Return of The Green Knight review
The legend of the knight who once offered Gawain a blow for a blow gets a sequel. Return of The Green Knight reached players through Play’n GO on 5 October 2023 as the follow-up to The Green Knight from 2021, and it reinforces that game’s main idea: a Wild multiplier that climbs as the bonus goes on. The Wild here does not just substitute for symbols, it decides the size of the payout. There is no bonus buy; the studio demo opens without registration and shows the full rule set.
The knight out of the mist: poem, story and look
The scene is borrowed from the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: a giant in green armour appears at King Arthur’s court and proposes an exchange of axe blows. The game takes the atmosphere and the hero from that story, not a retelling. By the studio’s telling, many years have passed since the Green Knight’s duel with Sir Gawain. Now he has returned, and a new champion has to face him. You play that champion, and the brief is a challenge: beat the knight and take the glory along with the loot.
The look rests on jade greens and animation the studio calls dynamic. The backdrop is a forest thicket with misty trees, and the reels carry figures from Arthurian legend. The studio also released the game’s soundtrack separately, which fits: the music here is part of the genre frame rather than filler.
Twenty lines and the paytable
The grid is 5×3, and the lines are fixed and cannot be switched on or off one by one. The stake is ten coins times the denomination; with the default denominations it has twenty-two steps: 0.10, 0.20, 0.40, 0.60, 0.80, 1, 1.20, 1.60, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 70 and 100, though an operator’s scale can differ. Ten symbols split into five low (LP1 to LP5), four high-paying ones (HP1 through HP4) and a separate Wild, plus a Scatter. The rules sheet gives values as multiples of the bet for three, four and five of a kind.
| Symbol | 3 on a line | 4 on a line | 5 on a line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wild | 2.5 | 5 | 100 |
| HP4 | 2.5 | 5 | 25 |
| HP3 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 12.5 |
| HP2, HP1 | 1 | 1.5 | 7.5 |
| LP5 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 4 |
| LP4, LP3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 3 |
| LP2, LP1 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 2 |
The sheet does not say whether the numbers refer to the total bet or the line bet, so they are read as multiples of the bet throughout. The striking thing is the jump between four and five on a line for every symbol apart from the Wild, and that five Wilds pay 100 at once. The whole game is built around that combination.
The scatter: entry fee and three pay steps
The Scatter pays on its own, regardless of lines. Three symbols pay 2.5 bets, four pay 5, five pay 100 at once. One or two scatters in the base game pay nothing. These payouts come on top of the five free spins, so a bonus trigger actually begins with a small advance.
Five scatters match five Wilds on a line in price: both combinations pay 100. But scatters count in any position and are not tied to a line, so collecting three is easier than lining up three Wilds in a row from the left. The studio publishes neither scatter frequencies nor the bonus frequency, so the assessment here is qualitative.
The multiplier Wild: x2, x5, x10, x25, x100
On any spin a random Wild multiplier can switch on. It applies to every Wild that landed on that spin, and its value is shown on a display above the reels. Five values exist: x2, x5, x10, x25 and x100. If a Wild under an active multiplier sits in a winning line, that line is multiplied by the displayed number.
One caveat matters: Wild wins with a multiplier are not cumulative on the same payline. Suppose two Wilds under x5 stand on one line. The displayed number applies once, and the result is not 25. That sets the game apart from slots where multipliers multiply together, and it means the ceiling of one line is known in advance.
Five free spins and a multiplier ladder
Three scatters anywhere on the grid give 5 free spins and a separate scatter payout. In free spins the multiplier is no longer random: it applies to every Wild and climbs with each spin on the same scale, which by the studio’s description runs from x2 on the first spin through x5, x10 and x25 to x100 on the fifth. The ladder does not wait for luck: it climbs by itself, but a Wild still has to land on it.
The weight of the bonus sits in the last spins: of the rung sum 2 + 5 + 10 + 25 + 100 = 142, the fourth and fifth spins carry 125, about 88%, and the first two are close to a warm-up. Even a modest line on the last rung outweighs a bigger one early on: three HP3 with a Wild under x100 give 120 bets, while four HP1 with a Wild under x10 give only 15. So outcomes of the same bonus can differ by tens of times.
Shield Spins: how the multiplier gets locked
Two or more scatters inside free spins start five Shield Spins and pay per the scatter table. For that stretch the rules change. The multiplier is frozen at the value of the triggering spin. Every Wild that lands during the shield stays in place until the run ends, with the multiplier applied. Scatters do not land in the shield, and a shield cannot be retriggered inside a shield. After five shield spins the ordinary free spins resume if any are left, and the held Wilds are cleared.
In effect the shield freezes a frame, and its timing cannot be chosen: everything depends on the rung at which the scatters caught the free spins. A locked x100 is fifty times stronger than a locked x2. Roughly multiplying the locked value by five spins, a shield on the fifth rung scores 500 points against 142 for the whole ladder, while one on the first does not reach a tenth of it. In the shield, though, Wilds are held on the grid for all five spins, whereas for ordinary free spins the rules say nothing about holding.
Where x40,000 comes from
On the sheet, maximum exposure stands at 4,000,000 euros at a stake of 100, which is 40,000 bets, and that matches the cap the studio states. The cap is therefore tied to the round’s bet, not to an amount in euros. The probability of reaching it is given as one in 500 million: the event is formally reachable but belongs to mathematical theory more than to play practice.
A conditional picture shows how one could approach it: five Wilds on a line pay 100, and under x100 that is 10,000 on a single line, if the numbers are read as multiples of the bet. Four such lines already hit the cap. A locked multiplier and sticky Wilds in the shield create exactly the conditions in which several lines fill with Wilds.
Volatility 10 out of 10 and five RTP versions
The studio rates volatility 10 out of 10. With a five-spin bonus that means the base game pays small change while the money comes from two rare events, the free spins ladder and the shield, and long dry stretches are normal. The default RTP is 96.28%, but the sheet lists five return settings, down to 84.24%; the in-game rules screen tells which one a given operator runs.
Knight against wizard and waterfalls
The closest in spirit from the studio look like this.
| Game | Volatility | Cap | Default RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return of The Green Knight | very high | 40,000x | 96.28% |
| Rise of Merlin | high | 5,000x | 96.58% |
| Wild Falls | very high | 10,000x | 96.50% |
The Arthurian theme continues in Rise of Merlin, with a wizard instead of a knight and a cap eight times lower. The same very high volatility with a different bonus design comes in Wild Falls.
