Dorks of the Deep Slot Review
Dive deep and discover the dorky residents of the depths in Hacksaw Gaming’s latest release, Dorks of the Deep!
Hacksaw Gaming takes us deep below the surface in search of glorious treasure, protected by a group of residents with intimidating facial expressions. Don’t let their demeanour deter you from your goal, for these folks are some of the nicest aquatic guys and gals you will ever meet.
There’s evidence to suggest that Dorks of the Deep is a continuation of Dork Unit, a game where a group of dorky characters put on the show of a lifetime, even sharing the same googly-eyed facial expressions found here. Hacksaw Gaming has a habit of switching between light-hearted and fluffy slots to dark and mysterious slots in quick succession.
If you haven’t already guessed, Dorks of the Deep represents Hacksaw Gaming’s light-hearted nature, while keeping to their high-performing mechanics and features. Continue reading our full Dorks of the Deep slot review for insights into features, mechanics, statistics, and our honest opinion and rating!
Base Game & Features
Dorks of the Deep is an inviting underwater, cartoon animated slot, portraying 5 reels, 4 rows, and 14 active pay lines. In addition, a variation of bet sizes between £0.10 and £100 per spin is available to all players. This game includes a High Volatility rating, an overall RTP of 96.2% and a generous max win cap of 10,000x your bet.
Wins occur when 3-5 matching symbols land from left to right, starting from an active pay line on the leftmost reel. Dorks of the Deep consists of 10 High and Low-paying symbols, each producing payouts between 0.2x and 10x your bet per win line. Wild symbols substitute for all paytable symbols.
Expanding Wild Reels
When a Treasure Chest symbol appears in view, it will expand to fill the entire reel so long as it would create a winning combination after expansion. Once active, it will expand to cover the full reel and reveal either the Octopus, Mermaid, or Ocean King character.
Each character has a unique Multiplier Tier with increasing Multipliers as follows:
- Octopus: x2, x3, x4, x5, x6, x7, x8, x9
- Mermaid: x10, x15, x20
- Ocean King: x25, x50, x100, x200
Each character Multiplier is applied to the entire Wild Reel and applies to all winning combinations that it is a part of. Each wild reel position acts as Wilds, substituting for all paytable symbols. If more than 1 Wild Reel is part of the same win, their Multipliers are added together and applied. Please note, that only 1 Treasure Chest can land per reel.
Bonus Buy
- Bonushunt Featurespins: Each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a Free Spins mode (3x your bet)
- Bubbly Featurespins: Each spin guarantees at least 2 Treasure Chest symbols to land (60x your bet)
- Deep Blue: Awards 10 Free Spins (100x your bet)
- Down under: Awards 10 Free Spins and progressive Wild Reel Multipliers (200x your bet)
Deep Blue
Landing 3 Scatters in the base game triggers the Deep Blue bonus game, awarding 10 Free Spins.
This round maintains the same mechanics found in the base game, with the addition that each landed Treasure Chest expands to become a Wild Reel even if it is part of a win line or not.
Additionally, expanded Wild Reels will reveal 0-3 Lives, meaning they remain sticky until no lives are present. One life is removed from each sticky Wild Reel at the start of each spin but will reveal a new Multiplier from any of the 3 character tiers.
If a Wild Reel still has lives left at the end of the feature, the Last Chance Feature will trigger. This feature awards additional Respins until all Wild Reels reach 0 Lives. In the Last Chance feature, additional Treasure Chests can land on the reels. Lastly, landing 2 or 3 Scatters awards an additional +2 and +4 Free Spins respectively.
Down Under
Landing 4 FS Scatters across the reels triggers the Down Under bonus game, awarding 10 Free Spins.
This round has the some rules as Deep Blue, only Wild Reels will never receive a Multiplier from a lower character tier. The multiplier is randomly selected from any of the Multiplier values in the associated tier. Landing 2 or 3 Scatters awards an additional +2 and +4 Free Spins respectively.
Hidden Treasure
Landing 5 FS Scatters anywhere in the base game triggers the Hidden Treasure bonus game, awarding 10 Free Spins.
This Free Spins round follows the same mechanics found in Down Under, with 2 Wild Reels guaranteed on the reels at all times, until the end of the feature. Landing 2 or 3 FS Scatters awards an additional +2 and +4 Free Spins respectively.
Our Verdict
Dorks of the Deep is a little less serious from Hacksaw Gaming, but its stats prove that it’s just as capable, and in many ways just as appealing, depending on your thematic appetite. It doesn’t have a dark disposition like many of their other slots do, but looking past its ‘generic’ appearance would be wise if you’re looking for a promising slot.
The Base Game can be fairly exciting with its Expanding Wild Reels, especially if the higher-level Ocean King Wild lands. The bonus round uses a ‘lives’ system to give the wilds an extra punch, and its super bonus round while not entirely different sufficiently ups the ante.
The main event, of course, is the 5 scatter Hidden Treasure round. This can’t be bought, and neither can some of the feature spins features, which has bothered us for a while.
Nolimit City include at least the xBet feature in their games for UK players – why can’t Hacksaw include the BonusHunt Featurespins? Hacksaw Gaming slots have earned a reputation for being notoriously unforgiving at times, and this option would significantly bolster not only the appeal of Dorks of the Deep but their entire catalogue.
Anyway, Dorks of the Deep proved itself to be very attractive even if it isn’t the most artistically interesting Hacksaw Gaming slot to date. It’s worth a good go, but is potentially forgettable in the grand scheme of things.
