Totally Headless

Totally Headless: Slot Overview

Back in ye olde times, criminals convicted of heinous crimes could expect a swift death as punishment, and few were swifter than the guillotine. It is best known in association with the French Revolution of the late 18th century, where an estimated 15-17,000 heads were parted from their bodies with this instrument of death. Not so bloody, but still touching on the brutal, is the online slot Totally Headless. Designed by Northern Lights Gaming, this is a game that dangles guillotines, each linked to a bonus round level featuring coin wins, respins, and jackpots.

The base game opens up to a scene of battle before a towering fortress ominously bathed in the reds of a hazy sun. Who is battling whom, who is revolutionising, is totally up to the player's imagination. Trigger the respins round, and the background scenery changes depending on what bonus level is currently active, such as castle rooms, for example. The environment is quite dramatic, even if there is a slight AI-type quality to the character symbols (not claiming it is AI, just making an observation), though these days it's getting harder to tell what's been drawn by the hand of people and what's been rendered by machines.

Sitting precariously beneath five dangling guillotines is Totally Headless' play area, made up of a 5x3 reelset with 243 ways to win. Bet limits have been set at $/€0.20 on the low side and $/€40 at max, while two feature buys are also provided to skip the base game. With an RTP of 96.07% at best, Totally Headless is a highly volatile slot.

The pay symbols landing on all five reels are 10-A card royal low pays, and five character symbol high pays. Hitting 5 matching symbols in a combination awards 0.5x to 5x the stake. Wilds land in the base game to substitute all regular symbols.

Totally Headless: Slot Features

The base game is like a training ground for the bonus round since nothing much extra happens during it. When a scatter lands on any reel, there is a chance the bonus triggers. The scatter changes to a random guillotine colour, which then strikes the matching guillotine above the reels. If the struck guillotine falls loose, it triggers the revolution bonus, which starts on 1 of 5 levels.

• Bronze Guillotine starts the bronze level bonus, where bronze coins land and all jackpots are locked.
• Silver Guillotine starts the silver level bonus where silver coins land and the silver jackpot is unlocked.
• Gold Guillotine starts the gold level bonus, where gold coins land and the silver and gold jackpots are unlocked.
• Platinum Guillotine starts the platinum level bonus, where platinum coins land and the silver, gold, and platinum jackpots are unlocked.
• Diamond Guillotine starts the diamond level bonus, where diamond coins land and all jackpots are unlocked.

The revolution bonus begins with 3 respins, which only land coins, blanks, and special symbols. Respins reset when a coin or special symbol lands. Coins are held on the reels. At the end of the feature, coin values are awarded. Bronze coins are worth up to 1x, silver coins 1x-5x, gold coins 5x-15x, platinum coins 15x-30x, and diamond coins pay 30x-50x the stake. Other special symbols which may land are:

• Coin Multiplier - Adds a multiplier of x2-x5 to 1 to 3 coins. The coin multiplier is applied only once to any coin.
• Upgrade - Collecting 3 upgrade symbols upgrades the bonus to the next revolution level.
• Extra Life - Increases the number of respins to 4.
• Mystery Symbol - Reveals a coin, extra life, or level upgrade symbol.

Jackpots

Collecting jackpot gems of the appropriate colour during the bonus round fills the silver, gold, and platinum jackpot banners. Landing coins fills the diamond jackpot banner. When a banner is completely full, the prize is awarded, if it is unlocked. Only one unlocked jackpot can be awarded. The jackpot values are 10x, 50x, 500x, or 5,000x for the silver, gold, platinum, and diamond, respectively.

Feature Buy

Players have two feature buys they can choose from. The revolution bonus costs 100x and starts the bonus round at a random level. The super revolution bonus costs 200x and is the same as the revolution bonus, but with more coins and upgrades.

Totally Headless: Slot Verdict

If you really want to nitpick, Totally Headless is a bit of an odd game. The talk of revolution and guillotines suggests the French Revolution, but the game looks more medieval than blood flowing through the streets of 18th-century Paris. This led to a sense of disconnection amongst some of Totally Headless' parts. Not to an off-putting degree per se, as its scenes of battle and castle invasion create a scene of their own, just something felt a little off. Anyway, enough of the historical ramblings and on with the execution.

Not a lot of revolutioning takes place in the base game, since it is basically a feature-free zone. When a scatter lands, however, and causes a guillotine to drop loose, the bonus round may begin. They were an okay, pretty straightforward task of landing coins in order to collect their combined values at the end. Special symbols add some variety, upgrading, multiplying, mysterying, or adding an extra life. For players with their sights set on Totally Headless' 5,679x the bet max win, then there is a two-fold quest to embark upon, which is unlocking the top jackpot, then collecting enough coins to actually win it.

Coin-based hold 'n' win slots with jackpots are plentiful, and Totally Headless doesn't reinvent the format. The revolutionary guillotine theme is at least visually different, and the level-up system that unlocks jackpots adds a small layer of progression. Beyond that, it's a fairly standard entry in a very crowded genre. It's not an extraordinary slot, but players who enjoy hold 'n' win mechanics and want something that looks a bit different might possibly still find it somewhat serviceable.