Fortunes of the Dead

In Fortunes of the Dead, the Montreal-based Side City Studios turns its attention a few thousand miles south of its headquarters to pay loving homage to the Day of the Dead. Bright colors, gorgeous visuals, free spins, and surprise bonuses make for a celebratory, atmosphere, if also a morbid one… and just in time for Halloween.

Theme

The Mexican Day of the Dead holiday inspires this slot, and deathly skulls, music, and jubilation reign over game design. Gaming symbols include skeletal matadors, mariachi bands, glamorous dancers, and a formal portrait in elegant dress, all of them sets of bones done up in finery; a brazier of coals with spirits rising out, a skull coin, a basket of fruit, and lit candles surrounded by human remains. Other symbols include a tile bearing the game title, a horned skull (which triggers bonuses when appearing on reels one, three, and five), and an undead caballero scatter symbol (which triggers free spins when appearing on the three middle reels). The overall game ambience is almost overwhelmingly bright and beautiful, like a taste of the wild energy of the holiday itself. Mexican-style music plays in the background, enhancing the sense of transport.

Betting Options and Functions

With all the visual action, bonuses, and spinning reels, it’s refreshing to see betting structure kept so simple. There are 50 fixed paylines, with bet size easily adjusted from 0.50–500.00 times the betting currency. Autoplay is engaged by holding down the spin button, and can be set to up to 100 rounds of play.

Fortunes of the Dead is a low-medium variance slot, meaning players are likely to see many wins of a small size, with larger ones coming less often. It does grow tiresome to see the screen light up with color to announce a win, only to see that, with win size is smaller than the initial bet, money has actually been lost, not gained. Nevertheless, the overall theoretical return-to-player is a slightly above-average 95.79%, and some base play payouts reach up to 500 times the bet size.

Features

Three solid bonuses keep play interesting in this slot. First of all, and always a surprise, is the Once in a Wild Bonus: triggered at random, this bonus fills the reels with four extra wild symbols, resulting in a lovely boost to the bankroll.

The Skull Bonus begins when the skull symbol appears on reels one, three, and five. Players are brought to another, even more colorful screen, where they can choose from three skull masks, each with a prize ready to be awarded. Finally, in the Free Games Feature, the reels from base play spin without wager for five rounds in a row. During each spin, one wild symbol is added, which then sticks in place for the remainder of bonus play. This means five wilds will be on the reels for the final free spin… and since five wild symbols appearing on a payline pay out 500 times the bet size, the potential for big wins is at its apex here.

Our Take

It’s lovely to see smaller companies offer up titles such as Fortunes of the Dead, where visuals have clearly been crafted with great love and attention to detail. The bonuses are original and varied enough to keep players coming back for more, and the spooky, otherworldly theme succeeds in summoning a truly unique atmosphere. If this game is any indicator, Side City Studios is on its way up in the world.