Static Nightmare Abyssways

Static Nightmare Abyssways: Slot Overview

Static Nightmare Abyssways is the third online slot from developer Play'n GO to use the studio's trademarked Abyssways gaming mechanic. It debuted in the historical Scourge of Rome that saw the Carthaginian Hannibal stick it to the Romans, before taking flight in the mythical slot 13th Trial Hercules Abyssways. Thematically, Static Nightmare Abyssways does a complete 180, depicting the dangers of modern technology, well, 80s/90s modern, while tinkering with the Abyssways feature to provide an alternative way to potentially tease and reward during the free spins bonus round.

An urban setting bathed in eerie green light, creepy music, a front lawn covered in flashing monitors before a boarded-up old house, yeah, something's gone wrong here. Clues to what's gone wrong are sprinkled in the pre-game animation, where a couple of youths put a disk into a computer, yep, you used to have to do that, unleashing a tentacled monster. Presumably, it's the two youths' responsibility to put the tentacled genie back in the digital bottle, which could be challenging, seeing as they're armed with a baseball bat and a torch. But Play'n GO has designed an alluring horror-ish environment with retro overtones in which to find out.

Static Nightmare Abyssways is played on a dynamic gaming grid that fluctuates between 6x3 and 6x6, where ways to win vary from 729 to 46,656. Players may choose their preferred stake from 10c to $/€100 per spin, while a medium volatile math model runs the show. Several RTP configurations have been designed, the most preferable being the 96.2% one.

The pay symbols are made up of neon light 10-A card ranks, portable cassette players, computers, and two character symbols. Winning combinations 6 in length award 1x to 1.4x the bet when made of royals, or 4x to 6x for the high pays.

Static Nightmare Abyssways: Slot Features

Play'n GO has played around with the features in Static Nightmare Abyssways, and has included wilds that potentially expand, reel expansions, and free spins where the Abyssways feature comes into the scene. Instead of sticky high pay symbols, free spins have sticky wilds instead.

Wild & Reel Expansion

Wilds substitute all symbols except the scatter, and pay 20x for a 6 OAK wild win. When a scatter lands, all wilds on the reels expand by +1. If no scatters land on a spin, each wild in view has an independent chance of expanding by 1 to 3 positions. The maximum wild height is 4, and a wild can't expand further if a scatter is directly above it or if it has reached the maximum reel height. Whenever a scatter lands, the reels expand, adding up to 6 new positions to the top of random reels. The maximum matrix size of 6x6.

Free Spins

Hitting 3 scatters triggers 8 free spins. During free spins, the reel expansion effect adds new symbol positions below the reels instead of above. All symbol positions added by the reel expansion are highlighted for falling. On the first spin, 1 to 3 wilds are added to the grid in random positions, and more may appear during the round. If a wild expands, it expands downwards instead of upwards. At the end of a spin, before highlighted symbols fall, all wilds revert back to one tall if they'd expanded and attempt to move horizontally. If a wild cannot move horizontally, it attempts to move one step upwards instead. Wilds avoid highlighted positions where possible. Landing 3 scatters on a free spin awards a further +8 free spins up to a total maximum of 40.

Abyssways

At the start of each free spin, a random number of symbols on the bottom of the reel are highlighted for falling. At the end of the spin, all highlighted symbols fall from the reel, reducing its size. Between each spin, a new full row is added to the top of the reels.

Static Nightmare Abyssways: Slot Verdict

Hmm, technology as a gateway for a malevolent entity to run amok and cause havoc. Is this Play'n GO's veiled warning on the dangers of AI or other gadgetry we run the risk of losing control over? Rather frighteningly, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the organisation behind ChatGPT, is quoted as saying, 'AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there'll be great companies.' Well, at least there will be great companies in the meantime, huh, before our digital friends become fed up serving humanity chatbots, simulated companionship, and deep fakes and decide they'd be better off without their low-IQ organic companions' constant nagging and get rid of us. How? Who knows, yet how long will it be before they're exponentially smarter than we could ever dream of becoming?

So, Static Nightmare Abyssways, it's got a cool Stranger Things, Day of the Tentacle thing going on, and plays on Play'n GO's interest in the esoteric (Tome of Madness, Tome of Insanity, for example). For the most part, the studio has dressed its Abyssways slots up well, from the history lesson to the mythological lesson to the lesson on the dangers of technology. The gameplay is arguably harder to get on board with. The base game has potential, with the expanding reels and wilds, but hitting something decent wasn't easy, given the tools. Free spins are different this time. Instead of sticky pay from any position, high pays, we've got sticky expanding wilds. Sort of sticky, since they move around and can drop off the bottom of the grid with the rest of the highlighted positions. Changes have shifted the dynamic, but the bonus round remains the same roller coaster of thrill and despair as the grid chops and changes, as if it's got a life of its own…

Another obvious change is reduced (compared to the two previous slots) winning potential of 30,000x. Given the max exposure probabilities often found in Play'n GO slots, this might not be an issue, but it might sway some Abyssways fans when choosing which one to play. If this mechanic got your blood flowing in the past, Static Nightmare Abyssways is a must-see; however, for others, despite the alterations, the system is possibly about as attractive or off-putting as the previous two.