Van Helsing’s Book of Undead

Overview: Van Helsing’s Book of the Undead slot

Van Helsing’s Book of Undead is the latest slot to be released by the UK gaming developers at 1x2 Gaming. As the title suggests this slot has been inspired by vampires and see a vampire hunter traveling to Transylvania to Dracula’s castle complete with a repeating cross bow, holy water, and his intelligence to defeat the monsters that are residing there. The slot offers exceptional graphics, excellent wins, and a whole host of fun features. So, if you think you have got what it takes to join the vampire hunter read on.

Game Play and Statistics

Book of Undead is played on a 5x3 reel set with 10 active pay lines, and although this may not appear to be much do not worry as this slot can provide wins of up to 5,100x your stake. If you add the medium volatility into the mix and the return to player which is just below average standing at 95.80% this is a good addition to the vampire niche slots. Personally, I really enjoyed the features which the slot offers which include free spins with expanding special symbols, or the mixed scatters and wild, which we will look at more in depth further down this review.

Theme & Design

Compared with other Book-styled slots the theme is the one that has changed. This is most definitely a vampire themed slot and it is Van Helsing that has the main role. The design is superb, with a tiny town in Transylvania as the backdrop, with Dracula’s castle just about visible in the distance. When it comes to the decorations these are Gothic in style with a dark influence which fits the overall theme perfectly.

Spooky Symbols

The vampire hunter is the top paying symbol in this slot and wins can be as high are 5,000 coins per combination. He is followed by pictures of a female vampire, a vial containing holy water, a crossbow and five Royal playing card symbols that are cleverly decorated in a Gothic style design. When it comes to the feature symbol there is only one used in this game and this is the Book of the Undead.

Bet & Win

The first thing you need to do is set your bet and this starts from just $0.10 per spin which is the minimum to cover all of the 10 lines which gives a line bet of just $0.01 which is one of the lowest starting points I have come across for quite some time. The maximum bet is also reasonable standing at $50 per spin equating to $5 per line, and with this type of range the slot will appeal to a wide audience of players both old and new.

The greatest win is equal to 5,100x your stake and this is slightly over the average highest pay out that you can expect from a slot with Book-style mechanics, however even more interesting is the way the developers have described this slot as being a medium option when it comes to volatility. Most competitor slots are sure to have a high volatility rate and this is one area where this slot has a true advantage. Surprisingly, Van Helsing’s Book of the Undead does fall with regards to the return to player which at 95.80% is a little below most of the competitor slots that rely on the same type of features.

Undead Features

There is a strong possibility that any slot that features the word Book in their title are going to be inspired in some way by the hugely popular Book of Ra. Although this slot has not copied the theme of Ancient Egypt, the developers have used a number of the features that made the Book of Ra so popular, and if you are au fait with this slot the action will be familiar, if you are not then this is a perfect introduction to a fabulous game mechanic.

The most obvious feature in this slot is the mixed symbol which uses the image of the Book. In this game the Book takes on the job of both the wild and the scatter depending on how you can use it. If it lands on an active line, then it can substitute for the other symbols to create a winning combination. The wild will do this wherever possible. On the other end the Book symbol is also the scatter and can reward you with 20 to 2,000 coins when you land three or more in view on your game screen. The same scatter symbols also activate the free spins feature where you are rewarded with 10 free spins when the feature is activated. In the free spins the slot picks one regular symbol at random and this then has the capability to expand. There is also the chance to reactivate the free spins by landing another 3 or more scatters at the same time.

Conclusion

With the number of slots that are in this niche the Book of Undead is not dissimilar which could see it getting overlooked. However, the medium volatility and the potential pay outs of up to 5,100x should be enough for it to hold its own amongst the better offering.

One thing that I should mention is that this slot can be played for free, with this in mind I urge you to make use of this benefit as it means that you can get to understand the slot and what is has to offer without risking any of your own money.
Overall, I enjoyed playing Van Helsing’s Book of the Undead it had a good pace and the wins were fairly consistent, from my experience with the game I would give it a rating of 8/10 a lot of this is due to the fabulous aesthetics and strong theme, and I have no hesitation to recommend this to all.