Fear The Dark Slot (Hacksaw Gaming)

This 100 Spin test was updated by Steve Madgwick on 15/08/2023 

The Spin Test criteria can be found at the bottom of the page

Test Comments

Well, Hacksaw Gaming games are nothing if not unique, there is nothing else like them out there, but they can bite you on the bum, a run of 22 spins without a win in this test affirms that, but this session was a good one. There were 29 winning spins, putting it in the high frequency rate. The biggest base game win was 14.3x in a session that returned 1.95x average base game wins, but the session RTP was an impressive 169.4% thanks to a free spins round.

4 Candles were landed to get the 15 free spins, and the round paid a handsome 110.7x

The music has got the 'Inspector Gadgets' about it for sure, and overall, its not a bad slot game at all

Fear The Dark sees us enter a graveyard with ghosts flying around the screen and the dark setting feeling like an animated movie. The slot isn’t gruesome like some games that we’ve seen in the past with the cartoon element a ‘Rubber Hose’ style that Walt Disney was originally known for.

A 6-reel and 6 rows slot uses cluster pays with a minimum 5 symbols needed to payout per spin.

Stakes in this game start at 10p and go up to £100 with the RTP set to 96.25%.

OLBG has a huge list of the best online slots ranked and reviewed by experienced slot players.

Graphics, Music, and Sound Effects

Fear The Dark is graphically something similar to what we’ve been seeing a lot from Hacksaw Gaming in recent months with their Pocketz series all having a similar feel to them. The graphics that we see when we load in have that recognisable Hacksaw feel to it and that’s always a good sign with the provider being one of the most popular ones available.

The Fear The Dark logo doesn’t have the right feel to what the game itself is with the graffiti-like text not fitting what the game is actually about. The symbols on the reels are bright and fit the cartoon graphics from behind the reels too.

Musically this game sounds exactly like a retro arcade game with it’s eerie noises also including the green ghost that flies past and makes the odd sounds here and there.

As with all of our slot game reviews it’s important that we go through the different features in the game so that we really get to grips with it before we play.

Thanks to our review we will go through the Fear The Dark theme as well as the different ways you can win in the game with the reels and paylines given further detail.

Theme – Horror

We’ve picked a theme of Horror for Fear The Dark but realistically the cartoon vibes to this one are less scary and more fun than you would imagine with a name like it has. The black and white background is brightened up slightly when the Full Moon symbol comes up and the symbols on the reels are fairly bright for the premiums too.

The basic symbols in Fear The Dark are all colourless whereas the premiums, which range from clowns to ghosts and ghouls are all bright and colourful with the blue zombie-like symbol the highest payer at 1.5x for 5 of them compared to the 0.5x for the lowest premium which is the light green ghost you see behind the reels too.

Reels

Fear The Dark is a 6-reel slot featuring 6 rows.

Paylines

Fear The Dark pays cluster pays. 

RTP

As with every slot game one of the most important bits of information is the Return to Player and it’s no different with Fear The Dark. The RTP in this game is 96.25%.

As always this percentage is not the same everywhere and online casinos often alter these figures according to their current policies. To spare you the trouble, we shared a list of UK casinos where you can play this game and the respective RTPs found there.

For an even more informed decision, we advise you to check our reviews and read about the casino's welcome bonuses and deals, game libraries, customer care, payment options, and other things available in each casino.

Several top-ranking operators have the Fear The Dark slot in their offer, and many of them include a solid RTP for this title. Those who want to try other releases in well-established casinos should check the list of slot sites we recommend.

Stake Range

The stake range will always vary from different sites but the Hacksaw Gaming site states stakes from 10p to £100.

Max Win

The Fear The Dark online slot limits the maximum win at 5,000x the player’s bet.

When the Max Win is triggered it loads a screen in the game that displays a message indicating that the Max Win has been reached.

Free Spins

Fear The Dark has one main Free Spins feature with the Alone in the Dark spins triggered by landing at least 3 of the candle scatter symbols. Three of these symbols landing awards 10 free spins with 4 symbols triggering 15 free spins.

The free spins feature is the same as the base game, but there is a better chance of landing Moon Man symbols which can ultimately lead to some massive multipliers hitting in the bonus through multiple of these symbols continuing to land.

As long as there are free spins remaining all the candles will be lit around the grid, but when these free spins run out then the candles are blown out and the Darkness Spins mode activates. Darkness Spins sees the grid go pitch black and starting at 4x4 then 2x2 before ending. In this you can activate the Full Moon mode and Free Spins trigger before it eventually can end.

Jackpot

The Fear The Dark online slot game doesn’t have a jackpot prize but does have a Max Win of 5,000x available to be won in a single spin.

OLBG has a page where you can find the best jackpot slot games if you are genuinely interested in such titles with big jackpots available.

Play Experience & First Impressions

First impressions of Fear The Dark is that it has that distinct Hacksaw Gaming feel to it that you know straight away is one of their games. Playing it on mobile isn’t much different to playing it on desktop despite this one being one of Hacksaw Gaming’s Pocketz collection. Realistically this slot isn’t going to pull up any trees with the game being fairly basic in the size of the wins you can hit and how often you can trigger the Full Moon feature too.

It’s fair to say that Hacksaw Gaming know that this one won’t be a classic on the list of games that they have released in recent months, but the Moon Man mode and Darkness Spins both features that we’ve not seen before in slot releases which is impressive.

The verdict of this game is that it’s an enjoyable and charming game that will keep you entertained for a short while, but it’s repetitive hits and Moon Man feature means that you can easily switch it off after 5 minutes of spinning.

Hacksaw Gaming, although showing some new features in this slot, aren’t known for too many simplistic games but this one does fall under that category and from a provider that’s brought us slots with massive Max Wins and base game hits such as Wanted Dead or a Wild, you may feel a bit disappointed in this one.

For the calmer, more casual slot player, this game ticks all the right boxes and it’s quirky graphics and music will make you enjoy playing this one. If you want horror slots, my guide to the best Halloween slots should do the trick (or treat). Alternatively, you'll find the best Hacksaw Gaming slots in my comprehensive guide:

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Fear The Dark slot review was written by the OLBG Slots Content Team, beginning with Andrej Trajkovski, who has worked in the online gambling industry since 2013, playing and reviewing online slots and casinos daily for the past four years. 

Contributing to the review was Jake Ashton, a slots fan who is also part of the casino and sports betting team here at OLBG and Jenny Mason with Online Casino, Bingo and Slots Experience from over 15 years in the industry. 

The review is Fact Checked by William Westerlund, an online casino expert reviewing casinos and slots for over five years, and published by Steve Madgwick, our Editor-In-Chief with over 18 years of experience creating and managing high-quality sports betting and Casino content for OLBG & multiple other publications and a self-confessed online slots fans who has played at 100's of the best slot sites online and completes the Spin tests.

100 Spin Test Criteria

The 100 Spins test is undertaken on a demo slot, staking 100 spins at £1 per spin

Session RTP - Return to the player after 100 spins - Eg, A return of £45 from 100 spins is 45%, or a return of £107 is 107%

Win Frequency - A winning spins to spins frequency, higher frequency regardless of prize, is often more entertaining.

• 0-10 Very Low
• 11-15 Low
• 16-30 Medium
• 21-35 High
• 36+ Very High

Biggest Base Game Win  - Highest single base game spin winning value

Spins to Bonus - How many spins were completed before the main bonus round was achieved

Bonus Paid - Value of bonus once complete

Time Taken  - How long did the 100 spins take to complete?