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22 July 2024 
Fear the Dark Slot Review 2024
Spooky ghosts and terrifying monsters haunt Hacksaw Gaming’s latest release, but they’re not as scary as they look, in Fear the Dark!
Nyctophobia is a fancy word for someone who has an extreme fear of the dark, and Hacksaw Gaming is making players face this fear in their newest release, Fear the Dark.
Fear the Dark looks to be another of Hacksaw Gaming’s darker titles, but in actual fact, it’s not quite as terrifying as you’d think. Here you will witness the Full Moon feature in action, along with an exciting Free Spins round that amplifies the Full Moon feature so you get to see it more often.
Will you embrace your fears for a chance to win 5,000x? Let’s play on and find out!
Fear the Dark Base Game and Features
Fear the Dark is a 6×6 Video Slot with a Cluster Pays mechanic. Winning combinations are formed when 5 or more of the same symbols land in a cluster anywhere on the grid, either Horizontally or Vertically.
The minimum bet available here is £.€0.10 per spin and the maximum bet available is £.€100 per spin, with plenty of other options in between the two. This game has a theoretical RTP of 96.25% and a max win cap of 5,000x.
In terms of symbols, the highest-paying regular symbol here is the Ghost, followed by the Green Monster, Pig Head, Clown, and Blue Monster. Low-paying symbols fall to Stairs, a Headstone, Drink, a Square, and Cross.
Each time a winning cluster is formed, all winning symbols will be removed from the grid and new symbols will drop down from above via an Avalanche, with the possibility of forming more winning clusters.
Full Moon Feature
During the base game, landing a Moon Man symbol will trigger the Full Moon Feature. Once active, the Full Moon will activate between 2 and 5 symbol Multipliers with an active Multiplier value between x2 and x100 above the grid, each corresponding to one of the High-paying symbols.
The symbol Multipliers will multiply all winning clusters for the corresponding symbols for as long as they are active. Once no new winning clusters occur, the symbol Multipliers will be removed one by one from left to right.
Each time a symbol multiplier is removed, all instances of the corresponding symbols and all Low-paying symbols are removed from the grid. New symbols will then drop down via an Avalanche to replace them.
When the grid settles again, the next symbol multiplier in line will be removed, and so on and so forth. Once all active symbol Multipliers are removed, the Full Moon feature ends.
Fear the Dark Free Spins
Landing 3 or 4 Candle Scatters across the grid triggers the Alone in the Dark Free Spins round, awarding 10 and 15 Free Spins respectively.
During Free Spins, there is an increased chance of triggering the Full Moon feature than in the base game. Landing extra Scatters during this time will award an additional +4 Free Spins per landed Scatter.
Darkness Spins
As long as there are Free Spins remaining, the Candles on the outside of the grid will remain lit.
Once there are no Free Spins left, the Candles will be put out and the Free Spins round enters the Darkness Spins mode. Each time you enter or reset Darkness Spins, you will be awarded an additional +2 Free Spins.
Before each Darkness Spin, the grid will decrease in size by 1 in each direction, first 4×4, then 2×2. Activating the Full Moon feature during this time will increase the grid size back to 6×6 for the rest of the current spin, resetting the Darkness Spins mode.
In addition to this, landing FS Scatters will increase the grid size back to 6×6 for the rest of the current Free Spin, returning you to regular Free Spins and resetting the Darkness Spins mode.
When the Darkness Spins mode ends without either a Full Moon or Free Spins retrigger, the Bonus round will come to an end.
Fear the Dark Bonus Buy
Those outside the UK will benefit from a Bonus Buy option. Hacksaw Gaming has granted players access to 4 Bonus Buy options as follows.
- Bonushunt FeatureSpins – Each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a Bonus game for 3x your current bet. (RTP 96.41%)
- Moon Man FeatureSpins – Each spin guarantees that at least 1 Moon Man symbol lands for a total cost of 40x your current bet. (RTP 96.25%)
- 10 Free Spins – Awards 10 Free Spins with a higher chance of triggering the Full Moon feature for a total cost of 100x your current bet. (RTP 96.23%)
- 15 Free Spins – Awards 15 Free Spins with a higher chance of triggering the Full Moon feature for a total cost of 150x your current bet. (RTP 96.25%)
Fear the Dark: Our Verdict
In our reviews, we’ve often talked about Hacksaw Gaming’s light side and dark side. On one hand, you’ve got the sweet and cuddly games like King Carrot, Pug Life, and Double Rainbow, and on the other, you have Hand of Anubis, Undead Fortune and Break Bones.
Fear the Dark is sort of a mix of the two, with your dreary graveyard theme drawn up and imagined in a lighthearted way.
When we heard the name ‘Fear the Dark’ it sounded quite imposing, but there’s nothing to fear here, but there is lots to love.
Fear the Dark is a typical Hacksaw slot with multipliers that can turn smaller values into exponential wins, and it’s typical in the way that it has more than one bonus round to make it more diverse. It’s recognisable as a Hacksaw Game in the way that it works at its core, but the way in which Hacksaw tinker with it to make it unique makes it quite fresh.
To us, Fear the Dark might not be the biggest Hacksaw Game to ever grace our screens, but it certainly isn’t a forgettable release.
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