By NetEnt
RTP 96.06%
Min bet $0.20
Max bet $400
Max Win bet x 2500
Popularity Low
Min bet $0.20
Max bet $400
Max Win bet x 2500
Gamble Feature Volatility, Mobile version, Freespins, Multiplier, Sticky wilds
Layout 5x3
Devices Support all devices
Configurable Winlines No
Volatility Medium
Progressive Jackpot No
Dark King: Forbidden Riches takes a look at the evil villain that holds the treasures that the regular heroes are always looking for. Featuring special graphics as well as free spins and sticky wilds, the game gives players the opportunity to see if they can get their hands on it.
Developed by veteran NetEnt, Dark King: Forbidden Riches was released in 2020 to show off their prowess. Many of the graphics are 3D and the 5-reel, 3-row playing field is populated with a number of original symbols. The game has a total of 20 paylines. If you enjoy a darker game with more of a mature theme, this slot definitely leans into that.
The graphics look good but are rather dark and moody, with a lot of the details seemingly lost by using 3D computer graphics. I found that slots that use drawings nowadays look better than these types of graphics. Also, even though it looks good now, I anticipate the graphics to become outdated in a few years.
When it comes to the animations, Dark King: Forbidden Riches has a number of them but they aren’t very special. A lot of the symbols simply light up a little when they’re part of a win, and even the free spins mode doesn’t make use of any extra animations.
Listening to the music, the game keeps the dark and moody setting intact by not really playing any music but instead creating more of a soundscape with low sounds and the occasional animal sound. The reels make different sounds like rattling chains that I felt fit the setting as well. Overall though, I wasn’t very impressed by what they had included.
The symbols in Dark King: Forbidden Riches are very detailed but the textures used make them drop away somewhat. The size of the symbols also isn’t big, making it even harder to make out the details. I thought that the colour-scheme was also a little more confusing than it had to be, making some of the symbols blend together and making it harder to see wins naturally.
You’ll find the following symbols in the game:
The game is listed as having Medium Volatility which is common for NetEnt slots. In my experience, this didn’t really pan out as my funds dropped quickly and kept dropping steadily the entire time I played. There are some features that are supposed to bring the funds back up but I felt they were rather tricky to get activated.
Players can pick a bet between $0.20 and $400 per spin, where I would strongly recommend people to start with a small bet before increasing it. The max. win of 2,500x your bet is a good size but I never felt like I got anywhere close to winning it. Only players that enjoy high risk, high reward will likely get some enjoyment out of this.
Dark King: Forbidden Riches has only a few features, most of which will be familiar to players that have played slots for any period of time. NetEnt usually takes a popular feature and then augment it slightly which is what they did here too.
The base game is the most important part of the slot as the Free Spins mode only triggered a handful of times for me. During this part, the Wilds appear frequently and offer a slight change, increasing the multiplier for that spin by 1 for every extra Wild that is on the screen. The maximum multiplier that can be activated on a single spin is 5x.
When the Free Spins mode starts the Wilds become sticky for the entire mode, staying in place and increasing the associated Wild. I appreciated that the free spins mode didn’t suddenly disregard the multiplier feature. Even though this is supposed to make big wins almost guaranteed, it didn’t often work out that way as I would have plenty of spins without a single Wild.
In general, the features are fine but not particularly helpful in getting any big wins. Most of the time, any wins you get are simply from getting the right symbols on a win line. The low payout makes that pretty unrewarding. When the features do what they’re supposed to do, I did get some bigger wins.
Bonus type: No Deposit, Low Wagering, Free Play, Sign Up, Free Money, Welcome Bonus, Registration
Min Deposit: No Deposit
Bonus type: Coupon, Code, Welcome Bonus, Registration, Sign Up, Deposit Bonus, First Deposit Bonus
Min Deposit: $10
Wagering: 60x
Dark King: Forbidden Riches feels like an example of the new NetEnt. The slots aren’t quite as original anymore, the graphics aren’t quite as good and the enjoyment of playing them also feels faded. I don’t know if that is because of the growing competition or if something changed in the studio, but I felt like the experience was rather bland.
The features look good on paper but as I played they felt underrepresented and almost never played out their full opinion. The Wilds for example never granted more than a 3x multiplier during the base game, and even then there was no guarantee any win would be multiplied. In the free spins mode, this was more likely but that mode was very difficult to activate.
In the end, I don’t know if I can really recommend this slot. NetEnt has traditionally created slots I enjoyed but this game felt bland and uninspired. Players who enjoy a slot with some very high volatility might get something out of this, but people that enjoy pretty or casual games will probably not like this game.
