Introduction to Ghostly Hallows
Ghostly Hallows is a casino slot from Backseat Gaming, where a blast from a mighty cannon operated by an undead pirate heralds wins boosted by multipliers. In this naval journey through the afterlife, Hacksaw Gaming's partner takes a swing at modifying the popular gaming format based on scatter-pays win generation, empowered by multipliers, which you may recognise from such hit releases as Gates of Olympus by Pragmatic Play. However, in this variant, you won't be chasing after individual symbols granting the boost, but rather trying to obtain it from ghost clouds randomly appearing underneath the regular icons. This approach undoubtedly rearranges the core attitude, so let's find out how it measures up to the original model and if it makes reaching the max win of 20,000x the bet more achievable.
If you're keen on exploring the haunted seas on your own, feel free to try the demo mode available at the top of the article.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Ghostly Hallows is a video slot from Backseat Gaming with 6 reels, 5 rows, and a scatter-pays win system, requiring 8+ matching symbols to land anywhere in view. Within the bet selection panel, you can pick your stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.1 up to a Max.bet of 50. The game comes with a default RTP of 96.30%, although one lower variant of 94.29% is also available to operators, so make sure to verify your version before playing. Due to the game's high volatility, you should expect less frequent but more valuable payouts on average. It's possible to win up to 20,000x the bet in any single game round. The base hit frequency is 30.67%.
To introduce you to the pirate world of Ghostly Hallows, an undead captain is standing behind a cannon that will hopefully help you enhance wins by activating the collected multipliers. Behind him, a fleet of massive galleons sits anchored in a bay enveloped in eerie green mist, empowering the impression of a haunted bay ruled by adventurous spirits. A suspenseful soundtrack further elevates the feeling, while the vibrant, cartoony artwork provides a bit of contrast to this dreary setting. The overall design looks clean and readable, adapting seamlessly to most modern devices, so you can play the game on any desktop, smartphone, or tablet.
The paytable consists of two sets of regular symbols, which award payouts whenever you manage to match 8 or more at the same time anywhere in view. Among the low-paying ones, you'll see gemstones in various shapes and colours, awarding 100x the bet for a set of 25 or more on the grid. High-paying symbols consist of a pistol, a lantern, a chest, and a pirate skull, bringing payouts ranging from 150x to 500x the bet for 25+ matching instances on the grid. Special symbols include a Cannon that triggers the collected multipliers and Scatters in the form of a ship with the word 'BONUS' written across.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Ghostly Hallows?
You can win up to 20,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Ghostly Hallows?
The features are Cascading, Cannon Feature, Cannon of the Damned Bonus, Ghostly Pirate’s Trail Bonus, and Feature Buy.
Cascading
Every initial winning combination begins the cascading sequence, during which winning symbols are cleared from the view, thus making room for new icons dropping from the top. This can potentially lead to obtaining more consecutive hits within the same game round. Cascading continues until no more wins can be formed.
Cannon Feature
At the beginning of each spin, up to 5 multipliers in the form of colourful ghost clouds may appear on the grid underneath the regular symbols. Whenever you hit a winning symbol on a cell occupied by a multiplier, it will be stored in the cannon outside the playing area. The possible values are x2, x4, x8, x16, x32, x64, x128, x256, x512, or x1,024. If a Cannon symbol appears on the grid at any point during the game round, it will activate the multiplier, boosting the total win from that spin by the value that you managed to store.
Cannon of the Damned Bonus
Scoring 3 Scatters throughout the same base game round awards 10 Free Spins, during which the stored multiplier is persistent between spins until activated by the Cannon.
Ghostly Pirate's Trail Bonus
With 4 Scatters ending up anywhere on the grid at the end of a base game spin, you'll trigger 10 Free Spins with the multiplier also growing persistently between spins, but not resetting even after being activated by the Cannon.
Feature Buy
In Ghostly Hallows, you can make use of several Buy Bonus options that allow for boosting base game spins, as well as triggering the bonus rounds instantly.
2x = Bonushunt Featurespins with a 3-times higher chance to trigger the bonus round.
50x = Cursed Featurespins, guaranteeing a Cannon symbol to land.
100x = Cannon of the Damned Bonus with 10 free spins.
250x = Ghostly Pirate's Trail Bonus with 10 free spins.
Final Thoughts on Ghostly Hallows
Backseat Gaming seems to feel comfortable enough in the pirate environment after releasing Pirate Bonanza and Pirate Bonanza 2 to try to explore the setting beyond the mortal world. For some reason, the rogue sailing crews fit perfectly into the undead setting, perhaps due to the idea being popularised by the entertainment sector in productions like Pirates of the Caribbean. You don't exactly see too many zombie cowboys or knights out there, so it's that much more interesting why pirates got the honour of being portrayed as spectres. In any case, that's who we're dealing with here, watching the multicoloured ghostly clouds pop up on the grid from time to time, charging the skeletal captain's cannon. It's all nicely done, without any particular design curveballs, wrapped in smooth cartoony graphics and embellished with plenty of animated effects to pump up the anticipation of more significant events on the grid.
Just like in the two previous pirate-themed games from the studio, Ghostly Hallows explores different methods of multiplier delivery in a scatter-pays win format. And while the other games were more in the style of Hacksaw's Joker Bombs, this one shifts the boost from single icons to cells underneath the symbol layer. However, that doesn't necessarily feel like a more advantageous approach, because the appearance of multipliers during a winning spin does not yet guarantee their activation. While in the classic format, any multiplier symbol appearing alongside a win is already granted, here, you also need to wait for the Cannon to drop in order to benefit from the enhancement. This additional step causes plenty of anticipation that can quickly transform into frustration, when collected multipliers evaporate into thin air time and time again. Sure, their values may seem to be higher on average, but what good are they if you can't utilise their power? This approach feels like a shift to extremely high volatility, which is not a bad thing overall, but may come across as disruptive for players who got used to the more frequent, lower multipliers boosting their total win.
Ghostly Hallows experiments with a new, more volatile method of multiplier delivery in the scatter-pays playstyle in a pleasant undead pirate environment.
