FEAR THE DARK
Fear The Dark online slot produced by Hacksaw Gaming comes with a default 96.25% RTP and a 6-reel, 6-row playing area featuring a “cluster pays” win evaluation mechanism.
Daring each other to walk through a cemetery in the middle of the night feels like a traditional challenge between teenagers. A rite of passage, if you will, proving the ultimate courage and bravery of the person who went through with it. Even though a silly part of impressing peers, for most, it must have been a terrifying experience with all that young galloping imagination bringing the most horrifying atrocities to life. Every irregular shape looked like a bloodthirsty monster, and each branch or stick on the ground resembled a bony arm of a zombie ready to pull its helpless victim underground. If the whole ritual happened during the full moon, it only added to the suspense, with light playing all sorts of intricate tricks on the mind.
How much easier it would have been if that nerve-wracking stroll took place at a cemetery like the one from this Hacksaw’s addition to the Pocketz series? It’s a lighthearted take on the monster genre, presenting the seemingly vicious creatures in a softer, quirky light. They might feel a little creepy at first glance, but there’s no need to fear them because their efforts, more often than not, result in amusement, not terror.
FEAR THE DARK
Fear The Dark online slot produced by Hacksaw Gaming comes with a default 96.25% RTP and a 6-reel, 6-row playing area featuring a “cluster pays” win evaluation mechanism.
Daring each other to walk through a cemetery in the middle of the night feels like a traditional challenge between teenagers. A rite of passage, if you will, proving the ultimate courage and bravery of the person who went through with it. Even though a silly part of impressing peers, for most, it must have been a terrifying experience with all that young galloping imagination bringing the most horrifying atrocities to life. Every irregular shape looked like a bloodthirsty monster, and each branch or stick on the ground resembled a bony arm of a zombie ready to pull its helpless victim underground. If the whole ritual happened during the full moon, it only added to the suspense, with light playing all sorts of intricate tricks on the mind.
How much easier it would have been if that nerve-wracking stroll took place at a cemetery like the one from this Hacksaw’s addition to the Pocketz series? It’s a lighthearted take on the monster genre, presenting the seemingly vicious creatures in a softer, quirky light. They might feel a little creepy at first glance, but there’s no need to fear them because their efforts, more often than not, result in amusement, not terror.
7.7/10
SLOT DETAILS
Provider:
HACKSAW GAMING
Layout:
6x6
Theme:
MONSTERS
Pays:
CLUSTER PAYS
RTP:
96.25%
Bets:
0.10/100
SLOT FEATURES
Wild:
Jackpot:
Re-Spins:
Bonus Buy:
Multipliers:
Super Bet:
Fear The Dark by Hacksaw Gaming - Online Slot Review
The initial contact with the scene may come across as not too welcoming, with its bleak, monochromatic background and spooky details like a spiked fence and a row of tombstones. Occasional ghosts pop up from the graves and swirl around the screen, trying to make the most of their not-so-scary performance. Glancing at the grid brings a bit more vibrance thanks to the colorful design of the monsters. Ah, and there's a slightly creepy Moon Man brightening up the mood from time to time while ridding the reels of some symbols.
The overall art direction feels similar to one of the studio's earlier releases this year - RIP City, especially regarding the black-and-white low-paying icons feeling utterly insignificant and a backdrop washed out of colors. Aside from that, all premium symbols carry a strong cartoony vibe, while a matching rhythmic soundtrack peppered with cymbals and trombones delivers a spooky yet not-so-serious atmosphere. The game fits perfectly into the Pocketz line-up thanks to an open grid and a clean composition.
PLAY FOR REAL
How To Win On Fear The Dark Slot - Features & Mechanics
A free-floating 6x6 grid holds 36 individual black tiles on which symbols must create clusters to qualify for a payout. At least 5 identical images adjacent horizontally and vertically will form a successful combination. A cascading mechanism removes all hits, drops the remaining symbols down the grid, and populates empty spaces with new instances. The paytable caps the winning sets at 14; any combinations containing more characters will pay the same as the max. Low symbols pay between 0.1 and 28 times the bet, while the premiums award from 0.50 to a whopping 120 times. Players can select their stake value from multiple levels in a €0.10 - €100 range, while the mathematical model brings a high volatility score and a max win potential of 5000x.
Full Moon
A Moon Man scatter symbol may land on any reel and activate the Full Moon mode. Between 2 and 5 selected high-paying icons receive a multiplier (shown above the grid) of x2-x10, x15, x20, x25, x50, or x100. It will apply to all wins containing the chosen symbols until there are no new hits within the same cascading sequence. In such a case, all matching instances of the first (counting from the lowest) icon with a multiplier, along with all low-paying symbols, will be cleared from the grid. The cycle continues until all premium characters affected by the Full Moon feature are removed, and no new wins appear.
Alone In The Dark Bonus
Landing 3 or 4 FS symbols activates a bonus with 10 or 15 free spins, respectively. Scoring a single FS icon during the bonus adds 4 extra spins. The playthrough is identical to the base game, with a higher chance of triggering the Full Moon feature. Once all free spins are used, the game enters the Darkness Spins mode and shrinks the playing area to 4x4 and then to 2x2. Landing either the Moon Man or the FS symbol in view resets the grid back to 6x6, awarding 2 extra spins. Not scoring either of them during both Darkness Spins ends the bonus.
Buy Bonus
Fear the Dark slot offers several options for triggering the game's features instantly for a fixed buy-in:
- Bonus Hunt (3 x bet) increases the chance to trigger the bonus.
- Moon Man (40 x bet) guarantees the Full Moon feature.
- Bonus with 10 free spins costs 100 x bet.
- Bonus with 15 free spins costs 150 x bet.
Fear The Dark On Mobile
The slot is available on all mobile devices in HTML5 technology, and it presents the highest level of a portable design. The landscape variant directly imitates the desktop view. The portrait mode looks clean and readable, as reels occupy the central part of the screen, and interactive buttons (including the Bonus Buy) sit at the bottom. The reels and symbols are prominent thanks to the composition utilizing the entire viewport. User-friendly screen estate distribution makes it a perfect slot to play on the go.
Final Thoughts
Fear The Dark falls right into place with all the other Pocketz slots with its free, mobile-first mentality and a soft, playful touch on the art direction. The game tells players right off the bat with its visuals what they should focus on, draining all the color from the surroundings and the low-paying symbols and injecting a range of vibrant shades into the premium icons. Overall, it's a welcome comeback to the series, especially since there weren't many additions in the past years, as the studio focused on branching out into other directions regarding slot creation. We also appreciate the side-step from the overtly cute and colorful settings, like in Hacksaw's first productions. It undoubtedly brings significant diversity to the offer.
Following the straightforward mechanical side of the Pocketz slots, Fear the Dark doesn't require much to grasp the features' logic. The online gambling industry already abounds in cluster games, so no explanations are needed on that front. Multipliers assigned to certain symbol groups are as clear as it gets as well. The bonus round utilizes the same functionality, just with an increased frequency, rendering the learning curve minimal. On top of that, Darkness Spins are a brilliant way of extending the free spins, plus it feels so much in line with the theme and the game's name. The shrinking playing area making you wish for that single Moon Man or Scatter symbol to drop is a truly hard-pounding experience.
Fear The Dark confidently plays to its strengths with an engaging mix of familiar features enveloped in a spooky, quirky theme where light plays a crucial role.
