The Belarusian game designer Belatra has “Made to be different” as their company slogan, and their new haunted slot lives up to that ethos. The Ghost Walks (under the Moonlight) takes a playful, whimsical perspective towards a theme of ghosts in a haunted mansion: there’s silliness to go along with spookiness in this five-reel, four-line, 20-payline slot. Plus, with the chance to risk all wins for a 2x or 4x bonus, as well as the possibility of up to 300 free spins, there’s some serious cash to be won here!
Theme
The Ghost Walks is a slot with a ghastly theme: gaming symbols include a spooky haunted mansion (which acts as the wild symbol), a locked box with human bones outside of it. Also a gravestone, sinister-looking older couple, lit candelabra, cartoonish bat, and white ghost in clattering chains (the scatter symbol in this slot). If this sounds somewhat dire so far, fear not – the rendering is more like that of a kid-friendly farce than a gritty horror film. Lower-value symbols include the playing card values ace through jack, and the game title is also a tile, which becomes the second wild in bonus play. Sound effects are sparse, yet effective: there is no theme music, but digital sound effects accompany the reels in motion, wins, and bonuses. Visually, the design is quite spare. There is a black and blue background, twinkling with stars, with pride of place going to the reels themselves.
Betting Options and Functions
This credit-based slot has 20 fixed paylines, though the + and - signs on either side of the line display suggest that this may not be true in all versions. Players can decide how many credits to bet on each payline, from one to 100, for an overall betting range of 20 to 2000 credits per spin. There is an auto-spin feature and a series of pop-up information pages with clear explanations of payouts. What’s more, this game can be played in four languages: English, Spanish, Belarusian, and Russian (both Cyrillic).
Features
The base gameplay is strong in The Ghost Walks. There are possibilities for wins of 200,000 and 100,000 times the bet size, and occasionally a ghost will dash up one or more of the reels, turning the entire reel to wild symbols, or across a line, creating winning combinations. After all wins, players have the choice of taking their money or risking it in a card-based mini-game. In this game, players can try to guess the color of the upcoming card, doubling their winnings with a correct guess, or its suit, which quadruples the win. Players can continue in this way up to a win ceiling of 100,000 credits, though a loss at any phase brings winnings down to zero.
Three or more of the ghost symbols award free spins to the player, from five to 25, depending on how many symbols appear. In the free spin mode, there are two wild symbols instead of one: both the haunted house and the title symbol can substitute to form winning combinations. What’s more, the scatter symbols remain on the reels for free spin play, which means that players can win additional spins, prolonging the bonus – it’s possible to be awarded as many as 300 free spins in this way, which would trigger an astronomical win.
Our Take
Belatra has a wonderful game in The Ghost Walks – design is simple and charming, play is easy, bonuses abound, and accurate information is abundant and straightforward. What’s more, there’s a sense of personality and charm to this game, a rare and lovely thing in the world of online slots.
