Dark Spiral Slot (Hacksaw Gaming)

The Dark Spiral slot begins with 6 reels, 4 rows and 4,096 ways to win. You need 3 or more matching symbols appearing on consecutive reels, beginning from reel 1, to land a winning combination. As you’ll discover below, the Summoning symbols can stack extra symbols for up to 331,776 ways to win.

With a 10p minimum bet per spin, the most you can play for is £5 a spin (or £2 if you’re under 25) in the UK. Use the up and down arrows to change your bet. Outside the UK, there is Autoplay and Turbo/Super Turbo modes.

The Dark Spiral RTP rate is 96.22%: this is higher than the 96% slots ‘standard’ rate. Hacksaw Gaming has also created 94.22% and 92.32% RTP alternative settings so check within the Payable at your chosen site. All demo games at OLBG use the highest RTP setting, where possible/available.

Medium to high volatility (ranked as 4/5), the hit frequency rate is 25.26%: this means a winning combination will land every 3.96 spins on average. Finally, Dark Spiral offers 10,000 x bet max wins (which can be won in the base game as well as all bonus features).

With a Japanese anime/horror theme, the Dark Spiral slot is quite the visual treat. The aim is to find your way out of the dark in order to avoid the summoned evil. Set in a room with lots of mirrors, you’ll see Japanese girls on either side of the reels.

Creepy and eerie, it has black and white tones with splashes of colour. On the reels, you’ll see low-value A, K, Q, J and 10 royals (all paying up to 0.5 x your total bet for 6 in combination). The higher-value symbols are represented by body parts and mangled characters: the blood-shot eye is the best paying symbol, awarding a 3 x bet payout for 6 in combination.

With a Wild symbol that substitutes for all paying symbols, 6 wilds in combination pays 5 x your total bet. Dark Spiral also comes with Summoning symbols that can appear up to 1x4 in size. The other symbol of note is the FS Scatter: this is key to triggering the 3 free spins features.

Dark Spiral Mobile

Hacksaw Gaming produce all slot games, including Dark Spiral, using HTML5 technology. Playable on mobile, tablet and desktop devices, it’s available to play in Portrait Mode on iOS and Android smartphones.

The Dark Spiral slot focuses on cascades and Summoning symbols that bring in symbol stacks for up to 331,776 ways to win. With the 3 free spins features, you benefit from a higher chance of Summoning symbols as well as sticky and guaranteed Summoning symbols.

Cascade

When you form a winning combination of 3 or more matching symbols, you’ll trigger the Cascade feature. Winning symbols are removed from the reels with the remaining symbols falling into the vacated symbol positions: new symbols drop in to give you another opportunity of winning. If a win is formed, the process repeats until no new wins are created.

Summoning Symbols

Look out for Summoning symbols, which land 1x2, 1x3 or 1x4 in size: they can land on reels 2, 3, 4 and 5. Revealing a different stack of the same paying symbol or Wild, the symbol size will determine the number of stacked symbols on each Summoning symbol:

• 1x2 Summoning symbol: 3, 4, 5 or 6 symbol stacks
• 1x3 Summoning symbol: 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 symbol stacks
• 1x4 Summoning symbol: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 symbol stacks

This will lead to more symbols on the reels and more ways to win, with a possible 331,776 ways to win at its maximum. If a Wild symbol lands directly above or below a Summoning symbol on the same reel, the Summoning symbol increases in size, expanding to cover the Wild symbol.

When Summoning symbols are part of a winning combination, they remain on the reels as other winning symbols cascade out. The winning Summoning symbols reveal a new paying or Wild symbol. If another win occurs, the Summoning symbols reveal a new paying or Wild symbol: this continues until no new wins are formed.

Free Spins

Dark Spiral comes with 3 free spins features. Below are all the details:

• Shattered: Triggered by 3 FS Scatters, you begin with 10 free spins. It keeps the same mechanics as the base game but with a higher chance of landing Summoning symbols. 2 or 3 FS Scatters will result in 2 or 4 extra free spins.
• Twisted: Triggered by 4 FS Scatters, you’re awarded 10 free spins. It plays like the Shattered free spins but with all Summoning symbols sticking on the reels throughout the feature: it will reveal new stacks of paying or Wild symbols when part of a win and on every free spin. 2 or 3 FS Scatters will give you 2 or 4 extra free spins.
• Tortured: Played by landing 5 FS Scatters, you get 10 free spins. Keeping the mechanics from the Twisted free spins, 2 Summoning symbols are guaranteed on the first free spin. 2 or 3 FS Scatters will reward you with 2 or 4 extra free spins.

Bonus Buy

With 4 Bonus Buy options, all the details are below:

Dark Spiral Slot

Rating: 4.1/5

Dark Spiral is a creepy and compellingly-designed game that focuses on Summoning symbols for up to 331,776 ways to win, cascades and free spins for up to 10,000 x bet max wins.

Chris Taylor

On first impressions, the Dark Spiral slot is a superbly designed game which is equally captivating and creepy. I love how Hacksaw Gaming has used black and white tones combined with flashes of colour to dramatic effect. Disturbing, uneasy and dark certainly describe this release with the rather serene soundtrack adding to the suspense.

In terms of the gameplay, there are cascades for continuous wins but the key are the Summoning symbols: add stacks of paying or Wild symbols up to 12 symbols, you can benefit from an obscene number of ways to win (331,776 to be precise). If you land a win with the Summoning symbol(s), you can a new paying or Wild symbol for more chances to win.

With 3 free spins features, you benefit from an increased chance of Summoning symbols, sticky Summoning symbols in the Twisted mode and guaranteed Summoning symbols in the Tortured mode. I found that landing Summoning symbols early in the Twisted or Tortured modes is key to landing big wins, especially if they land on 3 or more reels.

Whilst the mechanic is relatively simple, it works and can lead to 10,000 x bet max wins. Hacksaw Gaming could have ramped up the anticipation with higher max win potential but that is my only minor gripe. All in all, it is a uniquely-designed game that focuses on symbol stacks and cascading wins.

If you enjoy horror slots, Nolimit City’s Book of Shadows has similarities visually coupled with souped-up ‘Book of’ mechanics for up to 30,338 x bet max win potential. Another good option is Print Studios’ Darkness: about a supernatural ritual gone wrong, you can adjust how dark the game appears. It also offers superb gameplay and 20,000 x bet max wins.

If you want slots that offer an increasing number of ways to win, Thunderkick’s Pink Elephants Trinity, Shady Lady’s Oops and ELK Studios’ Nitropolis slots series spring to mind.

The Dark Spiral slot review was written by Chris Taylor from our OLBG Expert team who has written over 10,000 slot game reviews in an iGaming career spanning over 2 decades.

Chris Taylor

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Chris Taylor is an industry veteran originally from Gibraltar. Having worked in the online gambling industry since 2004, Chris loves slots and has reviewed over 10,000 online slot games. Running a slots-focused website for 13 years, Chris is the go-to guy for everything slots-related.