WitchCraft

FUGA Gaming is another one of those obscure gaming studios that we feel deserves more recognition, but at the same time, we can see why they seem destined to dwell in the second league of software providers (the first league being reserved for NetEnt, Microgaming, Play'n GO and other heavy-weights). Despite having enough of thematic variety in their slot products, they rarely hit the nail on the head like they did, perhaps, with Ocean's Secret. Witchcraft is the video slot of 40 paylines and five reels that retains the company's output's general rating of – okay. A mixed bag of weaknesses and occasional strength, it will entertain but will the magic be gone in an instant? This reviewer thinks so.

Theme

Right now, there is something of a global revival of old pagan cults and we often hear about witchcraft being professed by many as an alternative outlook on life and value system. This rebirth of witches' coven around the world is easily observed in mass media, via art forms, forms of protest and general rebellion against the “mainstream values”. Now, we won't be going into how authentic and trendy and shallow or not that is, we're just stating the facts of popularity. And on the wave of that popularity, FUGA came up with and released a video slot that sort of feels like an homage to modern witchery, but is quite ambiguous of where it stands in terms of time placement. All of your standard items and objects of witchcraft worship are here, in forms of symbols: black cat, owl, crystal bowl (not normally among the first wave of with accessories, but okay), a goblet with a potion, amulet of some sort, a broom (duh) and special symbols – Fire Witch, Ice Witch and Pentagram. With that said, the game feels like a generic nod to witches all throughout and it would've profited from trying to be a bit more specific and have a few unique points that would work as an X factor. As it is, it holds no element of surprise and just going for the generic witch theme is a mistake on developer's end as the eagerness for the game's theme wears off quickly.

The colors on the reels are very bright and vibrant. The backdrops are another stroke of lazy stereotype, as we're seeing dark trees with wrinkled bark in a misty night with the full moon (yawn). The musical portion is somewhat interesting, as it holds no eerie effects at all and is just a simple modern beat that does not take away anything from the game, nor does it contribute much.

Betting Options and Functions

This game, whose theoretical return to player rate is 96%, lets you choose the bet amount per line (20, 30 or 40) – you can adjust your total bet on the right-hand side of the player's panel at the bottom of the screen by clicking on '-' or '+'. The values it can be set is from 0.40 to 80. When at least three identical symbols land on one of the active bet lines (or more than one), a win is created looking from left to right. The total win amount is displayed at the center part of the panel. To the right-most side of the screen, you can set the sound options or autoplay options (100 auto spins is the most you can have). Your remaining balance is found very clearly on the left as is the info button that opens up a screen with all sort of information on value of each symbol and how much they pay out when the land in a certain amount, the cashout diagram, the special symbols' value and powers as well as explanation of every special feature.

Features

Withcraft's Pentagram symbol is one of the more originals features in the game. It will only appear on the middle reel and, if the situation with other symbols who have landed is in favor of it, it will swap position with the adjacent symbol if it will improve the win amount.

Landing at least three Ice Witch symbols on reels 2, 3 and 4 will trigger the bonus game where you need to click on specific ice blocks on a new 3x3 grid and uncover the halves of specific tarot cards. There are Sun, Sword, Maiden, Mage and Eye card and each has its own value. Sun card pays out the random superprize that amounts from 70x to 150x of total bet. Other cards also payout a certain multiplier prize, from 10x to 40x of total bet depending on the card.

Should you be successful in landing three or more Fire Witches anywhere on the reels, you will initiate the Respins feature during which one of the following special features will be activated in order to make winnings larger: Secret symbol, with which the Fire Witch (try repeating this quickly!) turns into a random symbol from the main game; Multi Wild that lets Fire Witches become Wild with a specific multiplier increasing by 1 after each spin; and Wild Stacks, when Fire Witches become Wild and stand fixed on the reels in stacks by 6, 4 and 2.

Our Take

Perhaps the developer played it too safe in fear of not alienating the fans of this subject matter, but that only made Witchcraft suffer from not being edgy nor bold enough to stand out from the crowd. Special features are nice and opulent, however, playing this game feels a lot like just waiting for the main game to pass for a short while you're playing the bonuses. And then it's back to the “ordinary” spinning which feels more tedious than average and not dynamic enough.