Holy Wilds Slot
Holy Wilds has a good idea at its centre, but perhaps not enough surrounding it to make DEGEN Studios' demonic creation particularly memorable. The game pits a cartoonish priest against the creatures appearing across a gloomy 5x5 grid, with Holy Light blasting through symbols and leaving Wilds behind. It's an entertaining visual representation of the mechanic, even if the broader religious-horror setting feels familiar after numerous slots have already ventured into similar territory.
Demon symbols on reels 2-5 trigger the main feature, causing the priest to fire Holy Light towards them. Everything caught in its path is destroyed and replaced by Wilds, while multiple Demons can produce several blasts on the same spin. Existing Wilds struck by Holy Light reveal multipliers between 2x and 100x, with multiple values crossed by the same blast added together and applied to the newly created Wild positions.
There are three increasingly powerful Free Spins modes. The First Exorcism awards 8 spins with an increased frequency of Demon symbols and can be extended by additional Scatters. Demonic Possession also begins with 8 spins but makes every Wild sticky, allowing Holy Light to gradually build a stronger grid. Demon King starts with 10 spins and some Sticky Wilds already in place, guarantees Demons on every spin and permanently locks any completely Wild row. Those completed rows then receive a random 2x-100x multiplier on each remaining spin.
DEGEN provides several alternative ways into the action as well. Bonus Boost costs 3x, Demon Spins cost 50x and guarantee three Demons, while The First Exorcism and Demonic Possession can be purchased for 50x and 200x respectively. There's also a 300x Mystery Buy, although paying that much still doesn't guarantee entry into Demon King.
The Holy Light system gives the base game more activity than simply waiting around for Scatters, and the 96.51% RTP is certainly a positive. However, much of the experience still depends on Demons appearing in useful positions, and the feature progression largely amounts to taking the same Wild-producing mechanic and making it increasingly persistent. The higher bonuses are clearly more interesting, but regular spins can feel fairly uneventful when the necessary symbols aren't cooperating.
Holy Wilds is therefore a decent rather than outstanding release from DEGEN Studios. Blasting paths of Wilds across the reels is visually satisfying, and adding multipliers when Holy Light crosses existing Wilds gives the mechanic some additional depth. Demon King shows the concept at its best once entire rows can become permanently Wild, but getting there doesn't change the fact that much of the game is built around variations of one central trick. There's enough here for some entertainment, particularly for fans of Wild-heavy slots, but not quite enough variety or originality to make Holy Wilds particularly memorable.
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