Hacksaw Gaming’s Dark Summoning is a delight for horror fans like me. When you read that name, the pictures that probably come up in your mind are fires of hell, maybe some crosses, devils, and lost souls. That’s precisely what I had on my mind when I first saw the title. However, it’s not just a visual interpretation of hell – it’s something bigger.

The highly volatile slot game comes with an RTP of 96.36% and 24 fixed paylines. It has a standard base game and three special features that perfectly fit into the lore. I was also impressed by the graphics and audio effects. If you ask me, it beats many other horror-themed slots on many fronts. The winning potential is right up there, too. With wins over 10,000x the bet, you should try the game at the best slot sites featured here. It may be a bit horrifying, but it’s so fun to play. 

Read my review of the Dark Summoning below and check my thoughts on it as a whole.

Dark Summoning is quite the looker. Yes, it’s gritty and dark, as one might expect, and may even be a bit scary to players who don’t like the horror niche. Instead of creepy nuns or serial killers, it has opted for a tour of hell. A devil stands on the right, waiting to pounce on the screen, while to the left, you have a skeleton priest or the Grim Reaper himself. Choose what’s spookier for you.

The 5x6 setup is carved in a stone slab – probably a portal to hell. The symbols include various ominous-looking icons, including one that eerily looks like the Illuminati logo. From the bottom of the screen, you can see fire embers rise, and in the background, a dimly lit candle on the right gives weak light to dark corridors.

Dark Summoning’s setup and layout are easy to read. In my experience, I found the controls beneath the reels easy to reach.

One of the first things I noticed about the Dark Summoning online slot is the high default bet per spin. More specifically, it’s set to $2 per spin. You can easily adjust that between 10c and $100 per spin, which is a good range for new and seasoned players.

It becomes features galore when you take a deep dive into this unholy hellish pit. Even though it’s not a Megaways or Cluster Pays slot machine, it boasts super cascades. They work the same way as regular cascades but with a fancier name. There are two bony wilds – one in the base game and the other in one of the bonus rounds. They both substitute for symbols in winning combinations but may also land with multipliers up to x100.

The two special features that trigger during the base game are Will of the Order and Unholy Summoning. Land the blue cross to trigger the former. When that happens, the cross will replace itself and up to nine symbols with wilds. 

Unholy Summoning is triggered when a scatter lands on the reels as part of a winning combination. You collect the scatters, with at least three necessary to activate the bonus feature.

Collect three Unholy symbols to trigger Trial by Hellfire with ten free spins. The winning positions during the bonus are marked with Hellfire. After an Unholy symbol appears on a marked spot, it activates a Fires of Hell sequence, with all marked Hellfire spots turned to wilds. These spots can be with or without multipliers.

The sequence lasts until the next cascade. New wins won’t create Hellfire when this sequence is active.

There’s another bonus round called Rise to Salvation. It is triggered when you collect three Unholy scatters with an Order cross active. During the bonus feature, cascades and symbol drops are reversed. The bonus also introduces you to new symbols – Lost Souls. They turn sticky on the reels whenever they land and move up the reels after cascades to fill up empty spots. Lost Souls come in two variants – one carries a multiplier up to x100, while the other carries cash prizes.

In my experience, Dark Summoning can be a pretty dark slot game if you’re not careful with your bets. It’s a highly volatile slot – although not extremely volatile. Nevertheless, it’s fun to play, and I must say I kind of like the aesthetic. I used the betting tool to set my wager, then hit the big Spin button to start playing. I started out small, with a $1 bet, as I believe that’s the best way to try the slot. Playing the game feels great – the animations are top-notch, and the dark atmosphere is spot on.

After a few small wins, it was time for me to try the bonus. I used the bonus buy slots feature instead of waiting for who knows how many spins for the bonus trigger. I was surprised to see three options. The first one cost me 3x the bet and made the bonus feature five more times likely to trigger. The Trial by Hellfire and Rise to Salvation bonuses cost 130x and 250x, respectively. The rounds are excellent for boosting your odds to score big, so buying them may be worth considering.

If you’re doubting this is the right slot for you, the Dark Summoning demo is available on this page and at the top Hacksaw Gaming casinos.

The Dark Summoning slot RTP is set to 96.36%, which is slightly above the average of 96% for highly volatile slots. The game also boasts a maximum projected win of 10,666x the bet (fitting!).

Dark Summoning is a fantastic Hacksaw Gaming title and a true delight for fans of supernatural horror. It’s not just a creepily-looking title – it has the specs to light up the desolated place. The highly volatile math model is imbued with white and black magic features, all of which can deliver truly great wins.

I personally love horror slots, and even though the online casino market for them is slightly limited, there are a few dark gems. Hacksaw Gaming’s Hand of Anubis puts a dark twist on Egyptian mythology, while Fear the Dark is a good pick if you want a cartoonish, spooky twist. NetEnt’s Dark King: Forbidden Riches is a solid choice for an equally ominous title.