Book of Darkness slot review

Open the Book of Darkness and wander into the world of magic. Then it will be time to pick your side. But who will you favour: the artful Huntress or the crafty Dark Wizard? Choose well and this 5-reel, 3-row slot with 10 paylines will uncover a truly adventurous journey.

It seems like providers are still trying to recreate the huge success of ‘Book of Dead.’ Bar the name, this slot has nothing which reminded me of the epic game. The symbols don’t ooze the majestic feel of the original and the mechanics of the game leave much to be desired. For a game which was released in October 2020, the graphics and animations are underwhelming.

There is an ominous soundtrack in the background which fits the theme perfectly. But this air of mystery is unfortunately ruined by the old-school, peppy, slot FX. And these slot FX, most of the time, have no use as they are triggered whenever the Huntress or the Dark Wizard tile come up. And you need a Huntress, Book and Dark Wizard tile to appear on a straight line for anything to happen. This combination is so rare, so the FX is generally redundant.

Symbols

When there is a similar theme of witchcraft and the occult I’m always excited to see symbols closer to the dark side. Whilst there is an attempt at that I found the tiles to be unimaginative, even boring! The scatter/wild tile which is the all-important book is seriously lacking in its mystique.

The symbols, from highest to the lowest consist of:

• The scatter and wild tile are the Book of Darkness. It substitutes for all symbols bar the Huntress or Dark Wizard when there is a possibility of the Clash For Power to be triggered. Three or more of the Book of Darkness will trigger the free spins round and a payout. Five-of-a-kind yields 20x.
• Both the Dark Wizard and the Huntress yield 25x with 5-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The red stone and the blue ring yield 15x with 5-of-a-kind on a payline.
• The purple potion and green sword yield 8x with 5-of-a-kind on a payline.

There are also another 3 lower-paying symbols which take the form of card suits. Five-of-a-kind of either the Ace, King or Queen will yield 5.

Features

• The free spins round

Three or more Book of Dead tiles anywhere on the reels will trigger a payout and the bonus rounds. With 3 books there is a 2x payout and 10 spins, with 4 books a 20x payout and 15 spins. And with 5 books there is a 200x payout and 20 extra spins. Once you enter the bonus round a random tile is chosen. If three or more of these tiles make an appearance it will expand across the reels yielding an even bigger win.

• The Clash for Power

For the Clash of Power to take place you need to get a 3-tile combination on a straight line. This can either be Huntress - Book - Dark Wizard or Dark Wizard - Book - Huntress. When this happens free spins are awarded and the two heroes will expand on the reels to start the fight.

You will then choose your fighter and as the reels spin the meter of the respective hero will fill up according to the wins registered. If you choose the correct hero, then Shadowform will be activated.

• Shadowform

A truly special bonus round, in Shadowform you are awarded a further 10 spins if your hero wins the battle.

With a Huntress win, 10 free spins are awarded complete with 5x multipliers. The Dark Wizard will award 10 free spins and 5 expanding symbols (instead of the 1 awarded in a normal bonus round).

In conclusion

Book of Darkness does have some interesting features but the most exciting of them is just so rare to come by. I spent countless spins trying to trigger it. In the meantime, I managed to trigger a few 5-of-a-kind payouts and 3 bonus rounds. Yet the Clash for Power was nowhere to be seen, let alone the Shadowform feature.

It is a real shame that the Clash of Power combination is so hard to come across as it looks truly epic.

The maximum win is set at 640x which is underwhelming. The engine powering this game is said to be a low volatility one but that wasn’t my experience here. It took me a long time to get into the bonus round and when I did (this happened 4 times) the maximum win I managed was 111x. The other wins all hovered around 30x. I didn’t even manage to enter the Clash of Power round, let alone make it to the Shadowform feature.

Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be but I did spend a serious amount of time trying. Taking the game as a whole, it will suit both casual and hardcore players alike, especially if you’re a fan of the theme. And I’m sure the challenge to access the Shadowform feature will intrigue a few players looking for something new.