Bushido Ways

Overview Bushido Ways

Bushido is the Japanese word that describes the code of conduct by which the Samurai warrior class who originated in Japan, chose to lead their lives. Bushido impacted a Samurai’s attitude to others, their behaviours on the battlefield, as well as how to protect one’s honour. It is this chivalric code and lifestyle that this slot game takes its visual inspiration from. This makes for some excellent graphics and stunning artistry which immediately draws you in. Nolimit City has done an excellent job here.
However, this game isn’t just a visual masterpiece, it is a player’s dream too.

This is because of the wealth of excellent features on offer, such as expandable pay lines, nudging and multiplying wilds, plus 2 excellent free spin rounds. Each of these bonuses works in tandem to develop the pace and excitement of the game. The game gets especially thrilling when players by way of slicing wilds and nudges, expand the pay lines to their maximum number of 24,576. If this wasn’t enough, there is also a huge max payout available which extends to 30,000x your stake.

Theme and Symbols

The theme as you may have guessed already, is historical Japan, a rich theme that provides the designers with a plentiful range of visual inspiration. This adventure begins with the background. For this game, it has been made to look like a post-war landscape at dusk. Torn flags, roaring fires and what looks to be a generally pillaged setting, all add to this effect. If you concentrate hard enough, you can also see the shadowy silhouette of a Japanese temple to the left of the reels.

When it comes to the playing board, it had been designed to look like a wooden display in keeping with the period of time in which this game is set. Decorating the board to the left and right are hanging flags that are ablaze, giving some indication as to how recent this fictional war raged.

When it comes to symbols, the lower value ones are decorated as playing card letters and numbers in a typically Asian script. These are accompanied by the higher paying symbols which for this game are a collection of Samurai Warriors all drawn in an amazingly detailed way. The red Samurai is the most valuable symbol paying double your stake for 5 on a pay line. There are then the two types of wilds. The singular wild is a golden fan whereas the special Geisha nudging wild is a beautiful depiction of a Geisha girl. The Samurai mask is the scatter bonus.

Game Play

Bushido Ways is played on a 5-reel, 4-row board with 1,024 ways to win. However, as explained in the introduction, the pay lines for this game are growable courtesy of the nudging and slicing wilds. The maximum number of pay lines that are available to play on this game is 24,576. To create wins you need to create combinations of at least 3 matching symbols across the board from left to right, starting with reel 1.

The betting range for Bushido Ways is 20p to £100 per spin. To change their current stake, players need to click on the currency sign on the bottom right-hand side of the reels. All other settings, including a display of the paytable, are accessible via the 3 dots button to the left of the reels.

The return to player percentage for Bushido Ways is 96.01%, perfectly average for a game like this. The volatility for this slot is very high, rated as 9/10 by the creators Nolimit City. The top payout for Bushido Ways is 30,000 x your stake.

Features

Bushido Ways is packed to the gills with features. The below information explains each one.
The first feature is known in the game as the Wild Geisha feature. She is a stacked wild which comes in a 4-high formation. She can only land on reel 3, however. When she does so, she nudges, creating a completely wild reel. For every reel space that she nudges for, a multiplier value will grow by 1x.

Next is the Slice Wilds feature. This concerns the fan wild symbol. The fan can land anywhere bar reel 1. Landing one of these wilds on reels 3, 4 or 5 will activate the Sliced Wilds feature. This effectively multiplies the value of the wild symbol by ‘slicing’ them. Landing a fan wild on reel 3 means that the wild will count as 2 symbols. Landing it on reel 4 means it will count as 3 symbols and landing it on reel 5 will make it count as 4. By slicing these wilds, the pay lines also expand by changing the formation of the grid.

The next feature is called the Oni Transform feature and is activated when a player lands a stacked Samurai symbol and a bonus symbol simultaneously. When this happens, the Samurai symbol changes into the most lucrative symbol in the game that is currently on the reels. All of the lower value Samurai symbols (the green Samurais) also change into that same symbol. A payout then follows.

The first of the free spins rounds is called the Shogun Spins feature. This is triggered by landing 3 or more of the bonus scatter symbols on the reels at the same time. Doing so will give you 8 free spins. Every extra bonus scatter that you land above the threshold of 3 gives you an additional free spin. Whilst this feature is in play, you are guaranteed by the game to land a minimum of one wild on reels 2, 3, 4 or 5, with every free spin. Landing a Geisha Wild in this bonus round is how you unlock the Geisha Spins feature.

The Geisha Spins feature (triggered via the Shogun Spins) yet again gives you 8 free spins. In this special bonus round, every time a Geisha Wild nudges, a sticky multiplier is attached to the current feature, maxing out at 4x. The multiplier value also translates to the number of extra free spins you will be granted. If you land a bonus symbol on this round, it will add another spin to your tally. For every spin in the Geisha free spins, a fan wild will land on either reel 2, 4 or 5.
There is also a bonus buy option for some countries.

Conclusion

Stunning to look at, exhilarating to pay and potentially extremely lucrative, Nolimit City has a fantastic game on their hands here. Even if you’re not particularly into the Samurai aesthetic, the plentiful features, big payouts and high-quality gaming experience will have you playing at least a few games.