enabled, as, where possible, you want to try and play the higher RTP version to maximise returns!

In this Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake slot review I’m going to be taking a “deep dive” into looking at how the slot operates – and I’ll be giving you my honest opinion on whether it’s worth a play or not. Let’s kick things off with a look at how to actually play the game!

How To Play

Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake uses Play’n Go’s most recent user-interface, and I find this to be easy-to-use, easy-to-navigate and easy to play with. As always, selecting your stake is done by scrolling through the different betting options at the bottom of your screen, and you can choose to bet from between 0.01 and 100 credits per spin; it is possible to adjust the number of paylines active.

As with most of the game developer’s slots, Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake also features a ‘quickspin’ mode, which enables you to shorten the amount of time it takes between spins. I should, however, point out that this feature is unavailable to UK players due to new rules pushed in by the UK’s Gambling Commission.

You’ll also find the usual array of other in-game options, including autoplay (letting you set up to 100 spins to play out automatically), along with a detailed paytable, and a ‘game rules’ section where you can read the fine print.

Symbols and Payouts

Like most slots following the “Book Of” mechanic, the hit rate in Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake is fairly high – and you can expect a winning spin, roughly, once in every four spins. However, I should point out that a winning spin doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a profitable one – it simply means you form a win within that spin.

The game uses a combination of symbols, with the familiar-looking playing card values, including 10, jack, queen, king, and ace chosen to represent the game’s lower-paying symbols. These aren’t worth much, with the King and Ace awarding just 15X your stake for a 5-of-a-kind combo; the other three Royals pay just 10X for a 5-of-a-kind combo.

Thankfully, things get a little more interesting when it comes to the game’s premium symbols, and these include a Lion Crest, Merlin’s Hat, Merlin’s Staff and Merlin himself. A 5-of-a-kind combo of the Lion Crest and Merlin’s Hat awards a payout worth 75X your stake, while Merlin’s Staff and Merlin himself award 200X and 1,000X your stake respectively for a 5-of-a-kind combo.

Bonus Features

Like most of the “Book Of” slots before it, Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake is all about the main bonus round – and this takes the form of a free spins feature. Below, I’m going to be giving you an introduction into how this bonus round works, and what you can expect when triggering it for yourself.

Free Spins

The free-spins bonus round in Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake is triggered by landing 3, 4, or 5 of the scatter symbols anywhere in view Doing so will award 8 free spins, and you’ll also receive a cash prize worth 1X, 10X or 100X your stake, depending on the number of scatter symbols that triggered the feature.

Now, unlike most other “Book of” games, you’re not given one symbol to be expanding throughout the bonus round. Instead, the special expanding symbol changes with each spin – meaning, for example, on one spin it could be a 10, while on another it could be the highest-paying symbol, Merlin himself. I really feel as though this adds an additional layer of depth to the slot, and it really makes the bonus round more exciting, in my opinion.

During the free spins, the scatter symbols are also transformed into wild symbols. If you manage to land two or more of these in view on a single spin, you’ll be awarded 1 Excalibur Spin. The special expanding symbol is then “locked in” for these spins – and they don’t take away from your main free spins, so it is, for all intents and purposes, a bonus within a bonus, so to speak.

Jackpot and How To Win

Many of Play’n Go’s slots have a maximum win cap of 5,000X – it’s actually pretty common, with some of their most well-known and popular games like Book of Dead and Reactoonz having this limit. That’s yet another reason why I’m such a fan of Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake; it offers you the chance to win up to 10,000X your stake on every spin, and that’s some sizable win-potential – especially for a “Book of” game.

In terms of actually hitting the maximum win of 10,000X, well this is as close as I managed during my review. Not exactly my biggest triumph.

But actually it’s fairly straightforward – on paper, at least.

First, you’ll need to trigger the main bonus round. You’ll then need Merlin to be chosen as the special expanding symbol. Then, if you manage to land five of him in view during the bonus round, you’ll be awarded the in-game jackpot of 10,000X! That’s pretty much all there is to it, and while it’s very unlikely you’ll ever actually hit this max win, we have seen it happen quite a few times on Book of Dead – so don’t write it out completely!

Software

From the get-go, Play’n Go has been at the forefront of mobile game development in the online gambling world.

They were one of the first software providers to switch entirely to HTML5 – allowing you to play their slots from mobile devices without needing a dedicated app (i.e. you can play directly through your mobile’s internet browser), and their mobile gaming software is incredibly well-made. It’s really rare to see any in-game errors, glitches, or “lag” spins, and I found Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake to be in-line with the high degree of quality we’ve come to expect from the rest of the software provider’s mobile offering.

Now, while their mobile gaming side of things is on-point, Play’n Go has also worked tirelessly to develop a reliable, sturdy and user-friendly interface for those of us who still like to play from desktop computers/laptops. Like all their slots, Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake is playable across all devices – and provided your internet connection is semi-reliable, you won’t have any issues playing the game, regardless of whether it’s from a mobile device or a computer or laptop.

Summary

While Play’n Go aren’t the original creators of the the “Book of” concept – it was actually Novomatic/Greentube’s Book of Ra that popularised the format – Play’n Go’s Book of Dead largely takes credit for the format – and it’s arguably the game developer’s most successful release so far. I think it’s fair to say that Play’n Go has done an excellent job of continining on the series – they’ve released a number of games that follow the mechanic – and while Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake differs slightly, it does still follow this central “Book of” mechanic.

I’d actually go as far as saying that Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake offers a number of distinct advantages over any of the software provider’s other previous “Book Of” releases – and first things first, it’s actually pretty refreshing to have a non-Egyptian themed Book of slot.

Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake is, graphically speaking, done really well, and it’s nice to see the game developer mixing things up with the theme. Animations and sound effects fit the gameplay down to a tee, and I found the game really easy-to-play, enjoyable and fun.

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I’m also a fan of Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake due to the fact that it offers you the chance to win up to 10,000X your stake; many Play’n Go slots are capped at 5,000X, and the fact that there’s all of this additional win-potential built into the game, in my opinion, makes it far more appealing to players in search of hitting those monster wins.

It’s not the most creative release I’ve seen from Play’n Go, that’s fair to say, but Lord Merlin and the Lady of the Lake does a really good job, utilises a new theme, and spices up an old (yet still highly popular) concept that many of us love!

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Last Updated on February 21, 2021