Do you long for the days of point-and-click adventure games, when solving puzzles required tracking down obscure objects and figuring out how to use them in precisely the correct manner to move the plot along? It wasn’t always simple since you had to retrain your brain to follow the rules of the game instead of the rules of the real world. iSoftBet’s Secrets of the Sorcerer is a throwback to old-school slots like Simon the Sorcerer, making it feel like it was made in the early to mid-1990s for Amigas and MS-DOS computers. Players can expect a cute explosion of blocky visuals, tinny sound effects, and colorful characters revolving around a free spins feature that converts symbols into wilds.
Secrets of the Sorcerer, like Relax Gaming’s Hellcatraz, is meant to appeal to gamers of a specific vintage. Played on a 5×3 grid with 25 paylines, this game is much simpler than Hellcatraz. The remaining space on the screen is filled up by castle walls, which are less pixelated than the grid of symbols but nevertheless maintain a throwback aesthetic appropriate to the slot’s theme. Free games in Secrets of the Sorcerer may be triggered in the same way that they are in Hellcatraz by collecting certain symbols. However, there are two more entry methods, so this is only a backup plan. When triggered, the scenario advances to the uppermost floor of the tower, where magical concoctions are made.
You may get your vintage fix on any gadget if you’re willing to wager between 25 cents and £/€25 every spin. Return to player for Secrets of the Sorcerer is calculated at 95.96% using a medium volatility mathematical model, with 2.89% going toward the Bonus Chance feature, the scatter collection mechanism. On average, free spins occur every 112 spins, and while waiting, players may take pleasure in a standard win about once every three spins. Users are notified of their successes with a triumphant jingle from the Sound Blaster 16.
There are eight different pay symbols total, and a winning combination consists of three identical symbols on a payline starting from the far left reel. At the bottom of the pay scale are the square J through A card values, and at the top are the more valuable feathers, amulets, dragons, and sorcerers. A successful line of five premium symbols awards a payout of 5x to 20x the wager. When you activate free spins, standard pay symbols may be transformed into golden wild variants, but you won’t find any wilds in the main game.
Slot Machines and Their Magical Bonus Rounds
There are a number of optional extras available to help in the investigation. The main attraction is free spins with wild substitutions, and it is accompanied by the Secrets Revealed and Bonus Chance features.
When precisely 2 scatter symbols appear during the main game, the Bonus Chance feature will gather them. A sphere occupies the top left corner of the reels. It’s initially a solid shade of red, but a green strip appears as you accumulate potions. Players can spin the Bonus Chance whenever they like throughout the main game. Doing so costs 1x the wager, but can result in free spins if the needle lands on green. Regardless of a player’s outcome, the Bonus Chance wheel will reset after each spin. In order to unlock the free spins bonus, you need to gather 100 pairs of Bonus Potion symbols.
The Secrets Uncovered mechanic is also included in the main game and may activate at will. When this happens, the player receives either a large payout or the opportunity to play for free.
Free games may also be triggered by seeing three scattered potion bottles anywhere on reels three, two, and one. Then, three tiles depicting potions emerge, and the player selects one. This affects how many free spins you get (usually between 9 and 11) and which of the standard pay symbols will be transformed into wilds.
These transformed wilds may also show up in free spins with multipliers of x2, x4, or x5 to increase payouts. A win with two x5 multipliers, for example, would result in a total payout of $25,000. In addition, the sorcerer can appear during any free spin and cast a spell that will secure a large win. Second, a new meter appears above the reels to keep track of the potion bottle scatters. If you gather 3, you’ll get 2 more spins added to your remaining total.
Spooky Slots: The Wizard’s Final Say
If you’re a gamer who remembers a time before photorealism, when you could virtually count the pixels needed to depict items, then you’ll probably like Secrets of the Sorcerer. It’s got a cute design, what with its blocky graphics and muted color scheme. As a side note, do you believe the lack of visuals in older video games helped players’ imaginations? The music and sound effects in Secrets of the Sorcerer are excellent, establishing a nostalgic mood perfect for kicking back and laughing.
The details are consistent with the rest of what’s happening in Secrets of the Sorcerer. Uncomplicated and easygoing, but with the ability to sometimes pump one’s fist. By providing a secondary objective in the form of Bonus Chance, the game rewards persistent play over the course of several spins. Free spins appear frequently enough in Secrets Uncovered to keep the action flowing, and the sorcerer periodically sprinkles his 8-bit magic on the reels. Line wins become plentiful with all four wilds active, and with the correct ingredients, Secrets of the Sorcerer may conjure up payouts of up to 6,714 times the wager.
The significance may be lost on you if this was a phenomenon that occurred before your time. Those who do remember the pixelated days may be inspired to play some old favorites for a throwback experience after playing this slot. If the visuals and soundtrack of Secrets of the Sorcerer feel familiar, all you have to do is close one eye and imagine yourself as a wide-eyed player putting floor wax on Sordid to make him stumble, and then nudging him to make him fall into lava all over again.