Release the Kraken

Release the Kraken takes players beneath the waves to a sunken galleon and the sea monster said to guard it, developed via Pariplay under the wider Pragmatic Play content umbrella. The nautical-horror framing gives the game a moodier, more ominous identity than many of Pragmatic's brighter, more festive releases, leaning on the mythical kraken itself as both a visual centerpiece and the mechanism behind its headline bonus feature.

Theme and Design

The reels sit against a murky underwater backdrop, framed by the wreckage of an old galleon resting on the sea floor, with shafts of light filtering down through deep blue-green water. Tentacles and shadowy shapes occasionally drift through the background, hinting at the kraken's presence well before it fully appears, and a tense, atmospheric soundtrack builds anticipation rather than announcing itself loudly. The symbol set leans on nautical and treasure imagery — gold coins, ship's wheels, and sea-worn relics — rendered with enough detail to keep the underwater setting feeling immersive rather than flat.

Gameplay and Symbols

Release the Kraken is built on a 5-reel, 4-row grid with paylines that typically start around 20 and expand during the bonus round, a semi-transparent reel presentation that lets the sunken-ship backdrop show through. Lower-value symbols use standard card royals, while treasure and nautical icons fill the premium tier, building toward kraken-themed symbols at the top of the paytable. Wild symbols and a dedicated scatter drive the path into the free spins feature, with the kraken itself typically playing an expanding or transforming role once the bonus round begins.

Bonus Features

Triggering the free spins round is generally where Release the Kraken's identity comes through most clearly: the payline count expands, and the kraken can appear as a large, screen-spanning wild or trigger additional wild placements as the feature progresses, escalating the win potential considerably compared to the base game. Multiplier elements are commonly layered on top of the expanded paylines during this round, compounding results further. As with much of Pragmatic's higher-volatility catalog, a bonus-buy option may be available in markets where it's permitted, offering a direct route into the free spins for players who don't want to wait for a natural trigger. Given the title's high volatility, this feature round is realistically where almost all of the game's standout results are concentrated.

RTP, Volatility and Betting

Release the Kraken carries an RTP of 96.50% and is rated high volatility. That combination means a solid long-run return figure paired with a payout pattern that can include extended quiet stretches between meaningful wins, with much of the value concentrated in the expanded-payline free spins feature rather than spread evenly across the base game. Smaller, more conservative bets spread across a longer session generally give the bonus round a more realistic chance to surface than committing a budget to fewer, larger spins. It's worth remembering that the published RTP applies over a very large sample of spins, so any individual session can look quite different from that long-run average.

Verdict

Release the Kraken is best suited to players who enjoy a moodier, higher-stakes underwater theme and are comfortable with the extended dry spells that come with high volatility, in exchange for a free spins round with real escalation potential. Casual players hunting frequent small wins will likely find the pacing slower than they'd like. It's an atmospheric, well-built title for bonus hunters specifically, best enjoyed with a clear budget and realistic expectations rather than a plan built around returns.