Introduction to Shadows Inc
Shadows Inc is a casino slot from Hacksaw Gaming, where a mysterious syndicate takes over a futuristic city and silently clears any competition in its way. Slayers, as they're called, operate swiftly, striking from the darkness and disappearing back into it before anyone catches a glimpse of them. If you're up for seeing them in action, step right in and spin the reels to land VS symbols, which turn into bloody duels, leaving only one fighter victorious. Once the fight is over, the reel will substitute for all regular symbols and grant the winning multiplier that applies to all combinations passing through it. Within three bonus rounds, you'll be able to witness even more duels take place due to the increased frequency of VS symbols and even their guaranteed occurrences. Embrace the shadows and fight for wins up to 15,000x the bet.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Shadows Inc is a video slot from Hacksaw Gaming with 5 reels, 4 rows, and 14 paylines. You can choose your stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.1, which makes the spins particularly affordable, up to a Max.bet of 50, ideal for high rollers seeking a bigger thrill. The math profile runs on a default RTP of 96.28%, which is in line with the industry standards and promises good long-term returns. You can expect more value to be distributed toward occasional big wins at the cost of their reduced frequency due to high volatility, while the max win available on any single round is 15,000x the bet.
The main scene of Shadows Inc takes place in a blurry urban environment dominated by shades of purple, which does not give much of a hint of where the area is located. Imagery on the reels and the style of characters flanking the grid point to Asia, most likely Japan. The entire theme gives off a mix of comic book artwork and a polished video game rendering, resulting in an intriguing, futuristic setting shrouded with mystery. Two masked fighters wielding massive swords emphasise the action vibe, waiting patiently to strike at the most favourable moment. You can observe the skilled swordsmen show off their tricks on any modern device as the game is available on all desktops, smartphones, and tablets.
Winning combinations must contain between 3 and 5 matching symbols running through adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost one on any of the 14 active paylines. The paytable hierarchy contains two groups of paying icons, with the low-paying ones represented by spray-painted emblems in purple, green, pink, blue, and teal, all awarding 1x the bet for a combination of 5 on a payline. High-paying symbols comprise images of a shuriken, a skull mask, a man, a woman, and a gold Japanese mask. They bring payouts of between 3x and 10x the bet when scoring 5 of a kind. Wilds are represented by a silver letter W, which substitutes for all paying symbols mentioned above and awards up to 10x the bet for independent combinations. FS Scatters are depicted by blue 'FS' letters, while the VS symbols appear as yellow 'VS' letters.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Shadows Inc?
You can win up to 15,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Shadows Inc?
The features are Slayer DuelReels, Rise of the Syndicate Bonus, Wild Slayers Bonus, One Slayer to Slay Them All Bonus, Best of Bonus, and Feature Buy.
Slayer DuelReels
Any VS symbol landing in view, having the opportunity to participate in a win, expands to cover the entire reel. Multipliers attached to warriors appear on both ends of the vertical symbol, and a duel begins. The victorious warrior applies its multiplier to any wins passing through the expanded symbol, which acts as a Wild. If more than one Wild reel participates in a win, their multipliers are added together. Possible multipliers are x2-x10, x15, x20, x25, x50, x100, x250, and x500.
Rise of the Syndicate Bonus
Hitting 3 FS Scatters anywhere on the reels in a single spin triggers 10 Free Spins, where the average frequency of landing VS symbols is increased.
Wild Slayers Bonus
Scoring 4 FS Scatters simultaneously leads to 10 Free Spins, which maintain all previous mechanics and add a chance to activate the Slicer feature whenever a VS symbol lands. The Slicer adds a full row of Wilds on a randomly selected row.
One Slayer To Slay Them All Bonus
With 5 FS Scatters appearing on the grid at the same time, you receive 10 Free Spins with all previous mechanics maintained. Additionally, you're guaranteed to trigger the Slayer DuelReels and Slicer features on every spin.
Best of Bonus
If, while triggering any of the bonus modes, you land a Best of Bonus symbol, you'll play three identical bonus rounds in a row, and you'll receive the best result out of them.
Feature Buy
If you don't wish to chase after specific symbol combinations in the base game, you can make use of the Buy Bonus menu, where certain functions of the game can be triggered instantly for a fixed price that scales with your current bet.
3x = Bonushunt Featurespins with a 5 times better chance to activate a bonus game.
60x = Duo Duel Featurespins, guaranteeing at least 2 VS symbols to land.
110x = Trouble Trio Featurespins, guaranteeing at least 3 VS symbols to land.
100x = Rise of the Syndicate Bonus.
200x = Wild Slayers Bonus.
200x = Best of Rise of the Syndicate Bonus.
400x = Best of Wild Slayers Bonus.
Final Thoughts on Shadows Inc
Shadows Inc makes a solid first impression, sporting Hacksaw's usual high-quality graphics that skilfully combine comic book style and detailed refinement of textures. Such a mix results in a premium video game feel while maintaining a unique vibe. The futuristic Asian setting with sword-wielding warriors perfectly meshes with the visuals, strengthening the gaming atmosphere even more. A composition like that should jive exceptionally well with all the cyberpunk style enthusiasts, even though there's not much of a backstory to sink one's teeth into.
The technical profile, however, doesn't bring much novelty to the table, and if you're at least partially familiar with Hacksaw's portfolio, you'll spot the repetitive bits right away. Not that it's hard to spot them in general, as the game operates on one core feature that's been present in the studio's catalogue for years. These are, of course, DuelReels, meaning expanding Wilds that grant one of two multipliers displayed on them and boost combinations they participate in. The mechanism made big waves in the Wanted Dead or a Wild release in 2021 and has popped up in many games since. This time, two out of three bonus rounds also bring a small addition in the form of the Slicer feature, which can spread additional Wilds horizontally to make forming combinations a little easier. So, if you're up for another round of straightforward, duelling multipliers in a futuristic, cyberpunk setting, this might be a good proposition.
Shadow Inc repeats the studio's well-known configuration based on VS symbols and Duel Reel, serving it in a thrilling, futuristic narrative.
