A Dark Matter Slot Review

The slot has 5 reels and 5 paylines that pay both ways. Released in October 2019, this game can be played at online casinos such as Twin Casino, Spinit or Play Frank.

Theme and general information

A Dark Matter is not based on the book of the same title by Peter Straub. But it does give us a dark and ominous theme. Indeed, Slingshot Studios created a whole backstory for the game. The scene is set at Wraith Manor. It belongs to the Lady Eleanor Wraith whose deceased husband used to collect strange artefacts thanks to his enormous wealth. After his death the town of Stonehurst, where the Manor is located, experienced a number of disturbing disappearances and the townspeople now call for help. It arrives in the form of Nathan Highmore, who wants to get to the bottom of things.

The main actors in the game are Silas Brewer, Molly Perkins, Bertram Lynch, Eleanor Wraith and Nathan Highmore. If you want to know more about the story, you can always visit the page Slingshot Studios has made for this slot.

The atmosphere is well done in this game, dark and ominous. The expansive backstory doesn’t quite carry over to the reels, though, which shows us the characters mentioned above, playing card symbols from 10 to A, the game logo as the wild and a scatter that looks like a door knocker.

The maximum payouts of the high-value symbols are very good. Nathan Highmore pays out 600x our stake for 5 of a kind, Lady Wraith is worth 160x our stake for such a win. The other characters are all worth between 60x and 120x our stake for 5 on a payline. Unfortunately, the payouts for 3 and 4 of a kind are quite average in comparison and nowhere near as impressive.

You can play this game from 0.05 per spin to 50.00 per spin.

Stacked wilds that are spreading

The main feature in the base game are the wild symbols that can land stacked on reels 2 and 4. The standard wild lands on the three middle reels, mind you, but it doesn’t land stacked on all three. When we do get a stacked wild, there is a chance that it spreads either to the left or right reel, which then gives us two reels full of wilds, which is one of the best ways to land 5-of-a-kind wins.

Also, if we land stacked wilds on reels 2 and 4 simultaneously, they will turn reel 3 wild as well, which then guarantees great wins.

Free spins with more stacked wilds

We need three scatters to trigger 12 free spins. According to the game information, we now get super stacked wilds, though it’s not quite clear what that means. From what we gather, wild stacks now appear on all reels, making it easier to get great winning combinations. Wild stacks don’t necessarily spread to the neighbouring reel, but they may, which is usually good enough.

Also, with every additional scatter that lands on the reels during the free spins we get another free spin on top.

Finally, when a stacked wild now lands on reels 2 and 4, reel 3 will once again turn wild as well and our wins get a 2x multiplier on top of that.

Conclusion: An atmospheric slot that can yield good wins

The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) for A Dark Matter is 96.14%, which is a little above average and quite good. The slot is quite volatile and with only 5 paylines, even if they pay both ways, wins can be rare sometimes. But thanks to those spreading wilds we have seen awesome wins of over 150x our stake in the base game, which is very cool.

And we like the theme of the game as well. It’s great for the season, well executed and somehow it works. It’s a simple game when we get right down to it and perhaps, we only liked it as much as we did because we scored some good wins. Slingshot Studios are one of the more ambitious studios working with Microgaming and they have releasing some decent slots. A Dark Matter may not excite everyone and if you keep losing, you might want to change games. But if you do win, you will rejoice.