When we first heard about Jungle Books, we were rather impressed. It’s hard to deny that Yggdrasil has created something fun and unique this time around. A slot that forgoes Scatters and free spins, instead adding a small horde of special features to entice players and tying them down to specific characters who take obvious inspiration from the Disney cartoon called Jungle Book. You can find the panther, tiger, snake, bear and boy appearing on the side of the reels, rewarding gamblers with their boons. They can either act as hosts, where they provide two bonuses, or a guest, in which they provide only one. You can have both up at the same time, which can make for some pretty amazing combinations. All of this on 5 reels and a rather unique reel composition that will give you either 58 or 68 paylines, and in case of the snake companion, Jungle Books can even pays both ways instead of its usual left to right.

Watching these various bonuses mix with one another in unexpected but undoubtedly fun ways makes it easy to like the video slot. Yggdrasil often separates itself from the competition specifically by coming up with these fun and unique ideas that can really immerse the player in what they’re playing. But much like other big slot developers nowadays, Jungle Books is hardly a title you want to play if you’re looking to haul home a lot of money. Of course, with all the bonuses involved, it was never going to be particularly high, but it can be a struggle to go above 50x your stake, as our highest win after hours of spinning was only 37.2x our stake and most of that time was spent bleeding money. But it makes losing money fun somehow, so we stuck around, and we left with a good impression – for everything but the health of our wallet.

Each of the five characters has two bonuses that they bring, but they only activate both when they act as hosts, sitting on the left side of the reel. Alternatively, they can also become guests, at which point, the game will randomly select which of the two special features you will get to enjoy. Panthers transform the highest paying symbol on the reels into a Wild, and apply a random multiplier that ranges from 2x to 5x on every win. The tiger rewards one sticky re-spin on every win, and makes Wilds appear stacked on the tallest, middle reel. The boy can sync specific reels, which means they will always give the same result, and while he is active, all Wilds will spread, creating an additional Wild on an adjacent position. The snake makes all wins pay both ways, and makes each Wild win apply a 3x multiplier. And finally, the bear has a honeycomb bonus where honeycomb symbols can appear on the tallest reel and award coin prizes. He can also make other symbols appear stacked on the reels. On top of all these bonuses, the panther and snake’s reels offer 68 paylines rather than the standard 58.

So, our rating for the fun factor is amazing. The visuals are spectacular. The whole experience is a top-notch delivery, but we expect nothing less from Yggdrasil. That said, the paytable is bound to turn some people off the slot, and we can’t deny that the low volatility has really soured what would otherwise be a perfect score. We still think it’s worth your time if you’re ever in need of something new to spin. But you should go into it aware that your odds of coming out with more cash than what you went in with is next to minimal.