Christmas Krampus

Designed by Light & Wonder, this new slot introduces players to the mythical anti-Santa, the terrifying beast known as Krampus. Christmas Krampus is available to play on mobile, tablet and desktop platforms. If you weren't good this year, there is a good chance that Krampus may punish you and prevent St. Nicholas from coming to your house to deliver presents. Regarding the actual mechanics of this slot, it is a five-reel game with three rows and ten pay lines. The top payout that players can achieve from one spin from this slot is 2,000x the stake. The RTP is around the industry standard at 96.2%. The volatility has been rated around the medium to the high end of the spectrum.

Christmas Krampus Overview

The features of this game start with the Christmas present symbols, which appear in both the base and free spins game. These special icons pay up to 20x the stake for five of a kind in the base game. However, in the free spins round, they act as instant cash symbols and can be collected by Krampus for big wins. They range from 2x to 50x in the free spins game. The other feature included in this game is the free spins game, triggered when players land three or more of the scatter icons in the base game. All features will be explained in more detail later in the review.

Christmas Krampus Theme and Symbols

This slot is based on the legend of Krampus. If you aren't aware of what Krampus is, it is a creature popular in central-European folklore that is half goat and half demon. Every Christmas, this monster's role is to punish naughty children for their transgressions accumulated throughout the year. He is the devilish companion of St. Nicholas (who was later developed in Santa). Krampus is believed to have originated in Germany, and his name derives from the German word Krampen, which means "claw." According to legend, he is the son of Hel, the Norse god of the underworld. With the spread of Christianity, Krampus became associated with Christmas—despite efforts by the Catholic church to ban him.

The background for this game is a dark and cold area in a creepy forest. This is quite an appropriately scary location for this game, as Krampus is often described as emerging from the black woods, looking to enter villages and raid the houses for misbehaving children. This image and the general feeling of this slot takes the regular uplifting and light Christmas theme and turns it upside down. In a way, it's kind of refreshing to get a new take on the Christmas theme, a little like when superhero movies started to get incredibly gritty and raw. The playing board for this game is a wooden construction with trees and roots binding the edges.

The symbols are split into low-paying, high-paying and special symbols. The low-paying icons are the 10, J, Q, K and A in playing card royals. The most valuable icon in this group is the A, paying out at 50x for the top combination. The more valuable icons are the Christmas gifts, the candy, the snowman, the Christmas tree, the elf and the game's logo. The logo is the most valuable icon, paying out at 200x the stake for the top combination. The special symbols finally are the wild, the scatter icon and the Krampus.

Game Play

Christmas Krampus is played on a 5-reel, 3-row machine with ten 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 Christmas Krampus is 10p to £20 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 medium to high range. The return to player percentage for Christmas Krampus is 96.16%, which is above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 2,000x your stake.

Christmas Krampus Features

The first feature involved in this game is the Christmas present icon feature. The Christmas present symbols come with a cash value of 2X, 3X, 5X, 10X, 15X, 20X, 25X, 30X, 40X, or 50X the bet. In the free spins, the cash values can be collected by Krampus. The cash value is only important in the free spins, but you can also make regular wins with the symbols, giving you up to 20X the bet for a winning combination. Wilds in this game substitute for other icons to score more wins. They can only substitute for regular symbols, however.

The main feature here, however, is the free spins round, triggered when players and three or more of the scatter icons simultaneously in the base game. The more scatters you use to trigger the bonus; the more free spins will be awarded to you. The maximum you can win is 10. During the spins, any Krampus symbol will collect the cash value of an adjacent present. The cash value of a present can be collected several times if there are more than one Krampus. When Krampus lands, he triggers a re-spins feature that belongs to the same free spin.

After every re-spin, Krampus moves one position to the left. The feature continues as long as there is a Krampus on the screen, and landing a Krampus to the right of a present Krampus will prolong the feature. In theory, the re-spins can go on forever by landing new Krampus symbols. The free spins can't be retriggered, and the feature ends when the player runs out of spins.

Conclusion

A Christmas slot with a difference, this new free slots no deposit that highlights a slightly darker part of the yuletide season is novel and exciting to play. In addition, the features that are available keep the playing experience varied and interesting. Regarding the payout potential, things aren't bad, but we'd be looking for a much higher maximum win for this game to be truly worth the dud spins and endless inserted coins.