Real screenshot from our demo test, 1 Nov 2026
Pragmatic PlayReleased 3 Nov 2022
Release the Kraken 2 Demo & review
A low-volatility 20-line sequel whose free spins open with a chest offer you accept or reject, then keep every WILD on the reels until the round ends.
Written by Hampus GravePublished 3 Nov 2026
Play money · no sign-up · no deposit
- RTP
- 96.03%
- Volatility
- Low
- Max win
- 5,000x
- Grid
- 5x4
Play Release the Kraken 2 for real at YEET
FluxPlays verdict
Our verdict
Yes, if you want a low-volatility game whose bonus you can buy and then shape. The Kraken Offer sets both the number of free spins and the starting multiplier, and WILDs that stay all round give a good chest room to grow. The drawback is the ceiling: 5,000x is half the first game's, so even a strong round runs into a lower roof.
Who it suits
Play this if…
- Bonus buyers: the VIP buy has the best RTP in the game and a pool of richer chests
- Low-volatility players: frequent small line wins keep a balance moving between rounds
- You like a decision in your bonus: the Kraken Offer is a deal game, and the rules tell you how to play it
Skip this if…
- Max-win hunters: the cap is half the original's, and a low label points the same way
- Series fans who loved the first game's tentacle features: those are gone, replaced by random WILD features
- Short-session players: between bonuses, the 20 lines mostly pay small line wins
Where to play Release the Kraken 2
Release the Kraken 2 is available at these casinos we have tested and reviewed. How we test casinos
YEET
18+ · T&Cs apply
SafeCasino
FluxPlays score 7.5
Skrill withdrawal paid out in 18 hours in our test
400% up to €4,000 + 1,200 free spins
- 40x wagering
- min deposit €10
- 30 days
400% welcome package up to 4,000 over four deposits, each 100% up to 1,000 plus 300 free spins. 40x wagering on bonus and free spin winnings. Minimum 10 to activate, 200 for the full 300 spins. 30 day validity. Free spins run on Pragmatic Play games.
18+ · T&Cs apply · Offer checked 7 Oct 2026
Betlabel
FluxPlays score 7.0
E-wallet payout inside 24 hours in our test
200% up to €1,500 + 150 free spins
- 35x wagering
- min deposit €10
- 7 days
200% welcome package up to 1,500 plus 150 free spins over four deposits: 100% up to 300 + 30 FS, 50% up to 350 + 35 FS, 25% up to 400 + 40 FS, 25% up to 450 + 45 FS. 35x wagering, 7 day window. Minimum 10 first deposit, 15 thereafter. Crypto deposits are not bonus eligible.
18+ · T&Cs apply · Offer checked 7 Oct 2026
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Release the Kraken 2: Full Review
Release the Kraken 2 makes you bargain for its free spins: sixteen chests, an offer from the Kraken to accept or reject, and a last chest that sets both the spins and the starting multiplier. Pragmatic Play released this sequel in November 2022, with WILDs that stay on the reels for the whole round and a VIP buy with a richer set of chests. It suits low-volatility players who still want a bonus with some swing in it.
Release the Kraken 2 game information
- Provider
- Pragmatic Play
- Release date
- 3 November 2022
- Grid
- 5 x 4 (reels x rows)
- How it pays
- Lines 20 (40 in free spins)
- RTP
- 96.03% (base game) (casinos may also run 96.01% with the ante bet or 96.03% when buying Standard Free Spins or 96.05% when buying VIP Free Spins)
- Volatility
- Low
- Max win
- 5,000x the bet
- Bet range
- $0.20 to $300 (maximum read with the ante on)
- Bonus buy
- Standard Free Spins 100x (3 to 5 BONUS symbols at random), VIP Free Spins 250x (5 BONUS symbols guaranteed, richer chest pool)
- Special bets
- Ante Bet 1.25x the bet (higher chance of free spins, buys disabled)
The base game before our first spin, with the ante switched off. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.
How Release the Kraken 2 works
Lines are fixed at 20 in the base game and 40 in the free spins, and they pay from the leftmost reel of a 5x4 grid. Only the highest win on each line counts. The pink kraken WILD is also the best-paying symbol, and it and the shark are the only ones that pay for two of a kind.
| Symbol (pays at $1) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WILD (pink kraken) | $0.50 | $5.00 | $10.00 | $20.00 |
| Shark | $0.50 | $2.50 | $5.00 | $10.00 |
| Puffer fish | $2.00 | $3.00 | $5.00 | |
| Angler fish | $1.00 | $2.00 | $4.00 | |
| Eel | $0.50 | $1.00 | $3.00 | |
| A, K | $0.30 | $0.50 | $2.00 | |
| Q, J, 10 | $0.20 | $0.40 | $1.00 |
How the features connect:
- Any base spin can bring one of four random features, three of them built on WILDs and one that adds BONUS symbols.
- Three or more BONUS symbols open the Kraken Offer, a chest game that decides the free spins.
- In the free spins every WILD stays until the round ends, and each GOLDEN WILD raises the multiplier.
- The two buys go straight to the Kraken Offer, and the ante raises the chance of reaching it naturally.
The free spins carry the game. The random features are there to keep the base game from being only line wins.
The random base-game features
When four or more WILDs land, they roam to new positions and the other symbols respin, again and again until no new WILD arrives. Stacked WILDs on reels 2 to 4 can shift sideways, and each position they move adds one step to the spin's multiplier. The Kraken can also turn a losing spin into a guaranteed win of 20x to 60x the bet. The fourth feature is an explosion that drops three BONUS symbols onto the reels, which is enough on its own to open the free spins.
Free spins and the Kraken Offer
The chest game, not the reels, decides how big a free-spins round can get. Each of the 16 chests holds a number of spins and a starting multiplier, and one is set aside as the first offer. Accept, and the round starts. Reject, and chests are removed in groups of four, four, three and three, with a new offer after each group, worked out as the rounded-down average of what is left. After the last group you choose between the chest set aside at the start and the final one.
The Kraken Offer at the start of our standard bought round, with every chest still in play. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.
The rules base the RTP on rejecting every offer and call that the best strategy. So the offers test your nerve rather than tempt you with a better deal: on paper, holding out is the right play, even when an early offer looks generous.
Once the round starts, every WILD that lands stays on the reels to the end, moving to a new position each spin. A GOLDEN WILD does the same job and also adds one to the multiplier on all wins. There are no retriggers, so the chest fixes the length of the round and the WILDs decide its size.
Our standard bought round part-way through: a GOLDEN WILD had lifted the round's multiplier one step, to x5. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.
Bonus buy and ante: prices and what you get
Both buys end in the same Kraken Offer. What the higher price changes is how many BONUS symbols land and which chests are in the pool.
| Option | Type | Price at $1 | Official RTP and volatility | What you get | Our test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Free Spins | Bonus buy | $100 | 96.03%, Low | Three to five BONUS symbols at random, then the Kraken Offer | One round: $157.50 back |
| VIP Free Spins (King Kraken) | Bonus buy | $250 | 96.05%, Low | Five BONUS symbols guaranteed and a richer chest pool | One round: $808.00 back |
| Ante Bet | Mode, per spin | $1.25 a spin | 96.01%, Low | A higher chance of the free spins. Both buys are disabled | 10 spins: $7.70 back |
The buy menu calls the two buys Standard Bonus Buy and VIP Bonus. Comparing our two chest tables, the VIP pool swapped two of the smallest chests for two 20-spin chests at the top end.
The third offer in our VIP round, which we rejected. Four chests were still in play. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.
RTP, volatility and max win
The four RTPs sit within a few hundredths of a point of each other, so on paper the buys and the ante cost next to nothing extra. These are the versions in the build we played, and casinos can run lower ones. Some listings call the game high volatility, but its rules page and intro screen both say Low, and that is the label we use.
The ceiling is half the first game's. By the paytable, a line of five WILDs is the best any line can do, and even at a x10 start one such line is far short of the cap. Getting there takes many of the 40 lines filled by sticky WILDs and a multiplier pushed well above its chest.
What changed from Release the Kraken
| Feature | Release the Kraken (2020) | Release the Kraken 2 (2022) |
|---|---|---|
| How free spins start | Chest pick for extra spins, up to 12 | The Kraken Offer: accept or reject, up to 20 spins |
| Free-spins multiplier | Starts at 1x and every wild adds to it, up to 10x | Set by the chest, up to x10, then raised by GOLDEN WILDs |
| Base-game features | Three Kraken wild features from a tentacle pick | Four random features |
| Buys | One, at 100x | Two, at 100x and 250x, plus an ante |
| Top RTP | 96.50% | 96.03% |
| Max win | 10,000x | 5,000x |
The sequel trades the original's slow climb for a multiplier that can be high from the first free spin.
Our Release the Kraken 2 demo test
FluxPlays demo test
1 November 2026, demo running 96.03% RTP
Base game spins
100
at $1 per spin
Staked
$100
Paid back
$41.10
41.1% of stake, -$58.90
Winning spins
28 of 100
28% of spins paid something
Biggest win
$6 (6x)
base line win; $6.00 also on spins 27 and 76. No free spins or random feature came in the 100 base spins
Free spins triggered
0
natural triggers in the session
Bonus buys tested
Standard Free Spins (100x)
every Kraken Offer rejected; the last chest gave 10 free spins at x4, and a GOLDEN WILD lifted it to x5
$100 in
$157.50 back
1.58x its price
157.5x the $1 bet
VIP Free Spins (King Kraken, 250x)
every Kraken Offer rejected; the last chest gave 20 free spins at x10, and GOLDEN WILDs lifted it to x12
$250 in
$808 back
3.23x its price
808x the $1 bet
Tested on Pragmatic Play's public USD demo on 1 November 2026, play money from a $100,000 balance. The game opened at $2, and the bet panel was set to $1 total (5 coins of $0.01 on 20 lines). The ante stayed off for the 100 base spins and both buys, then ran for 10 spins at $1.25. In both bought rounds every Kraken Offer was rejected, the strategy the rules base the RTP on. A small script inside the page pressed the spin button for each spin (autoplay off). Whole session: $462.50 staked, $1,014.30 back, closing balance $100,551.80 on the server and on screen.
The base game paid often and small, which is what its Low label describes: 28 of our spins won something, and the best of them was $6.00. Both free-spins rounds we saw were bought. One session this short is far too few spins to say anything about the return.
The VIP round showed the Kraken Offer at its best. We rejected 15 spins at x10 on the way, and the last chest held 20 spins at the same multiplier. GOLDEN WILDs then lifted it to x12 before the round closed at $808.00.
Our VIP bought round ended with 20 free spins paying $808.00, the multiplier at x12. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.
The four random base features and a natural trigger did not turn up in 110 paid spins, so what this page says about them comes from the help pages. The ten ante spins brought five small wins and no free spins.
Is Release the Kraken 2 worth playing?
For a bonus buyer who likes low volatility, yes, and the VIP buy is the reason. It costs two and a half times the standard buy, carries the highest of the four RTPs and starts from the better chest pool. For a base-game spinner, the original is livelier, with a wild feature behind every tentacle.
After every offer was rejected, our VIP round's last chest held 20 spins at a x10 multiplier. FluxPlays demo test, 1 November 2026.
Pick Release the Kraken if you want the higher cap and a multiplier that every wild builds. Pick the sequel if you would rather bet on one big chest and watch sticky WILDs pile up behind it.
In the demo, buy the VIP round once and reject every offer, as the rules recommend. Watch which chests survive each group: it is the clearest way to see how the offers are worked out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should you accept or reject the Kraken Offer in Release the Kraken 2?+
Reject, if you go by the rules: the game's RTP is based on always rejecting, which they call the best strategy. Each rejection removes a group of chests and brings a new offer, until you choose between the chest set aside at the start and the last one left. We rejected every offer in both bought rounds.
Can you buy the bonus in Release the Kraken 2, and what does it cost?+
Yes, two ways. Standard Free Spins cost 100x the bet and land three to five BONUS symbols at random. VIP Free Spins cost 250x, guarantee five BONUS symbols and draw from a richer set of chests. Switching the ante on, at 1.25x the bet a spin, disables both buys.
What is the max win in Release the Kraken 2, and how is it reached?+
The intro screen puts it at 5,000x the bet. It can only realistically come from the free spins, where every WILD stays on the reels and each GOLDEN WILD raises a multiplier that can start as high as x10. Our VIP round, the best of the session, climbed to x12.
How is Release the Kraken 2 different from Release the Kraken?+
The sequel sets its free-spins multiplier with a chest offer instead of building it one wild at a time, keeps every WILD on the reels for the whole round, and adds a VIP buy and an ante. The original keeps the higher cap and the higher top RTP, and its base game can call up three Kraken wild features.
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