5 Lions Reborn

5 Lions Reborn Review

While we wouldn’t go so far as calling 5 Lions Reborn a radical rebirth of the popular concept this Pragmatic Play series revolves around, it does come with somewhat upgraded visuals and a clever bonus round twist. The swirling wave-like textures beneath the grid are shimmering with a ripple-like effect, making this game’s presentation shine a bit more than usual. Other than that, the Oriental theme blends in with the many predecessor releases, this time playing out on a standard 5x3 grid.

You start by choosing your bet level between €0.3 and €240, catering to a wide range of players. However, for those with a touch of OCD (like me), the lack of clean, rounded bets like €0.2 and €1 can be somewhat of an acquired taste. You win by landing matching symbols on 3 to 5 adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel towards the right with 243 win ways. Golden mythological beasts and animals adorn the reels, serving as the top-paying symbols followed by Chinese-style royals (A to 9).

5 Lions Reborn Slot - Reels Screen

The premium symbols pay between 8.67x and 26.6x your stake for 5 of a kind wins, while the royals award between 1.33x and 5.33x your stake for the same. The golden dragon head Wild symbol can land on reels 2, 3, and 4 only, substituting for any pay symbol to help complete or improve wins. Wild symbols do not hold any value of their own in this game, but like in the previous installments, the wilds play a crucial role in the bonus round of 5 Lions Reborn slot.

The main attraction can trigger randomly from a single golden scatter in this game, or by landing 3 to 5 regular scatters in view. Either way, you get to choose from 7 options, where the number of free spins awarded is inversely proportional to the starting wild multiplier level. In 5 Lions Reborn, the wild multiplier increments by its starting value per bonus round wild win. The top-tier RTP of 96.5 % is above average, and this is a high volatility (5 out of 5) game with a decent 5,000x max win potential.

5 Lions Reborn Features

With no base game features to speak of except wild symbols, 5 Lions Reborn’s main attraction is the upgradable wild multiplier bonus round. It gives you plenty of options with regard to the number of free spins and starting wild multiplier, so let’s take a closer look at how it all works in greater detail below.

5 Lions Reborn Free Spins

This game has 3 different scatter symbols: a regular one, a golden scatter, and a super scatter. You need at least 3 regular scatters in view to trigger the Bonus Round, and 3, 4, or 5 scatters of any kind award 5x, 15x, or 50x your stake, respectively. The bonus round may trigger randomly if you land even just a single Golden scatter in the base game. The same goes for the Super scatter, which may trigger the Super bonus round.

The regular bonus round gives you a choice between 7 options, and these are as follows:

• 20 free spins with a starting wild multiplier of x2.
• 15 free spins with a starting wild multiplier of x3.
• 13 free spins with a starting wild multiplier of x5.
• 10 free spins with a starting wild multiplier of x8.
• 8 free spins with a starting wild multiplier of x10.
• 6 free spins with a starting wild multiplier of x15.
• A randomized Mystery option drawn from the above.

The Wild Multiplier is on display above the reels and is applied to any wins where at least one wild symbol partakes. Following each wild multiplier-boosted win, the wild multiplier increases by its starting value. You may also be awarded +1, +2, or +3 extra free spins at random times when the wild multiplier is upgraded. The Super Bonus Round always awards 20 free spins and the x15 starting wild multiplier, meaning no choice is needed when this feature triggers.

5 Lions Reborn Bonus Buy (not UK)

Eligible players can purchase the regular bonus round, priced at 80x the stake and awarding 3 triggering scatters (meaning a small “discount” of 5x your stake is awarded at the very least from the triggering spin). If you’re willing to cough up 500x your stake, you get the Super bonus round. It offers the maximum of 20 free spins combined with the highest x15 starting wild multiplier.

Theme & Graphics

Visually, 5 Lions Reborn sticks out a bit from the other installments in this Pragmatic Play series, but overall, the Asian theme is fairly standard stuff. The royal blue swirling ocean design is more elaborate, with almost 3D-like lightning effects deepening the impression of rolling waves. The reels are filled with ornamented golden frogs, dragons, and phoenix birds, all set against a deep blue pattern backdrop. You spin the reels accompanied by a simple Oriental melody, which some may find catchy.

Pros and Cons of 5 Lions Reborn

Our Verdict

The 5 Lions series from Pragmatic Play has had its ups and downs along the way. However, it has clearly seen enough success for the always pragmatic studio to justify churning out one follow-up after another. So far, it seems 5 Lions Megaways has been the greatest hit, boasting a persistently high ranking in our system since its release in mid-2021. On that note, the more recent 5 Lions Megaways 2 currently holds a higher SlotRank, but the staying power remains to be seen.

I do like the visual overhaul the backdrop has gone through compared to the predecessors, which may be what the ‘reborn’ part of the title is referring to. That said, 5 Lions Reborn cannot escape the somewhat cliché vibe you get from most Asian-themed games. Also, I’m not really a fan of the rather clunky betting range you get in this game, making it impossible to play with round numbers like €1 per spin. A minor detail, perhaps, but still annoying and avoidable.

The base game does not offer much in 5 Lions Reborn, but luckily, the bonus round has a pretty solid hit rate of 1 in 106.93 spins. This is almost twice the average hit rate you get in most slot games, meaning you can expect the main attraction fairly regularly. This goes well together with the ability to trigger the bonus in several different ways, but it would’ve been nice to also know the hit frequency of the super bonus round. Needless to say, you shouldn’t expect it all that often.

Being a highly volatile game, you can expect your bankroll to drain between bonus rounds, and you need to choose wisely in 5 Lions Reborn slot. The starting wild multiplier makes a big difference since that’s the amount it increases per wild win. Also, choosing a high starting multiplier increases the volatility (or hit-or-miss factor) of the bonus, as you will many times hardly see a wild win at all. We recommend that you test different bonus round options in the 5 Lions Reborn demo (found at the top of this page), before playing for real money.