Beware the Deep Megaways

Beware the Deep Megaways Slot Review

Slot Provider: Pragmatic Play

RTP: 96.54% | Variance: High | Maximum Win: 10,000x

Our Score: 8.2

Play at Mr Q
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About Beware the Deep Megaways

Reviewed by:

Published Date: 22nd February 2024

How We Review Slot Games

We test and rate all slot games across 5 criteria, assigning a score out of 10 for each and an overall score that is an average of the 5. To build an accurate assessment of each game we gather information from the supplier and play in real play or demo mode. Find out more.

Beware the Deep Megaways is an underwater adventure-themed slot from Pragmatic Play with up to 117, 649 win ways per spin. Despite the ominous title it has a relaxing vibe as you scan the seabed for treasures. Tumble wins, mystery symbols and wild multipliers of up to 25x help in the base game and in two free spins rounds progressive multipliers come into play, growing with each successive tumble and wild multiplier that appears on the reels. You can win up to 10,000x on this game which plays from 20p per spin.

Beware the Deep Megaways Game Information

  • RTP: 96.54% | 95.49%
  • Variance: High
  • Maximum Win: 10,000x
  • Progressive Jackpot: No
  • Reels: 6
  • Rows: Up To 7
  • Paylines: Up To 117,649
  • Minimum Stake: £0.20
  • Theme: Adventure
  • Features: Tumble Wins, Wilds, Multiplier Wilds, Free Spins, Mystery Symbols

Testing Notes: Here’s What Happened When We Played Beware the Deep Megaways

IMPORTANT: To give you an accurate assessment of the games we review our writers play 200 spins. Whilst this is a useful tool to help us review games and to give an example of what might happen when you play, keep in mind that 200 spins is only a very small sample and cannot be used to accurately predict what might happen over another 200 spins. The outcome of all slots play is always random.

Boom Or Bust? Our Session By The Numbers

I played 250 spins on Beware the Deep Megaways on Pragmatic Play’s test server prior to release to test the game. This is what happened.

  • Stake Size: $1
  • Start balance: $100,000
  • End balance: $100,059.95
  • Hit Rate: 21.2% (53 winning spins in 200)
  • Biggest Win: 84x
  • Free Spins Round: 1

The first 12 spins of my 250 produced not a single win and I thought that might be setting the tone for Beware the Deep to be a really tight, volatile game. But over the rest of the session the hit rate came round and eventually settled at 21.2% which is a win roughly once in every 5 spins. It’s still tight, but not too bad.

Early on I hit my biggest win of 84x which showed the power of those multiplier wilds on the bottom reel when they come together. I had a 3x and a 4x wild on reels 3 and 5 plus 10s on reels 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 – see the screenshot. It showed you don’t need to hit the free spins round to trigger a nice win.

Beware The Deep Big Win
An 84x win from two wild multipliers

I did finally crack the free spins on the 243rd spin of 250. So, it’s not an easy one to unlock. The fun part is choosing whether you want to have a set number of free spins, or a max progressive multiplier after which point the round ends. I went for the 2nd of the two options because its unusual. I also used the gamble feature to try to get more. This is a good part of the game because you CANNOT lose the feature, only reduce the maximum multiplier, so you might as well go for it. My max multiplier was 12x, but with 4 bonus symbols landing, it grew to 16x. Just keep in mind that paytable values are low so you generally don’t get huge wins even when your multiplier gets quite big. I came away with a 45.4x in the end.

A Free Spins win in Beware The Deep
A 45.4x win from 15 free spins with a 16x multiplier by the end of the round

On balance this is a good game. The experience was fun with enough action in the base game to keep interest up and an original configuration that makes the free spins worth waiting for.

What We Liked

  • Super free spins rounds with powerful progressive multipliers
  • Atmospheric visuals and soundtrack
  • Classic 117,649 win ways Megaways game format
  • Good 96.54% RTP at optimum level
  • Option to gamble for more free spins

What We Didn't like

  • Very volatile so this game can burn you

Beware the Deep Megaways Review Scores

  • Theme and Design 9
  • RTP and Variance 8
  • Maximum Win 8
  • Symbols and Paytable 8
  • Features and Gameplay 8

What Our Reviewer Says ...

"An epic deep sea adventure that mixes up classic Megaways features with an alternative free spins configuration, making this a game worth your time!"

Overall Score: 8.2

Theme & Design

Our Score 9

A Peaceful Submarine Setting With Hints of Menace Bur Rarely a Shark In Sight!

Beware the deep is another of those ominous-sounding deep sea games that take you down beneath the surface to where danger is lurking – usually just off-camera – in the shape of some razor-mouthed super-shark. In this instance though we only get to the see the beast as a wild on the bottom reel. And we spend the rest of our time scanning the depths for hidden treasures, watching smaller fish and jelly fish idle by whilst air bubbles float up to the surface in a turquoise and green seascape. It’s a relaxing atmosphere in fact, completed by a weird hazy guitar soundtrack. It’s all much more pleasant than the title of the game suggests.

Beware The Deep Megaways by Pragmatic Play
Beware The Deep Megaways – atmospheric submarine adventure

RTP and Variance

Our Score 8

What is RTP?

RTP (Return to Player) refers to the amount a game will pay out in cash prizes expressed as a percentage of all the money wagered on that game. For example, a 96% RTP means a game will pay out £96 for every £100 wagered. This is an average number and will vary from one session to the next.  Read more here.

What is Variance?

Variance refers to how far a game will deviate from its RTP over time. High variance games deviate a lot and produce uneven win distributions and unexpected windfalls. Low variance games provide a more stable and even distribution of wins. Read more here.

As always with Pragmatic Play slots, Beware the Deep Megaways has more than one RTP setting. The game can run at 96.54% or 95.49%. The optimum RTP of 96.54% is good for a Megaways slot and you should look for casinos that run the game at that rate. You can check the RTP for yourself when you load up the game by hitting the ‘I’ button under the reels and scrolling through until you see the Return to Player figure.

I recommend playing at MrQ from Lindar Media who consistently choose the max RTP settings for games on their site.

As you might expect from a Megaways slot, the volatility in Beware of the Deep is high – 5/5 on Pragmatic’s own rating scale. So, you can expect an uneven win distribution and some tough times though the free spins round with plenty of wilds and multipliers looks like its set to pop on occasions.

Maximum Win

Our Score 8

What Is Maximum Win?

Maximum win refers to the maximum amount a player can win from one spin. It is expressed as a multiple of the stake. For example, where the maximum win is 100,000x, from a £1 stake, the maximum win would be £100,000.  

Beware the Deep Megaways has a maximum win of 10,000x which is OK, though not as high as some of Pragmatic Play’s other slots. It means you can win £2,000 with just a 20p bet. You can check out our list of slots with the highest max wins for games with better potential.

Symbols and Paytable

Our Score 8

Pragmatic Play have gone for the standard Megaways set up of 6 reels. The 2 outer reels display between 2 and 7 symbols per spin. Reels 2, 3, 4 and 5 display between 2 and 6 symbols per spin. But there is also a 4 reel, 1 row reel set beneath reels 2 to 5 which spins independently and adds an extra row so that altogether up to 7 symbols are displayed across the game area on every spin.

Beware The Deep Megaways Paytable
The paytable with 5x for 6 shark signs

With the win ways mechanic triggering wins you need 3 or more identical symbols to land on adjacent reels, regardless of the row, starting at the left-most reel, to score a payout. That gives you up to 117,649 win ways per spin (7x7x7x7x7x7).

The paytable has 10 symbols on it. The low value ones are the cards, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace. These are valued at from 0.1x for 3 10s up to 0.75x for 6 Aces. The premiums are the bell, bottle of rum, cutlass, treasures, and beware the shark sign. These are valued at from 0.1x for 3 bells up to 5x for 6 of the shark signs.

There is also a wild, represented by the shark. This only appears on the independent reel set that sits under reels 2 to 5, dropping with a multiplier value each time. More on that in the next section.

Features and Gameplay

Our Score 8

Beware the Deep Megaways mixes classic Megaways features like Tumble Wins and Mystery Symbols with a powerful progressive multiplier in the free spins round which can catapult your wins to epic levels at fast speeds! 

Tumble Wins 

The tumble wins feature is simple. After any win, winning symbols are removed from the reels and remaining symbols drop down to fill the spaces left behind. Then, new symbols drop down from above the reels to fill remaining spaces. This process can create more wins, in which case it repeats. And on on, until no more wins are formed.

Mystery Symbols

Another feature often found in Megaways slots is the Mystery Symbol. These display an image of green seaweed floating in the deep – no specific symbol – and when they drop they will transform into one random symbol from the paytable. And where two or more drop, they ALL transform into the same symbol. That increase your odds of landing a win.

Wild Multipliers Up To 100x

You should look out for the wilds that only drop onto the bottom 4×1 reel set. These ALWAYS carry a random multiplier which will be applied when a win way includes the wild. In the base game multipliers may be 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 10x or 25x. But in the free spins round they can be higher at 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 10x, 25x, 50x or 100x.

Two Free Spins Rounds With Progressive Multipliers

The best part of Beware the Deep is definitely the free spins round. Not least because you get two configurations to choose from. Before you get there you need to unlock the feature by landing four or more of the Bonus symbols, represented by the shark cage.

The Deep Free Spins

The first option is The Deep. You get 10, 12, 14 or 16 spins for 4, 5, 6 or 7 bonus symbols. Before the round begins you get the option to gamble to increase your free spins count. The gamble is on the spin of a wheel. Win, and you go up to the next level – 10 becomes 12, 12 becomes 14 and 14 becomes 16. Lose, and you drop a level down to a minimum of 6 free spins.

If you hit the bottom level then the gamble stops and round begins. The same is true if you get up to 16 spins.

The Deep Free Spins come with a progressive multiplier that starts at 1x and increases by 1x with each successive tumble. This global multiplier is applied to EVERY win in the round. But that’s not all because if a win includes one of the wild multipliers from the bottom reel set then the value of that multiplier is also added to the global multiplier.

And finally, if you land a Bonus symbol above a Wild then that wild is locked in place for up to 3 tumbles during which it’s multiplier value changes on every tumble.

Extra free spins can be awarded at 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 spins for 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 bonus symbols landing on one free spin. 

Even Deeper Free Spins 

The Deeper Free Spins option has the same progressive multiplier format as The Deep. However, elsewhere it uses an alternative format where instead of being given a fixed number of free spins, your round only ends when your progressive multiplier hits a pre-defined level. The more bonus symbols that triggered the round, the higher the progressive multiplier threshold that ends it.

  • 4 bonus symbols – round ends when the progressive multiplier hits 15x
  • 5 bonus symbols – round ends when the progressive multiplier hits 20x
  • 6 bonus symbols – round ends when the progressive multiplier hits 25x
  • 7 bonus symbols – round ends when the progressive multiplier hits 30x

Once again, you can gamble to improve the configuration of the round, up to the 30x level. This is on the spin of a wheel. If you win, you go up to the next level. If you lose, you drop down a level, down to a minimum of 10x. When you hit the bottom or top levels, the round begins. 

Once again, if you land a Bonus symbol above a Wild then that wild is locked in place for up to 3 tumbles during which its multiplier value changes on every tumble. 

And finally, landing a bonus symbol at any point will increase the progressive multiplier threshold for the end of the round by 1x.

The Final Verdict

Megaways games are everywhere these days and too often they just follow the same tired format so it’s nice to come across one that manages to retain the thrill of the core gameplay whilst finding a way to weave in some original magic at the same time. In this case, that is the free spins round which has a really interesting idea in the Even Deeper option. Choosing a guaranteed max multiplier is fun and Pragmatic have doubled down with the gamble option as well. The chance to gamble without the risk of losing the bonus entirely makes it worth a try every time. With this compelling gameplay and great atmosphere, Pragamatic have created one of the better Megaways slots of the year so far.

Useful Tips When Playing Beware the Deep Megaways

Remember, online slots are games of chance, there is NO strategy that can improve your odds of winning. However, reading our review and following these tips will help you get the most out of your time playing this slot game.

1. Choose A Low Stake To Make Your Balance Last

We recommend exercising good bankroll management and playing this slot with a low stake relative to your balance to absorb the tough times. It is a high variance game so it can burn you!

2. Keep Your Eyes On The Bottom Reel For Multiplier Wilds

Remember, wilds only appear on the 4×1 bottom reel set but they ALWAYS come with a multiplier of up to 25x in the base game or 100x in free spins. These are a powerful way to boost your wins.

3. Choose Your Free Spins Round Carefully

You can choose a fixed number of free spins or a progressive multiplier threshold that ends the round. Which do you prefer? I prefer the progressive multiplier threshold that guarantees you reach that level of multiplier and can extend your round further than the fixed spins.

4. Choose A Licensed UK Slot Site To Play At

We recommend the casinos on this page because they are all licensed by the UK Gambling Commission which means they are fully audited and provide fair, safe and secure slots play. Never play at unlicensed sites.

Who Made Beware the Deep Megaways?

  • Name: Pragmatic Play
  • Established: 2015
  • UK License: Remote 046683-R-325951-014
  • Total Games: 500 +
  • Known For: Wide range of themes and styles, live casino including gameshow formats, and bingo
  • Popular Slots: Fruit Party, Dog House Megaways, Big Bass Bonanza, Release the Kraken
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