Dark Reels by Spinomenal is a dark-sounding slot with a red-haired witch and a crow in the lead roles. While the name sounds ominous, the slot won’t kill your chances to win decent amounts of money. In fact, the highly volatile slot game has 30 fixed paylines and several cool features that make up for the slight horror on the reels.

Not everything’s dark, as the name of the slot implies. There’s a lot of black magic on the reels, though, and it can lead to some pretty bright wins. The gothic vibes are felt throughout the base game and the free spins round, both of which are decently rewarding. What I liked the most about it is how easy it is to play. The game keeps it straightforward instead of coming up with complex features, which can only make it more complicated to play.

You still get a few bonus symbols to pay attention to. However, there’s no bonus round in sight, so if you’re looking for a big bonus feature, you might want to try another slot available on newest casino sites. If you like it classic, read my Dark Reels review to see if it’s the right fit for you.

Dark Reels is a 5x4 slot with a classic setup. The first and last reels are missing a row, but that shouldn’t scare you away. I can describe the theme as gothic horror, with all the symbols fitting it like a glove. The red-haired witch and her crow companion are the main symbols, in addition to the glowing roses, a magical potion, and a burning candle. All gothic stuff so far.

The ominous atmosphere is accompanied by a harrowing soundtrack. I also liked the sound effects of coins clanking on the reels when you hit a win. They’re dark and sound a bit ominous, right in line with the theme. However, the slot’s not as dark as it seems, thanks to the special symbols and their features that can lead to some nice fat payouts.

The first thing you need to do to play the Dark Reels slot is to set a bet. Use the betting tool beneath the reels to place bets between 30c and $300 per spin. As mentioned earlier, the slot has 30 fixed paylines across which to win. The math model’s fairly classic. You need three or more matching symbols on an active payline for a win, with wilds stepping in to link them together.

Moreover, the wild is also the highest-paying symbol in the slot, and that’s by a mile. It beats all other premiums and even the scatter in payouts. Land 5 of these—which isn’t easy at all—and you’ll win 1,000x the bet. Of course, you can expect the wild to substitute for other symbols in a winning combination.

That only goes for five wilds, though. The closest you can get to that kind of payout is by landing potions or crow scatters, which pay 400x and 250x, respectively. Instead of the traditional way of doing things, the scatter in this slot simply pays a prize. It doesn’t trigger any bonus, and there’s no special feature to look forward to. It’s as vintage as a slot experience can be.

As mentioned earlier, there’s no bonus to look forward to in the Dark Reels online slot. The only special features, if I can call them that way, are the wild and scatter, which pay prizes for identical symbols on a line. Everything else is basic.

I liked the refreshing, non-complex experience by Dark Reels, even though there’s no bonus feature to play for. The wild can pay a true jackpot, but good luck on hitting five of them on a line. The closest I got was three, which resulted in a solid win, but using the premiums – the wild only pays for five.

A few scatter and premium payouts brought decent returns for my bets. However, I can’t help but notice that the slot would have been better off with a special feature, at least respins, or a fully-fledged bonus round.

The Dark Reels slot RTP is set to 95.72%, so it’s not the highest-paying slot you’ll find on the market. The maximum payout is set to 1,000x the bet.

If you’re a fan of gothic horror and you like slots that keep the gameplay straightforward, Dark Reels by Spinomenal is a good pick. If you’re looking for bonus-laden gameplay, it’s not that much impressive. The slot throws everything on one card – the dark atmosphere, and it’s successful at that, at least. But, the low winning potential brings it down, so players looking for bigger scores should look elsewhere.

As an alternative, you can try Play’n GO’s 7 Sins, which pays much more and has exciting special features. Or try the iconic House of Doom by the same studio. It has expanding wilds and a generous bonus round that may make it a better pick than a Spinomenal slot.