Introduction to Face Off
Face Off is a casino slot from BGaming, challenging you to take a stroll through a cemetery on the night of the 31st of October. When you think about it, Halloween is a strange, socially accepted day, where anyone can dress up and roam the streets freely in any bizarre costume. Sure, in most cases, those are children innocently hunting for sweets, but what if some deranged maniacs use this camouflage to exercise their twisted desires? That seems to be the plot BGaming has woven into its horror-themed game, introducing four masked maniacs who have taken over the graveyard and made it into their playground. It will be your task to chase them away with the power of scatter-pay wins and free spins enhanced by multipliers up to x100. Bring back peace to the dead and enjoy a reward up to 15,000x the bet once you successfully drive away the psychos.
If you need a bit more preparation before you face those lunatics, check out the demo at the beginning of the article to gain some more confidence before jumping into the real Face Off.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Face Off is a video slot from BGaming with 6 reels, 5 rows, and a scatter-pays win system, where wins are awarded for landing 8+ matching symbols anywhere on the grid. You can choose their stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.20 up to a Max.bet of 17. The game offers a default RTP of 95.97%, which is slightly below the industry standards. The mathematical profile comes with high volatility, which focuses on less frequent but more sizable wins, and a max win capped at 15,000x the bet. You will experience the base hit frequency of 38.61%, with the bonus round triggerable at an average rate of 1 in 395.35 spins.
When the reels are still, Face Off is soaked in a foreboding atmosphere, wrapped in a slow, echoing soundtrack. Once you start spinning, a more energetic, but equally unsettling beat kicks in, heralding something ominous lurking in the darkness of the graveyard. The scene in the background shows tombstones and skulls scattered around the monochromatic area, where the only red hue emanates from the game's logo in the top left corner. On the right, you'll notice a gravestone with a number that grows with every base game spin, tracking how many you'll need to trigger the bonus round. You can start looking for the dangerous tricksters by launching the game on any modern device, whether you're using a desktop, a smartphone, or a tablet.
The paytable comprises two sets of regular symbols, which award payouts whenever you manage to land at least 8 matching instances anywhere on the board. Among the low-paying ones, you'll see classic numbers and letters from playing cards, including 10, J, Q, K, and A, awarding 2x the bet for a set of 12 or more on the grid. High-paying symbols consist of four masked characters, bringing payouts ranging from 12x to 50x the bet for sets of 12+ matching instances. The Scatter is represented by an image of a golden skull that opens the way to free spins if 4 or more land on the same spin.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Face Off?
You can win up to 15,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Face Off?
The features are Cascading, Free Spins, and Feature Buy.
Cascading
Every winning set you score marks the beginning of a cascading sequence. The successful combination is removed from the grid, making any available symbols drop down, while making room for new ones to come in from above and complete the view. This can potentially result in multiple consecutive wins achieved within the same spin.
Free Spins
Landing 4, 5, or 6 Scatters anywhere on the grid within the same spin triggers the bonus round with 10, 20, or 30 free spins and an instant payout of 3x, 5x, or 100x the bet, respectively. During the game, a new Multiplier symbol will be added to the reels. It will take the form of a gravestone with a value between x2 and x100. Every time Multipliers land when there's a win on the grid, they will add their values together and multiply the final prize from the entire spin accordingly.
Feature Buy
In Face Off, you have the option to boost your base game spins with extra chances for triggering the bonus, or activate free spins instantly for a fixed buy-in that scales with your active bet.
1.25x = doubles the probability of triggering the bonus round.
100x = instantly triggers the bonus round.
Final Thoughts on Face Off
With its mostly monochromatic environment and clean, drawn symbols, Face Off instantly brings some Hacksaw Gaming productions to mind, like Pray for Three. Perhaps it doesn't contain as much detail and polish as those slots, but still, strip the UI off the theme, and you may be easily fooled. Overall, the game plays as any quality slot should, without any jittery animations or delays between spins and feature triggers. The eerie Halloween vibe is quite palpable thanks to the intense soundtrack and the lack of color in most areas of the scene. You could argue that the characters could be more intimidating, given they're the core visuals and the main part of the 'story', so their deranged, psychotic nature could be more exposed in some more advanced expressions. Altogether, the design is fine, although it doesn't carry any standout factors.
Gameplay-wise, the situation presents itself as bleak as the slot's colorless backdrop. In the base game, you'll simply grind toward the bonus round, as there are no additional features included there. However, the fairly advantageous hit rate of 38.61% should help move things along a little bit. It might take a while to reach free spins, as their trigger rate is pretty steep, with 1 in 395 spins, so prepare yourself for potentially long base game stretches in between. Once you eventually manage to face the lunatics and try to snatch the 15,000x max win from their hands, Multiplier symbols with values up to x100 will be the only weapon you'll get to use. In the end, the setup doesn't differ much from dozens of other scatter-pay games inspired by Sweet Bonanza, but it might provide a good seasonal alternative if you're into spooky themes.
Face Off is a plain Halloween-themed slot without any standout factors, albeit well done and maintaining a tense, eerie atmosphere.
