Are you afraid of the dark? I think that must have been the tagline for about five dozen different children’s TV shows back in the day, but the one that stands out to me is, of course, Stay away from that Trapdoor, cos there’s something down there! Who’s with me? Whilst I wait for the millions of replies to my mini-survey to roll in, why don’t we check out Fear the Dark by Hacksaw Gaming? This is a cluster pay machine that utilises a 6×6 playfield, a 96.25% RTP, and a maximum jackpot prize of 5,000x the total bet.
So, what else does Trapdoor have to offer? Sorry, I meant to say Fear the Dark! The base game includes a ‘Full Moon’ feature, which can add up to five multipliers with values ranging between 2x and 100x. The main bonus round is dubbed ‘Alone in the Dark’ – these guys really like to use previous examples of modern culture, don’t they? You can win up to 15 free spins by default, plus one extra spin for any additional scatters above the essential minimum of three. And there’s more – if you have a particularly lucky bonus round, you may even find yourself in the Darkness Spins … sounds mysterious, doesn’t it?: You’ll have to keep reading if you want to know more!
So, are you afraid of the dark, my friend? Come here – I’ll hold your hand while you give our free demo slot of Fear the Dark a little blast. Probably.
| Provider | Hacksaw Gaming |
| Reels | 6 |
| Rows | 6 |
| Paylines | Cluster Pays |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 100 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 5,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.25% |
| Our Rating | 8.0 |
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Fear The Dark Demo Slot
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Fear The Dark Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Most online slots with a dark theme don’t include the word in their titles – take Clash of the Seraphim, Rock Bottom, or Dead Canary, for example. Although, In fairness, the last two games come courtesy of Nolimit City – you don’t find many of their games which don’t feature a dark and menacing style theme! So it’s nice to see Hacksaw attempting something similar, although visually, you can’t really debate the fact that NLC has the edge here. BUT! Hacksaw is a top-tier developer who just can’t seem to release a bad slot, no matter how hard they try. Well, they probably aren’t trying to make a bad slot, but let’s just move on – that story is going nowhere, is it!.
And now the paytable – there are five high pays and five low pays. The high pays are represented by a collection of ghostly beings, the most valuable of which is the cyan and magenta zombie-lookalike; he’ll get you 120x the total bet for a maximum symbol cluster. The clown-style ghost is worth 80x for 12 or more of his symbols, whilst the pig, bad slimer lookalike, and your little brother with a bedsheet over him are worth 64x, 48x, and 40x, respectively. As for the low pays, these are shown in black and white and include a Christian Cross with a payout of 28x the bet for a five of a kind combination, closely followed by a die that returns 24x for all 14 symbols. The glass – complete with spoon – is worth 19.2x for a max cluster, with the last prizes being awarded by a ‘spooky staircase’ and a tombstone, which share equal payouts of 12.8x the total bet for a 14-symbol cluster.
A great range of bets is available starting at just €0.10 per spin, and plenty more intermediate bets are available before you reach the maximum stake of €100.00 per spin.
Base Game & Modifiers
Fear the Dark is set over a 6×6 reel format, and as I discussed in the previous section, this is a cluster pays slot with a total of 36 positions within its grid. So to grab yourself a totally spooktastic win, you’ll need to hit a minimum of five matching symbols positioned adjacently anywhere on the reels.
Full Moon Symbol
This special symbol doesn’t really resemble the full moon, or at least not as I remember it. I guess the guys over at Hacksaw have better telescopes than me… that’s got to be it, right?
Our ‘moon’ is a sort of sphere wearing a ridiculously small Top Hat (Get down to Primark mate, and stop wearing your baby clothes; you’re embarrassing yourself. Okay, he may look a bit silly, but he triggers his own ‘full moon mode’ before activating up to five symbol multipliers at the top of the grid – generously corresponding to all of the high-paying symbols!
Whenever somebody says generous, we can’t help but ask, ‘how generous?’ although usually not loud! When the Moon Man heard my question, he responded by telling me that the possible multiplier values are 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x, and 100x.
A the end of the current round (once all winning combinations have been removed and there are no more symbol drops to come), the symbol multipliers added by Moon Man will be removed one by one from left to right. For each multiplier that is removed, all symbols of the matching type – as well as all low-paying symbols – effectively create a huge new avalanche of new symbols. Remember, only one multiplier is removed at a time, so this entire process can potentially repeat itself up to five times.
Fear The Dark Slot Bonus Features
The full moon had a lot going for it, but it has nothing on the real bonus round! Hacksaw has labelled this one as ‘Alone in the Dark’ (which was a classic series of PC adventure titles if you didn’t know). Hitting three candle scatters will award 10 free spins, whilst four get you 15. Should you hit more than four of the candle scatters, one extra free spin will be added to your starting total for each one.
Alone In The Dark Free Spins
In this mode, the odds of the Moon Man symbol landing are far higher than during the base game. On another note, hitting even a single free spin symbol whilst the feature is active will add four more free spins to your remaining total – hit three of them, and you’ll receive a whopping 12 extra spins instead!
When playing this feature, you’re sure to notice the candles dotted around the edge of the playfield – these don’t do anything yet, but when you run out of free spins, this is when they come into play. At this point, the entire grid will go dark as the candles are extinguished, and the grid will shrink in all directions – first to 4×4, then to 2×2.
If a full moon lands during these ‘Darkness Spins’, the grid will grow back to its original size of 6×6, and the Darkness Spins will be reset. Should a candle land whilst this feature is active, the grid will again return to its original size, but you’ll also be granted another four regular free spins before the Darkness Spins part activates again.
Bonus Buy
The bonus buy menu contains the following options:
- 3x Bet: Bonushunt Featurespins (RTP: 96.41%)
- 40x Bet: Moon Man Featurespins (RTP: 96.25%)
- 100x Bet: 10 Free Spins (RTP: 96.23%)
- 150x Bet: 15 Free Spins (RTP: 96.25%)
Pros
- Who doesn’t love a good grid slot? I find these games far more interesting than typical slots, as do many other players in my experience.
- The spooky theme is done exceptionally well – it looks great and plays even better.
Cons
- Could the max win have been higher? Maybe 10,000x would be more attractive for some.
- Full Moon feature is very rare during the base game.
Fear The Dark Slot Review Final Thoughts
Another great release from Hacksaw, and the theme is totally on point and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. The same can be said for the gameplay, and the twist on the free spins feature is excellent.The last couple of releases have really stepped up in the level of production, so could it be that Hacksaw Gaming is looking to take a real foothold in the market during 2023? Time will tell, but more games created to this high standard will surely put them up there.
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