Darkness

Review Darkness

Print Studios has made a very strong move to come up with a new title this dark. The title itself, Darkness, is well chosen and fits the rest of the setting. It is indeed very dark, maybe a bit too dark to be honest, which means that it has a rather scary look and feel that will be feared by even the most seasoned horror fans. Players familiar with the games of Print Studios, will know that the designers always put a lot of effort into their games. The gameplay is what we were hoping for which is why it is still fairly easy to understand. The features provide the player with great chances of winning as you’ll find out once you make your spins on Darkness. Before you get there it is crucial to learn more about the game which is why we have a full review of Darkness by Print Studios for you. This review is written by Kiwis and for New Zealanders, but players from all over the world should be able to prepare themselves in the best possible way with this pokie review.

How to Play

The newer online pokies by Print Studios are becoming more and more popular which is why Kiwis can now find the Darkness game at a lot of lobbies in casinos in New Zealand.

Our website updates our top list of NZ online casinos based on a wide range of performance metrics which should give you all the information you need to find yourself a casino that fits your needs. With different features waiting for you, this is how Darkness works:

• The playing field of 5 by 4 reels shouldn’t create too many difficulties for players who want to enjoy the Darkness pokie.
• Darkness is a very straightforward online pokie game to enjoy. In order to get started you will need to set a bet. Your current balance can be seen in the bottom left of your screen. The latest win is shown in the middle whilst the size of the stake is shown on the right. Go ahead and use the arrows to select the size of your stake. Minimum bets start at $ 0.20 which is slightly higher than average.
• Go for the main spin button which can be found at the bottom right side of the screen. Pressing this button will get you started with your first spin.
• On the top right side of the reels, there is an ‘i’ symbol which can be found in the circle. This will give you access to the game info, rules, the pay tables and the different settings such as audio settings and faster spins.

Symbol Wins

We would suggest Kiwis to first adjust their screen settings as we found this pokie to be a little bit too dark. If you agree you can lighten up the screen by adjusting the brightness. Do not push up these settings too much as this is a high quality production which means the dark touch adds its own touch to the rest of the ambiance. See the game as a horror movie with scary things happening at any given moment. As for the different symbols of the game, Darkness comes with both low values and high value symbols. As for the first group, the low values include different Wiccan twigs. The medium range symbols feature symbols such as daggers, vials, and chalices. The two witches of the game are the best paying symbols so make sure to pay some extra attention here. Agatha, the ghostly pale witch out of the two, is the one that pays out the most. Agatha rewards you with 25x the stake for 5-of-a-kind combos. Darkness also has a wild symbol, the Dirge Wild symbol, which is worth 50x the stake for combos of 5-of-a-kind. This symbol substitutes for all standard symbols in the game. The Pentagram scatter symbols can land anywhere on the reels with 3 or more triggering the Free Spins feature in the game.

Bonus Features

Darkness is one of those pokies that can get in one’s hair. We’re not only referring to the way it looks and sounds, but also to the overall gameplay and the features of the game. This game works well in making the player feel part of the reels which is a good or bad thing depending on how well you can take pressure. The features are not super original, but they are highly entertaining whilst they can be very rewarding as well.

There are only 3 main features, plus a bonus buy option for players in New Zealand and other countries. The features available in the game include Print Studio’s popular SuperSpinners mechanism, whilst it comes with giant symbols, and the Dark Ritual free spins feature. Below, we’ll cover the different bonus features available in Darkness.

SuperSpinners Feature

You will come across lanterns shown on the numbers which are nestled between the reels in both the base game and the FS feature. This is called the SuperSpinners mechanic, which can also be found in other Print Studios pokies like Cash Defense and Holy Hand Grenade. There are 14 SuperSpinners in total, which are activated at random. Winning combos that cross these positions are multiplied by the value shown on the SuperSpinner. If the winning combo comes across more than one SuperSpinner, it can be multiplied one by one. As you will know, this can potentially lead to higher payouts.

Giant Symbols Feature

Giant symbols may land randomly on any spin in the game. These can be between 3×2 and 4×5 in size. When this happens all positions will be covered by a giant symbol which counts as instances of the selected symbol.

Free Spins Feature

3+ pentagram scatter symbols in the base game will activate the Dark Ritual Free Spins feature. Collecting 3, 4 or 5 scatters will give you either 10, 12 or 14 free spins. In the Free Spins Feature, a pentagram will overlap the reels. Landing a wild on the points of the pentagram will make it sticky as well. This means the wild will remain in place until a total of 5 wilds land on all pentagram points. Once you manage to fill the pentagram, you will “summon the Lucifer” as this process is called. This is a visually stunning (and scary) bonus feature which also turns reels 2, 3, and 4 wild for the rest of the game round.

Buy Bonus Feature

Like many new pokies, Darkness comes with a Bonus Buy feature. Do note, however, that due to regulations this feature is not available in all countries although it is not expected that this will affect any New Zealand pokie sites. Players from New Zealand have two options they can choose from:

• Scatter Boost: Increase the chance of triggering the bonus round from 1 in 300.38 to 1 in 122.19 spins.
  • 50% of the current stake.
• Free Spins: gives the player immediate access to the Free Spins feature. The RTP rise of this feature is set at 96.79%.
  • 100x of the current bet.

Payout Metrics

Darkness has an outstanding RTP level of 96.14%, which is just above the average for online pokies whilst it is in line with what we’ve seen in other Print Studio pokies. The base RTP is set at 96.14%, which is already very good, but it can get even better if you make a few extra decisions. This is the case when you make use of the bonus bet or the bonus buy feature as this boosts the RTP to comfortable levels of 96.40% and 96.79%. This casino game by Print Studios also has a very generous hit frequency of 33%, which is higher than average. The fit frequency basically means that on average every third spin will create a win. This online pokie also offers top wins of 20,000x your stake per spin. The top wins in this game can be found in the Free Spins round, where bonus features work together to boost payouts. The top win probability is set at 1 in 6.7 million. The free spins frequency is labelled as 1 in 300, on average. All together, we find all stats in this Darkness to be very favourable for players so make sure to check out what’s on offer.

Summary

Game developer Print Studios sees the Darkness pokie as a unique experience that will give players both hope and fear. If you want to make your spins on this game you’ll need to be a strong personality or at least lower your fear level as much as possible as full concentration is required to make it with this one. We’ve reviewed heaps of pokies that fit into the Halloween/vampire/zombie/hell range and not all of them score as good as this one. This is thanks to the graphs of the game, but also a result of the stats and overall gameplay. The bonus features of this game are not as extensive as one would hope for, but other than that we have very few things to complain about in this Darkness pokie review.

The visuals of this Print Studios game are highly innovative, making sure that you will sit on the edge of your chair from the very first spin you make. Both the bonus game and base game are entertaining and what every pokie should bring to the screen. When you make it to the bonus feature you’ll see how the SuperSpinners and the giant symbols in the game will help you boost your wins. Having that said, the free spins round are definitely the most thrilling. This also explains why the bonus features are all stacked together, with the addition of wild reels, providing Kiwis an excellent chance to make it to the top wins of 20,000x the stake. Darkness is one of the best releases of 2023 in this genre and we’re sure that seasoned gaming enthusiasts will agree on this one. If that sounds good to you then make sure to sit back, be bold and spin.