Rise Of Samurai IV Slot Review
A feudal Japanese palace hall at dusk, red paper lanterns swaying, bronze braziers burning at the edges of a stone courtyard: Pragmatic Play have gone for warmth rather than warfare here, and the gilded result suits the Rise Of Samurai IV name.
It runs on a 5×4 grid with 15 paylines, at 96.05% RTP in DATE mode (96.07% in SANADA mode), with high volatility throughout. The ceiling is 15,000x the bet, applied to the base game and free spins alike.
Sword-and-honour themes are well-trodden ground for this studio, and fans can trace the lineage through Samurai Code, 3 Kingdoms – Battle of Red Cliffs and Journey to the West. Where this one differs is the clan choice up front, which quietly reshapes everything downstream.
Choose Your Clan
Before a single spin, the game asks you to pick a side: DATE or SANADA. It’s more than a colour swap. The look of the whole game changes to match the clan, and so does the maths underneath it.
In DATE mode the chance of triggering the free spins feature is higher, but the average win from those rounds is lower. SANADA mode flips that: fewer triggers, richer rounds when they arrive.
Neither is the “correct” choice, and the RTP barely moves between them. But it changes the rhythm of a session more than any other setting in the game.
Symbols and Pays
All symbols pay from left to right on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost, and only the highest win per line counts. Wins on multiple paylines add together.
The WILD substitutes for everything except the scatter and appears on all reels. It’s also tied with the warriors as the richest symbol on the board. All values below are multiples of the total bet:
- Wild, Red Samurai Warrior, Gold-crowned Warrior: 2x for three, 10x for four, 20x for five
- Red Drum/Shield, Gold Drum/Shield, Crossed Swords: 1x for three, 5x for four, 10x for five
- Red Treasure Chest, Gold Treasure Chest, Red Mask, Gold Mask: 0.5x for three, 2.5x for four, 5x for five
- A, K, Q, J, 10: 0.1x for three, 0.5x for four, 1x for five
The premium end of the table is a paired affair: warriors, drums, chests and masks each come in red and gold versions sharing one set of figures, with the five royals bringing up the rear. A five-of-a-kind line of top symbols returns 20x the total bet on its own, before any wild multiplier gets involved.
Rounding out the practicalities, the bet range runs from 0.10 to 250.00 per spin. Autoplay comes with a visible spins-remaining counter, and there are three spin speeds including a turbo mode.
The spacebar or enter key starts and stops a spin, for keyboard players.
Expanding Wilds with Multiplier
The expanding wild is the engine of the whole game, in both modes and both game states. Whenever a wild lands and there would be a win after expansion, it expands to fill its entire reel vertically and picks up a random multiplier.
The possible values are 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x, 10x, 20x, 25x, 50x or 100x. That multiplier applies to every winning combination the wild takes part in.
Better still, when more than one wild is part of the same combination, their multipliers add together rather than multiplying. A pair of 50x wilds in one win delivers a 100x boost.
It’s a simple system with a wide top end. A single lucky reel can turn a modest line win into something serious.
Free Spins
Only three reels can carry a scatter: 1, 3 and 5, and only in the base game. Hit all three and you get 10 free spins, with special reels in play for the duration of the round.
The rule that matters: any expanding wild that hits during the round doesn’t leave. It expands, takes its random multiplier from the same range as the base game, and then stays on screen until the round ends, working on every remaining spin.
Stack a couple of sticky multiplier wilds early and the later spins start from a much better place than the base game can offer.
The feature can’t be retriggered. Once the ten spins are done, they’re done, and the round’s total win is awarded after it completes.
One hard stop exists: if a round’s running total reaches the 15,000x cap, the round ends immediately, the win is paid out up to the cap and every remaining spin is forfeited. The same limit applies to base game wins.
Buy Free Spins
The free spins round can be bought instantly from the base game, with two options in each clan. The standard buy delivers the round as described above.
The super version guarantees one expanding wild with a random multiplier in a random position on the very first free spin, which effectively starts the round one sticky wild ahead.
- DATE mode, standard free spins: 75x total bet, 96.04% RTP
- DATE mode, super free spins: 300x total bet, 96.01% RTP
- SANADA mode, standard free spins: 150x total bet, 96.14% RTP
- SANADA mode, super free spins: 300x total bet, 96.08% RTP
Every buy version runs close to the organic RTP, so none of them is punishing on paper. The SANADA standard buy is the pick of the four at 96.14%, marginally ahead of playing the round out naturally.
The super buys cost the same in both clans, which makes SANADA’s super version the better-value route to a guaranteed opening wild.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.7/10
This is a game built around one idea, and it’s a good one: wilds that expand, carry big multipliers and, in the bonus round, stay put. The base game has little else going on, so it lives or dies on how often those wilds land in a win.
The clan choice is the smartest thing here. DATE and SANADA genuinely change how a session feels, and the buy menu follows the choice through with different prices for the same round, which is a nice touch of coherence.
The weakness is the free spins round itself: ten spins, no retrigger, and if the sticky wilds don’t show up early there’s nothing to fall back on.
The 15,000x cap is generous but a distant prospect on a 15-line grid. It suits players who enjoy a slow, patient build towards one decisive bonus round, and the clan system gives it replay value most samurai slots lack. Sharper than the sword count suggests.
Rise Of Samurai IV FAQs
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What is the RTP of Rise Of Samurai IV?
The RTP is 96.05% in DATE mode and 96.07% in SANADA mode. The bonus buy options each carry their own RTP, ranging from 96.01% to 96.14%. -
Is Rise Of Samurai IV high volatility?
Yes, it’s a high volatility game. Wins come less often on average, but the chance of hitting big wins in a short space of time is higher. -
How many paylines does Rise Of Samurai IV have?
There are 15 fixed paylines across the 5×4 grid. Only the highest win on each line is paid, and wins across different lines are added together. -
What is the grid size of Rise Of Samurai IV?
The game plays on a 5×4 grid, giving five reels and four rows with 15 fixed paylines. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Rise Of Samurai IV?
Bets run from 0.10 to 250.00 per spin, so it works for small bankrolls and high rollers alike. -
How do you trigger free spins in Rise Of Samurai IV?
Scatters appear only on reels 1, 3 and 5, and only in the base game. Landing all three triggers the round and awards 10 free spins, during which any expanding wild that hits stays on screen until the round ends. The feature can’t be retriggered. -
What do the DATE and SANADA modes do?
They’re two clan profiles you choose between. DATE mode gives a higher chance of triggering free spins but lower average wins from the round; SANADA mode gives a lower trigger chance but higher average wins. The game’s look changes to match your clan. -
Can you buy the bonus on Rise Of Samurai IV?
Yes. In DATE mode the free spins round costs 75x the total bet, or 300x for the super version with a guaranteed expanding wild on the first spin. In SANADA mode the standard buy costs 150x, with the super version also at 300x.
