Savannah Fortune

Savannah Fortune: Slot Overview

Editor's note: This review evaluates Savannah Fortune based on its early access state as the game is still under production.

The African savannah has long been a favourite setting for slot developers, offering a rich palette of wildlife, golden vistas, and primal energy. Software provider Quickspin steps onto this well-trodden terrain with Savannah Fortune, a game that, at a glance, might seem like just another trip through the grasslands. But try not to be lulled into complacency by the simple setup. Beneath the surface lies a game with teeth, sharp ones, where expanding wilds and multiplying reels can turn a quiet stroll through nature into a heart-racing stampede.

Savannah Fortune is a little deceptive when it comes to visuals. Because while Savannah Fortune might not initially look special, the more you peer at the screen, the more details emerge to form a scene that is actually quite picturesque. Subtly so, but as far as these sorts of games go, Quickspin has made one with a rather nice appearance. Interestingly, the 'more than it appears at first glance' effect applies to Savannah Fortune's features as well, which might not especially wow on paper, but in practice can be quite dazzling in their own simplistic way.

Savannah Fortune is a 10 line game played on a 5x3 reelset, with a bet range of $/€0.10 to $/€100 per spin. A fairly humble-looking package packs mighty winning potential, governed by a highly volatile math model, generating a top RTP of 96.27%.

Savannah Fortune contains low and medium-paying symbols. The lows are J-A playing card ranks, which award 1x to 2.5x the bet for a 5 OAK winning combination. Mediums are worth 3x to 7.5x the bet for 5 OAK and consist of sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. Lion symbols are not only wild, but they are worth 10x the bet when having 5 of them in a winning line.

Savannah Fortune: Slot Features

Savannah Fortune's claws come in the form of expanding Wild Lion symbols, free spins with combinable multipliers, and feature buys.

Wild Lion Symbol

The Wild Lion substitutes for all symbols, and always expands to cover the entire reel. Furthermore, landing 3 or more Wild Lions triggers 10 free spins. When free spins are triggered, all reels with triggering Wild Lions become Hunting Reels. During the feature, any Wild Lion landing on a Hunting Reel increases the reel's multiplier by +1 from the next spin. Any win including a Wild Lion gets multiplied by that reel's multiplier. What increases their desirability is the way Hunting multipliers multiply each other when more than one is part of the same win. Lastly, each time a Hunting Reel reaches a multiple of 5, players receive an extra +2 free spins.

Feature Buy

Savannah Fortune lets players buy into the free spins round. By paying 80x the bet, the free spins feature will trigger with 3 or more Wild Lions, while paying 200x triggers the feature with 4 or more Wild Lions.

Savannah Fortune: Slot Verdict

At the start, Savannah Fortune seemed like just another entry in the crowded savannah-themed slot genre. But despite its modest, if handsome, exterior lies a surprisingly potentially exciting experience. Using subtly elegant visuals and simple mechanics, the slot manages to stand out in ways which weren't immediately obvious. Whether players are drawn in by the expanding Wild Lions or the potent Hunting Reels mechanic during free spins, Savannah Fortune goes to show that good things can be found in the details and that first impressions aren't always totally accurate.

For Savannah Fortune is a game which got better as it went on, from mild initial impression to oh, actually, this thing can step up. So while it's not a slot that is likely to be accused of being overly intricate, certain gamblers might be right on board with its straightforward bang 'em out simplicity. The game brought to mind Quickspin's Tiger's Glory Ultra and iSoftBet's Euphoria, but any slot combining expanding wilds and multis may trigger mental connections, too. There's not much to it, yet that's sort of Savannah Fortune's charm. The base game isn't much, but its free spins round is one which can go from lying around sleepily with the pride, playing with cubs, to charging down a wounded antelope in a moment, such is the potentially lethal combination of full reel wilds and multiplying multipliers.

So much so that Quickspin has placed a 30,000x win cap on there lest the mauling gets too out of hand. Rather than come roaring onto the grasslands, the game is more of a quiet predator, waiting for the right moment to strike. As such, Savannah Fortune might not be the sort of slot which grabs attention right away; the theme is a common one (though dealt with nicely), and the features list is short and basic, but the wilds and multis work together well, meaning Savannah Fortune is capable of dealing raw carnage when it gets on a charge.