Witch Heart Megaways: Slot Overview
Witches, as in female characters who dabble in magic, are a fairly well-established fixture in the online gambling scene, though they tend to be portrayed as chesty cutie pies rather than wicked, warted sorts who fatten up children before eating them. Playing into the easy-on-the-eye witch angle is Pragmatic Play‘s eye of newt, bubbling cauldron-themed online slot, Witch Heart Megaways. As well as not doing much in the way of wildly unique theme treatment, the game doesn’t do much that is wildly unique mechanically either, relying on the tried and true tumbles and free spins with a progressive win multiplier formula common in Megaways. However, it does have Witch Heart Wild symbols, which add further wilds across the reels after participating in a certain number of wins.
Say what you like about the rest of the game, but Witch Heart Megaways is at least an attractive slot to peer at. These sorts of games are rarely, if ever, actually scary, but Witch Heart Megaways nods in that direction by planting a tree which glows through eyes and jagged teeth on one side of the reels and a freaky towered dwelling beneath an enormous full moon on the other. Vibe-wise, Witch Heart Megaways has a sort of ‘Beetlejuice’ meets ‘Sabrina, the Teenage Witch’ feel running through it, as the game touches on the mysterious side of life but in a safe, non-threatening way.
Used under license from Evolution, the Megaways engine means Witch Heart Megaways lands 2 to 7 symbols on each column of the main grid, plus 4 symbols on the upper row, producing up to 200,704 ways to win. Three ways to play are possible, from staking 20 c to $/€240 per spin, activating the Ante Bet (which increases the bet by 50% to double the chance of winning free spins), to buying the free spins round. Regular betting has a maximum RTP of 96.49%, while the volatility is high.
Spiky J through A card ranks are Witch Heart Megaways’ lower paying symbols, awarding 0.4x to 0.45x the bet for 6 OAK, while its high pays are candles, potion bottles, cauldrons, cats, owls, and witch symbols worth 0.5x to 3x the bet for 6 OAK. The tumble mechanic means winning symbols disappear from the grid and are replaced with new symbols, providing players with another chance to win. Tumble wins repeat in this way as long as new wins appear after a tumble.
Witch Heart Megaways: Slot Features
On top of tumbles, Witch Heart Megaways has exploding Witch Heart Wilds, free spins boosted by a progressive win multiplier, and a feature buy.
Witch Heart Wild
Witch Heart Wild symbols substitute for all symbols except the scatter and anywhere except the leftmost reel. During a tumble sequence, after the third time a Witch Heart Wild participates in a winning combination, it explodes and adds 2 to 9 new wild symbols to random positions on the grid. These new wilds can participate in only one winning combination before they disappear.
Free Spins
Hitting 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters anywhere on the grid triggers 10, 15, 20, or 30 free spins, respectively. The free spins round begins with an x1 win multiplier. Every winning tumble increases the multiplier by +1 until the end of the bonus round. When Witch Heart Wild symbols explode after the third winning combination they are part of; there is a chance the win multiplier will randomly increase, depending on the number of exploded Witch Heart Wild symbols – up to x6 for 1 Witch Heart Wild, up to x13 for 2 simultaneous Witch Heart Wilds, or up to x20 for 3 simultaneous Witch Heart Wilds. Players win an extra 10, 15, 20, or 30 free spins should 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters land.
Feature Buy
It is possible to buy the free spins round triggered by 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols at a cost of 150 times the bet.
Witch Heart Megaways: Slot Verdict
First things first, Witch Heart Megaways succeeds in building a handsomely mysterious magic world players may enjoy losing themselves in. At the same time, unless you have a real interest in all things witchy, then Witch Heart Megaways is a pretty average slot. Not necessarily bad average, though. Pragmatic Play has a talent for popping out decent-looking slots, which easily prevents Witch Heart Megaways from attaining minger status. The magical, esoteric, arcane side of the game has been played up well enough to counterbalance the more generic aspects such as the anonymous witch, skulls, and candles. Witch Heart Megaways might not do anything exceptional with the theme, but it doesn’t disgrace it either.
The game probably would have a greater impact if the studio had been more creative with the mechanics, though. The features here are quite bland for a Megaways slot. Tumbles, free spins with an increasing win multiplier, it’s all very 2016-17. To prevent Witch Heart Megaways from being a total Bonanza drone, Pragmatic Play has invented Witch Heart Wilds, with their persistent through three wins before exploding property. Witch Heart Wilds were quite rare in the base game, but they hit more often when free spins were active. That’s doubly good since not only are Witch Heart Wilds able to add wilds to the reels, but they can also increase the win multiplier, quite substantially in some cases, when they do so.
Witch Heart Wilds might not be a radical evolution, perhaps, but they add a touch of originality that Witch Heart Megaways so desperately needs. With its 9,000x the bet win cap, this is not a tremendously high potential Megaways slot, either and for the most part, it felt a bit like playing Bonanza with a pointy hat. Good for a wee dabble, then, if Witch Heart Wilds looks interesting, but this is not a witch slot that casts an overwhelmingly intoxicating spell.
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