Moonlight Wolves

Developed by Leander Studios, this new online slot game Moonlight Wolves immerses players in the North American wilderness around the spring. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the Moose are grazing in the lee of enormous snow-covered mountains. However, the graceful peace of this place could be disrupted if a wolf should enter. Mechanically, this is a five-reel, four-row game with 1,024 pay lines available. The RTP for this game sits around the industry standard of 96%. The most a player can expect to win from one spin here is a decent 10,000x the stake. Moonlight Wolves is available across platforms, including mobile, tablet and desktop.

Moonlight Wolves Overview

The features of this game begin with the re-spins game. This feature is activated every time a moon symbol appears on the reels in conjunction with a wild. This will result in a re-spin for every wild present on the board, all of which will be frozen as the board around them spins. The more wilds appear, the more are frozen, and the more re-spins are granted. The feature ends when no re-spins are left. The next feature is called the hunt feature. It is triggered when a moon symbol appears on the middle reel with no wilds in view. This results in wolves eating other icons on the reels to create a big payout. Finally, this game has a free spins and a bonus buy option. All bonus content will be explained in more detail later in the review.

Moonlight Wolves Theme and Symbols

The theme for this slot is the natural world, more specifically, flora and fauna of Canada. The setting can be identified thanks to the inclusion of iconic Canadian animals such as the Moose, grey wolf and barn owl. The look for this game is similar to many games being produced at the moment, which are inspired by natural landscapes. For whatever reason, the US and Canada seem to be the most popular countries for studios to recreate in these games. This means the slot takes place in a tranquil forest overlooked by craggy peaks.
The background for this game depicts one of these picturesque locations somewhere deep in the mountains. The foreground is filled with dense collections of fir trees and a glacial blue river. Behind these dark greens and bright blues are the mountains which rise dramatically into the sky. This location is probably in Canada, so these mountains are most likely the Canadian Rockies. This huge mountain range stretches from Wyoming in the USA high into British Columbia in Canada, spanning across miles of amazing countryside. The playing board for this game is a clever natural formation created from the branches of trees.

The symbols are split into low-paying, high-paying and special symbols. The low-paying icons are the J, Q, K and A in playing card royals. The most valuable of these are the K and A, which pay out at 0.75x the stake for the top combination. However, the more valuable icons in this game are the rabbit, owl, Moose and wolf. The wolf is the most lucrative, paying 5x the stake for the top combination. The specials for this game are the free spins scatter, the wild icon and the moon icon.

Moonlight Wolves Game Play

Moonlight Wolves is played on a 5-reel, 4-row machine with 1,024 fixed pay lines. To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel. The betting range for Moonlight Wolves is 20p to £100 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stakes up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.

Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen. Volatility for this slot is rated in the high range. The return-to-player percentage for Moonlight Wolves is 96%, which is average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 10,000x your stake.

Features

The first feature players will discover in this game is the Into the Wild re-spins feature. This is triggered when the moon and a wild wolf land in the same spin. You get one re-spin per wild, with wilds frozen on the board until the next spin, and if more wild wolves land, the feature continues.

The next feature is called the hunt feature. It is activated when the moon appears on the middle reel with no wilds in view. Should this happen, animated wolves will appear and stalk the reels, eating other animals that are present. After this has happened, the game will calculate a payout and move on.

The final feature in this game is the Pack is Coming free spins game. This is activated when three or more free spin scatters land on the reels simultaneously on reels one, three and five. This results in ten bonus spins with a higher concentration of moons meaning other features are also more likely to trigger. This game also has a bonus buy option. However, this is not available in the UK.

Conclusion

We aren't sure what compels studios to create so many of these North American-style games. Perhaps they are just very popular with players, and the aesthetic is one that is proven to be attractive. Whatever the theme, though, this is a pretty good online slots statistically, with a good RTP, a nice top payout and some helpful and rewarding features. The volatility is a little high, but this is probably to be expected from a game that offers quite a lot. Try also Buffalo, a fun demo game full of bonus.