Game supplier:NetEnt
Release date:11/2016
RTP:96.72%
Volatility:High
Max. win:bet x 14000
Mobile version:Support all devices
Multiplier
Stacked wilds
Random wilds
Scatter symbols
Freespins
Fairy tales & fantasy
Christmas
Winter
Game design:
Gameplay:
Features:
Game sounds:
Mobile gaming:
Originality:
Slot tested
Secrets of Christmas gives us a look through the frost-covered window of a family home as they eagerly await the coming of Santa Claus and his big wins!
This wintery game was released by NetEnt in the winter of 2016, an excellent time to settle into a comfortable chair with a hot cup of chocolate milk and play this 5-reel, 3-row game with 25 paylines! Secrets of Christmas opens with a brief animation showing us a beautifully decorated house deep in the snow-covered forest. This opening shot did a really good job at setting the mood for me.
As I’ve come to expect from NetEnt, the graphics are excellent. All the symbols are highly detailed and animated, while the background also brings to life the idea of a Christmas winter. The base game takes place outside as we look inside the house, the reels coming down through the window. There is a string of pine branches framing the window with lights flashing on and off. It all looks very good.
When triggering the free spins mode we move inside to the living room where we see a whole mountain of toys and presents. Here we pick special modifiers for the free spins mode before the screen moves to the actual fireplace and we play the free spins.
The sound is as expected the same high quality as the rest of the game, even though it’s not very original. It does a very good job of getting us in the mood, even in the middle of summer!
Symbols
The symbols in this game are all beautiful with a great amount of care and detail put into each of them. The high-paying symbols are also animated when they’re part of a winning payline, like the glass of milk draining or the lights in the gingerbread house going on. Even the low-paying symbols, based on the usual high cards, look like they’re made out of pines which adds to the setting.
From highest to lowest they are:
Because of the large number of symbols the game also has a listed High Volatility which fit my experience. There aren’t a lot of wins during the base game and they aren’t very high, but the free spins mode can be very lucrative.
Features
Secrets of Christmas doesn’t have a set of strange, extravagant features. Instead, it stays pretty close to the familiar, popular ones that will be well-known to most players.
First a quick overview:
During the base game, only the Wild feature is activated. This helps in getting wins but not a ridiculous amount and there wasn’t more than 1 Wild on the screen at the same time. The Scatter symbols showed up pretty regularly though, and it caused the free spins mode to trigger reasonably often. I wouldn’t say they were frequent but they weren’t completely invisible either.
When the free spins mode triggered I’d get taken into the warm, cosy house and presented an entire pile of gifts! They were spread across the living room floor in 3 separate piles. Here, I got to pick 1 gift out of each of the piles, granting a random feature to the free spins mode. This could be extra free spins, multipliers, stacked Wilds and random Wilds.
After making my choices I’d settle in in front of the fireplace and the free spins would spin, using the different bonuses as the mode progressed. In my experience, almost every combination of features would in some way be beneficial, although there were obviously better and worse ones. Since you have to pick the presents blindly, there’s no way to develop a kind of strategy during this part.
The features were pretty standard but presented in such a beautiful way that it really didn’t matter. They all work well and there is a lot of variation thanks to the random element of picking additional features. I had a really good time, especially with the free spins mode!
In Conclusion
Secrets of Christmas is a representation of the classic NetEnt slot. It is competent, beautiful and doesn’t stray too far from the standard slot experience. It has different features that keep things interesting while the presentation is absolutely gorgeous. All the graphics are sharp and detailed, animations keep things visually interesting and the soundtrack keeps the player in the mood.
With the ability to pick a bet between £0.25 and £125 per spin and a max. win of 14,000x your bet there is enough to entice players to keep playing.
I found the game to be very entertaining even though it doesn’t add a lot of new things. It looks fantastic and the entire theme is enforced through every detail in the game. I never felt disconnected from the atmosphere since all the elements worked together in building that Christmas setting.
If you’re a player that’s looking for a classic slot with modern features that doesn’t overwhelm, Secrets of Christmas is definitely recommended. If you’re someone who gets really happy during Christmas-time, this game is a really easy pick! Even though Christmas is a popular slot theme, I don’t know many games that have captured the feeling so well.
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RTP (Return to Player):96.72%
Volatility:High
Max. win:bet x 14000
Min. bet:£0.25
Max. bet:£125
Progressive jackpot:
Reels:5
Rows:3
Non-standard layout:
Max. lines:25
Min. lines:25
Win both ways:
Multipliers:
Expanding reels:
Stacked symbols:
Colossal symbols
Auto play:
Turbo play:
Quick play:
Virtual reality:
Bonus game:
Random bonus:
Progressive bonus:
Buy bonus:
Free spins:
Scatter symbols:
Bonus game symbols:
Standard wilds:
Sticky wilds:
Walking wilds:
Stacked wilds:
Random wilds:
Multiplier wilds:
Re-spins:
Walking re-spins:
Sticky re-spins:
Cascading reels:
Sticky wins:
You can play Secrets of Christmas in English, Finnish, Swedish, German and 20 other languages.
Secrets of Christmas supports GBP, EUR, SEK, NOK and 33 other currencies.
Trystan Michielsen is a Dutch native who started his career as a content writer for various small businesses who were interested in creating an online presence.
When the opportunity arose to move to Malta and work in the iGaming sector, Trystan didn't hesitate to make the plunge. Here he worked as a Content and SEO specialist for different companies before moving back home.
Now acting as a freelancer he maintains his connection with the online slot community by playing and reviewing the wide variety of videoslots that are released.
Trystan enjoys playing the slots that offer a full experience, focusing on more than just the technical details but keeping an eye on its presentation. Graphics, music and style can create a game that's more than the sum of its parts.
A writer at heart, putting thoughts to paper is something he's done for as long as he remembers. In his free time, he enjoys writing fiction as well as watching and reviewing movies.
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