Moon Princess Origins

Moon Princess Origins: Slot Overview

Like a lot of things in life, not everyone is into manga or anime, yet this particular form of Japanese entertainment has crossed over quite well to the online slot arena. One of the main reasons is due to the success and warm reception received by developer Play'n GO's Moon Princess slots. There have been several of them now, from the original Moon Princess slot to a 100 version, Trinity, a Christmas one, and Power of Love. Fans of these games get another chance to fawn over leggy, wavy-haired princesses, as the studio has gone back to the roots in the next iteration, Moon Princess Origins.

If the 'Origins' part of the title is intriguing, prepare to swallow back bitter chunks of bile because Moon Princess Origins doesn't really go into great detail about where its princesses came from, nor what their backstories might be. A snappy game name seems to be the main reason why Play'n GO chose this specific title. Oh well, we all have imaginations to help fill gaps. As for what is provided audiovisually, Moon Princess Origins is about on par with previous releases, with nothing overly special or wildly out of the ordinary for the eyes or ears to take in.

A delicate, wire-rimmed 5x5 grid is Moon Princess Origins' gaming area, creating wins of 3 to 5 OAK in length cluster-paying style, vertically or horizontally, starting from any position. All of the Moon Princess slots have been highly volatile, and Moon Princess Origins is no exception. Like others, it is available in a variety of RTP configurations, and 96.29% is the largest possible value, while stake selection is 10c to $/€100.

A Heart, Star, and Circle are the low pays, while Love, Star, and Storm are the game's high pay symbols. Winning combinations of 5 symbols in length are worth 2.5x the bet for the lows, 10x for the Princesses, or 5x for combinations of Princess symbols. Winning combinations are removed after paying, and the remaining symbols drop down to possibly create new wins. However, new symbols do not cascade onto the matrix from above. When a winning combination of Heart, Star, or Circle symbols is removed, a wild symbol is placed on the reels in a middle position of where the winning combination hit. Wild symbols replace any pay symbol and are removed from the grid if they are the only type of symbol on it. Five wilds in a win pay 20x.

Moon Princess Origins: Slot Features

Along with the remove and wild cascade feature, Moon Princess Origins also comes bundled with Girl Powers, empowerment, Trinity, free spins, and instant prize orbs.

Girl Powers

Girl Powers are triggered by Princess symbol wins, at a probability of 50% for a 3 OAK, 75% for a 4 OAK, and 100% for a 4 OAK win. The probability increases to 100% when winning with the same Princess symbols the second time until the matching Princess triggers, Trinity triggers, free spins trigger, an instant prize is awarded, or the round ends.

• Love - converts 1 set of symbols into another symbol.
• Star - adds 1 or 2 wild symbols to the grid.
• Storm - removes 2 sets of symbols from the grid.

Girl Powers are empowered by filling the empowerment meter with Heart, Star, and Circle wins. Winning with more than 5 of the same symbol empowers the matching Princess, Heart - Love, Star- Star, Circle - Storm. When empowered, Love converts 2 or 3 sets of symbols rather than 1, Star adds 2, 3, or 4 wilds to the grid, while Storm removes 2 or 3 sets of symbols from the grid.

Trinity

The charge meter is filled by hitting wins, which include all 3 Princess symbols (wilds are counted as Princesses). When the charge meter is completely filled (it has 6 sections), the Trinity feature is triggered. Combinations of 3, 4, or 5 OAK fill 3, 4, or 5 sections of the charge meter, respectively. Trinity awards 1 respin when no further wins occur on the spin. During Trinity, a Girl Power is performed on each symbol drop that does not provide a winning combination until all 3 Princesses have performed their respective abilities. The order is Love, Storm, and Star. In addition, Princess symbols can trigger further Girl Powers during this free spin. Entirely clearing the grid during Trinity (wilds are exempt) triggers 10 free spins.

Free Spins

Clearing the grid during free spins awards instant prize orbs; 3 different orb rewards are available. The first orb from Love randomly awards 5x to 150x, the second orb from Star awards 75x to 1,000x, and the third orb from Storm awards 1,000x to 10,000x the bet. Additional free spins can be won by filling the meter up to 20 spins at the most.

Moon Princess Origins: Slot Verdict

While Play'n GO's thematic team might have taken it relatively easy when Moon Princess Origins was designed, its game mechanic team were a tad harder at work. So while the game looks okay, like there's not much new to take in, and the Origins part of the deal is lacking, Moon Princess Origins dangles a big ol' carrot in front of players as they attempt to clear gaming grids. Clearance was already a critical part of former Moon Princess games, rewarding players with cash prizes or free spins, and the way the game was set up, its cascades, wild symbol adds, and Girl Powers made the task of clearing the board at times vexing, at times a fun challenge, and highly satisfying when it did happen.

Moon Princess Origins has all of that, except its cash prizes can be vast, up to 10,000x in the best-case scenario. Thanks to studios like Push Gaming, instant prize symbols are a popular feature, and even if they're not really your cup of tea, they fit well in Moon Princess Origins since it already awarded players for clearing the game area. Win multipliers are out, which is a surprise, but the new orb dimension helps give Moon Princess Origins the biggest winning potential of the lot at 20,000 times the stake max.

Something old, something new is one way to sum up Moon Princess Origins, and it's impressive how Play'n GO has been able to tweak the Moon Princess formula multiple times. However, this time, the result is more of a mixed bag. While some changes add a fresh spin, the overall experience doesn't quite live up to expectations. The visuals and story feel underwhelming, and while the gameplay has its moments, it lacks the excitement that the original version managed to deliver when it rolled out fresh on the scene. And as most players are probably aware by now, Play'n GO's claimed potential isn't something to rely on too much, making the stated max win potential feel more like a theoretical number than a realistic target. At the end of the day, Moon Princess Origins isn't a bad game, but it's far from an amazing one either.