The Wildwood Curse Slot Review
Three individuals went into the woods, but none of them came back the same…
There are rumours that The Wildwood was cursed long before the monster awoke beneath the lake, before the Psycho sharpened his blade, and before the Twins began whispering to the dead.
One thing we can say with certainty, though, is whatever roams within the woods is more terrifying than horror; it’s pure evil. Enter the woods at your own risk, but no one truly leaves – you’ll succumb to the darkness forever.
In the spirit of Halloween, Hacksaw Gaming is telling its own horror story through The Wildwood Curse – an upcoming release that will have the hairs on the back of your neck tingling.
The Wildwood Curse falls prey to Hacksaw Gaming’s ‘dark & mysterious’ portfolio of games, joining the likes of Klowns and Evil Eyes, bringing our greatest fears & challenges to life for the ultimate scare-fest.
With a fixed RTP of 96.30% and a medium (3/5) volatility score, live to tell the tale of The Wildwood Curse, and you could benefit from a 10,000x maximum win potential. Will The Wildwood Curse outlive the Halloween period, or will it be cursed to the season? Let’s find out…
Base Game & Features
The Wildwood Curse is a medium volatility, Halloween-themed slot release from Hacksaw Gaming, consisting of 6 reels, 5 rows, and 19 fixed pay lines. Wins occur when 3-6 matching symbols land on adjacent reels, starting from reel 1.
The highest-paying symbol falls to the Casette Tape, followed by the Knife, Torch, Jar, and A, K, Q, & J card suits. When a winning combination is revealed, it will award a fixed payout between 0.2x and 10x your bet, where applicable.
Additionally, Wild symbols appear on all reel positions, substituting for all symbols as part of a winning combination. Lastly, FS Scatters do not appear during Nightmare Respins or either Free Spins mode, and the Twins Multiplier is maxed out at x1,000.
Nightmare Respins
When a Wild symbol hits in the base game, it sticks to its current position and triggers a Nightmare Respin. Once active, all Wild symbols that land will remain sticky until the end of the feature. The Nightmare Respins feature continues so long as new Wild symbols appear in view.
When 4 Wild symbols form a 2×2 Square during a regular spin or Nightmare Respin, it creates a Cursed Cluster, revealing 3 different Cursed Characters as follows:
- Psycho Cluster: Reveals a random Multiplier between x2 and x100, which applies to all wins it is a part of. If more than 1 Psycho Cluster is part of the same win, their values are added together and applied to the win.
- Monster Cluster: Spreads Multipliers between x2 and x50 to a random number of reel positions once. When the Multipliers are part of a winning combination, their values are applied to the payout before being applied.
- Twins Cluster: Reveals a Multiplier of x2, which is applied to its cluster. When part of a winning combination, the win value is multiplied by the Cluster Multiplier. If more than 1 Twins Cluster is part of the same win, their values are added together and applied to the win. After a win evaluation, the Twins Multiplier will double for each Nightmare Respin.
The Wild symbol & all 3 Cursed Characters substitute for all paytable symbols. If multiple Cursed Clusters appear in the same spin as part of the same winning combination, their Multipliers add together before being applied to the win, up to a maximum of 6 per time.
The Wildwood Curse Free Spins
Triggering The Swamp Bonus mode requires 3 FS Scatters to land in the base game, awarding 8 Free Spins. This mode maintains the same base game mechanics and functions, with an increased chance of landing Wild symbols, thus triggering the Nightmare Respins feature.
The Playground
Landing 4 FS Scatters in the base game triggers The Playground Bonus, awarding 10 Free Spins. This mode continues to utilise the same mechanics found in The Swamp Bonus, with an increased chance of landing Cursed Clusters.
Hidden Bonus: No Escape
The hidden bonus, No Escape, activates when 5 FS Scatters land in the base game, awarding 10 Free Spins. Again, this mode maintains the same mannerisms and functions of The Swamp Bonus, with a guaranteed Cursed Cluster.
Featurespins & Bonus Buy
Players may purchase one of the following Featurespins & Bonus Buy options:
- Bonushunt Featurespins: Each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a Free Spins mode for 3x your bet per spin (96.29%)
- Cursed Featurespins: Guarantees at least 1 Cursed Cluster for 75x your bet (96.23%)
- The Swamp: Awards 8 Free Spins with an increased chance of landing Wilds for 80x your bet (96.26%)
- The Playground: Awards 10 Free Spins with an increased chance of landing Cursed Clusters for 300x your bet (96.28%)
Each of the above options includes a ‘high volatility’ score, while the Hidden Bonus is unavailable for purchase.
The maximum win potential for The Wildwood Curse is 10,000x your bet. If a single session exceeds this figure, the current mode ends, and the player returns to the base game with the qualifying amount.
Our Honest Verdict
The Wildwood Curse is a spooktacular addition to Hacksaw Gaming’s growing portfolio, which raises the hair of all who are brave enough to play it, but not quite as terrifying as Print Studios’ Dreadworks or Darkness.
It’s an unusual theme for Hacksaw Gaming. Usually, they play it safe with traditional genres, but they’ve spiced things up in time for Halloween. In true Hacksaw style, The Wildwood Curse utilises special Wilds, only they’re part of a much bigger picture.
The Cursed Clusters are a nice change of pace, but we’re unsure which of the 3 Cursed Characters is our favourite – they don’t tend to differ too much from each other. It’s not clear if either of them is meant to be better than the one before it, but it all felt equally exciting and engaging.
The 3 individual Free Spins modes are quite straightforward when compared to other Hacksaw Gaming releases. Each session has an increased chance of landing Wild symbols, leading to a higher chance of triggering Nightmare Respins.
The hidden bonus, No Escape, guarantees to trigger a random Character Cluster, but it comes at the cost of 5 FS Scatters. This makes The Wildwood Curse quite consistent throughout, as does the fixed ‘high volatility’ score for each mode.
The 10,000x max win potential puts it on par with the majority of Hacksaw releases, but our only criticism is that Cursed Clusters could have been bigger and better. All in all, The Wildwood Curse is great for those looking for something spooky this season, but it’s not a Hacksaw Gaming chart-topper.
*The images found in this slot review are currently from Demo Play. On average, our reviews are written prior to the initial release date and before real play is available.
