Spirit Of The Beast Review
Relax Gaming's Spirit of the Beast is a 5x3 video slot built almost entirely around a single moment — landing five stacked wilds in the free spins round to collect the 10,000x multiplier prize. Everything before that point, including the base game's Spirit Summoner mechanic, functions largely as a runway to the bonus. That's not a criticism on its own; plenty of high-volatility slots operate this way. But it does mean players need to understand upfront that the base game ceiling sits at just 300x, and the second-best bonus prize is only 1,000x via the bison meter. The gap between those numbers and the top prize is stark.
Released in June 2021, the slot runs on 15 paylines across its standard 5x3 grid, with bets ranging from $0.10 to $80. The RTP of 96.52% sits a touch above the industry average of 96%, and a bonus-buy option pushes that figure marginally higher to 96.71% — though that feature is unavailable in the UK. With a hit frequency of 23.65%, roughly one in four spins returns something, which is decent for a high-volatility title but doesn't soften the long dry spells that precede a meaningful win.
RTP, Volatility, and What the Numbers Actually Mean
At 96.52%, Spirit of the Beast's RTP is meaningfully above average — most Relax Gaming titles cluster around 96.20%, so this slot sits at the higher end of the studio's typical output. The bonus-buy RTP of 96.71% is a modest uplift, not a dramatic one, but it confirms the math model doesn't heavily penalise players who skip the base game grind.
The high volatility classification is accurate and should be taken seriously. A 23.65% hit frequency means the game pays on roughly one in four spins, which sounds reasonable until you factor in that most of those returns are small. The base game max of 300x is the ceiling without the bonus, and the standard single-spin payout structure doesn't produce meaningful wins outside of the free spins round. By comparison, NoLimit City's Buffalo Hunter — a similarly themed wildlife slot — carries a 12,647x max win and a more layered bonus architecture, which illustrates just how focused Spirit of the Beast is on one specific outcome.
The 10,000x ceiling is competitive for a 2021 release, but the prize distribution inside the bonus is where the real risk lies. The second-tier prize is only 1,000x, meaning the bonus either delivers something close to the top or it doesn't deliver much at all. That's a design choice, not a flaw, but it shapes how the slot should be approached: with a sufficient bankroll to survive multiple bonus triggers before the top prize lands.
How Spirit of the Beast Plays
The grid is a standard 5x3 layout with 15 fixed paylines. Five premium animal symbols — bison, wolf, horse, eagle, and bear — sit above the reels during the free spins round as multiplier meters, alongside the golden totem wild. In the base game, those symbols pay out on standard line wins, with the wild substituting for all regular symbols and paying 20x stake for five of a kind, matching the bison as the top-paying regular symbol.
The Spirit Summoner feature can activate at the start of any base game spin. When it fires, a premium symbol is randomly selected and lands stacked across all five reels on the following spin — but low-value symbols can still appear, meaning the outcome ranges from a full screen of the selected premium to a near-miss that pays nothing. In practice, the feature sounds more impactful than it is; the best-case scenario caps at 300x, which is the same as the base game maximum, and it triggers irregularly enough that it doesn't fundamentally change the base game rhythm.
The bonus round is triggered by landing three scatter symbols on the three middle reels, awarding 12 free spins. Additional free spins can be awarded during the round, extending the collection window. The bonus buy option allows direct access to the free spins at a premium cost, which is the more efficient route for players who want to minimise time in a base game that offers limited standalone value.
Bonus Features and the Multiplier Meter System
The free spins round is where Spirit of the Beast's design logic becomes clear. Each of the five premium animal symbols and the golden totem wild has its own multiplier meter displayed above the reels. To collect a prize, players must land full stacks of a given symbol — five reels covered — accumulating five such stacks for that symbol across the 12 spins. Each symbol has a fixed multiplier prize attached to it, with the wild meter awarding the maximum 10,000x.
The Free Spins Multiplier mechanic creates a genuine sense of progression during the bonus. As stacks land and meters fill, the tension builds in a way that's mechanical rather than cosmetic — you're tracking actual progress toward a defined threshold. Additional free spins can trigger within the round, giving more opportunities to complete a meter. The stack mechanic also means that partial progress on multiple meters simultaneously is possible, though only completing a full meter pays out.
The critical structural issue is the prize gap. The bison meter — the second-highest prize — pays only 1,000x, while the wild meter pays 10,000x. The remaining three animal prizes sit below 1,000x. This means a bonus round that doesn't complete the wild meter is likely to return a fraction of what the feature's potential suggests. A mid-tier prize of, say, 5,000x would create a more satisfying distribution, but as structured, the bonus is effectively a binary outcome: wild stacks or a modest return.
Theme and Presentation
Spirit of the Beast falls into the Wildlife / Animals / Totem category, with specific references to North American fauna — bison, wolf, horse, eagle, and bear — alongside forest and totem imagery. The visual execution is clean and functional without being a focal point of the experience.
The slot's name leans darker than the setting warrants, but that's a minor inconsistency. What matters more is that the symbols are clearly differentiated, which matters during the free spins round when tracking which meters are filling. Clarity in a collection mechanic is more valuable than elaborate animation.
Bet Range and Accessibility
The $0.10 minimum bet makes Spirit of the Beast accessible to low-stakes players, but high volatility and a bonus-dependent math model mean a small bankroll will struggle to reach the free spins round with enough frequency to experience the game properly. A practical session bankroll of at least 100x your chosen stake is a reasonable baseline for high-variance play.
The $80 maximum bet is on the lower end for a high-volatility title — players who prefer larger stakes to compress session variance will find the ceiling restrictive. The bonus buy option is available up to that $80 maximum, which means a direct bonus purchase costs up to $80 per trigger at the highest stake level. For context, a studio like Hacksaw Gaming typically allows bonus buys at stakes up to $100 or more on comparable volatility titles.
The 15-payline structure keeps the math straightforward. There are no cascading mechanics, no expanding reels, and no variable payline counts — the game's complexity lives entirely in the collection system during free spins, not in the base grid mechanics.
Who Should Play Spirit of the Beast
This slot is built for players who are comfortable with long base game sessions that produce modest returns, punctuated by bonus rounds that may or may not deliver. The 23.65% hit frequency provides enough activity to sustain a session, but players seeking regular mid-sized wins will find the payout distribution frustrating.
The bonus buy feature makes Spirit of the Beast more practical for experienced high-variance players who want to skip the base game and go directly to the feature. At 96.71% RTP with the buy, the theoretical return is marginally better, and the time-per-bonus ratio improves significantly. This is the recommended approach for anyone whose primary interest is the multiplier collection mechanic.
Players who prefer more balanced bonus structures — where second and third-tier prizes are meaningfully sized — will likely find the prize gap between the 1,000x bison meter and the 10,000x wild meter unsatisfying. Alternatives like Eyecon's Shamans Dream 2 (up to 9,500x with a more graduated prize structure) or Play'n GO's Thunder Screech offer comparable themes with different risk profiles worth considering.
Final Verdict
Spirit of the Beast is a competently built high-volatility slot with a clear design philosophy: everything points toward the 10,000x wild multiplier prize in the free spins round. The 96.52% RTP is above average, the bonus mechanic is logically structured, and the collection system creates genuine engagement during the feature.
The weakness is the prize distribution. A bonus that pays 10,000x at the top and 1,000x at second place creates a binary feel that will frustrate players who trigger the feature regularly but don't hit the top tier. The base game Spirit Summoner feature adds variety but caps at 300x, which limits its impact on session outcomes.
For disciplined high-volatility players — particularly those using the bonus buy — Spirit of the Beast delivers what it promises. The 10,000x ceiling is real, the RTP is solid, and the mechanic is clean. Just go in knowing that the second-best outcome is only one-tenth of the best.
- +96.52% RTP is above the industry average and above Relax Gaming's typical range
- +10,000x max win is achievable through a clear, trackable mechanic
- +Bonus buy option available (96.71% RTP with buy)
- +23.65% hit frequency is reasonable for a high-volatility title
- +Clean collection mechanic with visible progress during free spins
- +$0.10 minimum bet allows low-stakes access
- -Enormous prize gap between 10,000x (wild) and 1,000x (bison) second tier
- -Base game Spirit Summoner caps at 300x — limited standalone value
- -Bonus is effectively binary: top prize or modest return
- -$80 maximum bet is restrictive for high-stakes players
- -Bonus buy unavailable in the UK
- -Long dry spells between meaningful payouts require deep bankroll
Best for
Spirit of the Beast is a polarising high-volatility slot that rewards patience and bankroll depth. The free spins multiplier system is genuinely exciting when it fires correctly, but the enormous drop-off between the 10,000x top prize and the 1,000x second tier makes the bonus feel binary. Players who accept that dynamic and have the stakes to ride it out will find real value in the 96.52% RTP and the clean bonus structure.











