Dorks of the Deep

Dorks of the Deep: Slot Overview

The vast blue oceans are some of the least explored parts of planet Earth. Home to a myriad of life forms, one of the last things an intrepid explorer would expect to find beneath the waves is a 'dork', surely? Ah well, we're about to review an online slot, not watch a documentary, so creative license means the game's maker, Hacksaw Gaming, is free to let its mind wander where reality might not. The result is Dorks of the Deep, and as well as dorks, lucky deep sea divers in these parts may be rewarded with a finely tuned full reel wild with multiplier feature.

The deeper one dives in the sea, the darker it gets as the water molecules and other particles absorb and scatter light. Dive deep enough, actually not that deep, around 200m or so, and the ocean is essentially pitch black. In other words, gamblers don't head too far down to play Dorks of the Deep, which is, by contrast, a brightly colourful place to take a dip. It's kind of dorky, maybe not Dork Unit (2022) level, but a quirky cast of characters such as the Octopus, Mermaid and the Ocean King greet visitors to their watery, columned domain. The first impressions were bubbly, as if Dorks of the Deep was designed by the sector of Hacksaw HQ that deals in charming wootsy-looking slots.

Framed in a smart white trim, Dorks of the Deep's 5x4 matrix comes equipped with 14 paylines calculating winning combinations of 3 or more of a kind. It is a medium volatile slot made with four RTP configurations, so if you want the highest return value, look out for the 96.2% variant. You can't buy the top tier bonus round, but four other bonus buy modes are available, as are stakes of 10 c to $/€100.

Bubble-wrapped 10-A card ranks are Dorks of the Deep's low pay symbols, awarding 0.8 to 1.5 times the stake for a 5-of-a-kind hit. Next come 3 fish symbols, the Mermaid and the Ocean King, as the high pays, awarding 2 to 10 times the stake for 5-of-a-kind. Wilds hit anywhere to substitute for any paying symbols or award 10x the bet for a line of 5 wilds.

Dorks of the Deep: Slot Features

Floating about the deep are Expanding Wild Reels (with multipliers), a Deep Blue bonus, the Down Under bonus, a Hidden Treasure bonus, and feature buys.

Expanding Wild Reels

When a Treasure Chest symbol hits, it expands into a wild reel if it is part of a win once expanded. Each position on the reel counts as wild. Expanded Wild Reels are fully stacked and display the Octopus, Mermaid, or Ocean King character. Each character comes with a different set of multiplier values. The Octopus has multipliers of x2 to x9, the Mermaid x10 to x20, and the Ocean King x25 to x200. The multiplier is applied to all winning combinations passing through the full reel wild, which substitutes for all paying symbols.

Deep Blue Bonus Game

Landing 3 FS scatters in the base game awards 10 free Deep Blue bonus game spins. During free spins, the Treasure Chest symbol always expands to become a Wild Reel, whether part of a win or not. Expanded Wilds reveal 0-3 lives and are sticky into the next spin as long as they have lives left. One life is removed from each sticky Wild Reel at the start of each free spin. Also, at the start of each free spin, sticky Wild Reels receive a new random multiplier from any of the 3 characters.

If there is at least one Wild Reel with one or more lives remaining on the final free spin, the Last Chance feature activates, awarding free respins to keep the bonus going until no Wild Reels have lives left. New Treasure Chests may land during the Last Chance, turning into expanded Wild Reels with or without lives. The round ends when there are no more spins and no Wild Reels have lives remaining. Hitting 2 or 3 FS scatters during the round awards a further +2 or +4 spins, respectively.

Down Under Bonus Game

Landing 4 FS scatters in the base game triggers 10 free spins in the Down Under bonus game. This feature has the same rules as the Deep Blue bonus; plus, sticky expanded Wild Reels never receive a multiplier from a lower character tier than the initially revealed tier.

Hidden Treasure Bonus Game

Hitting 5 scatters in the base game triggers this feature where players get 10 free spins. This bonus has the same rules as the Down Under bonus, with the addition of 2 expanded Wild Reels active on the grid at all times till the feature ends.

Feature Buys

Activating BonusHunt FeatureSpins makes each spin 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game for 3x the bet, or at 60x the bet, Bubbly FeatureSpins guarantee 2 Treasure Chests land on each spin, though FS scatters cannot in this mode. The Deep Blue bonus costs 100x to buy, while the Down Under bonus carries a 200x price tag.

Dorks of the Deep: Slot Verdict

Dorks of the Deep may look all innocent on the outside as if players are dipping their toes into warm water devoid of creepy creatures. But, spend a bit longer paddling around, and it soon becomes apparent that the game means about as much business as any other Hacksaw Gaming slot. It is fun spinning alongside a trio of cheerful chums, though how dorky they are is up for discussion. However, if you desire a slot's presentation to provide a pick me up or to turn a frown upside down, then the bright, watery realm on display here might be just the ticket.

Maybe don't be counting on Dorks of the Deep's gameplay to be as uplifting if the symbols aren't falling your way, though. Just saying. On the flip side, the expanding wild multipliers on show here are a heavy-duty component. They might not be as complex as some of the features Hacksaw Gaming produces, but for transforming a grid, they're hard to beat - expand, substitute, and multiply. Done. Complexity has been added by the way the various characters adorning the wild have differing multiplier tiers, and the sticky lives system is an added bonus. Speaking of bonuses, you may have noticed the Hidden Treasure round cannot be bought, and since players get 2 expanded Wild Reels at all times during it, then that is the place to be and provides motivation for chasing an elusive fifth base game scatter.

A 10,000x max win that can be hit in all game modes provides further motivation to keep on paddling in a game which may seem friendly after a quick peek, but rest assured, Hacksaw Gaming has injected the sort of features and gameplay that can alternate between rough, choppy, and relatively smooth sailing.