Dracula Awakening: Slot Overview
Count Dracula came from the inventive mind of Bram Stoker in 1897 and has risen from his coffin countless times ever since. Once again, his undead services have been called upon, this time by developer Red Tiger for their online slot Dracula Awakening. Sensing a trend on the wind, there have been a few of these vampire slots released within in a fairly tight time period. Those interested in the undead side of life, will be pleased to know each studio has used a slightly different way of handling the world's most famous bloodsucker, so let's have a look over Red Tiger's contribution.
Dracula Awakening's action is held on a 5-reel, 4-row panel, using 30 paylines that light up wins when they hit. Play starts outside on the side of a mountain before Dracula's castle, slightly subdued, before moving inside for free spins where the soundtrack goes all Yngwie Malmsteen. For some reason, Gothic literature seems to suit 80s rock music to an absolute tee. Above the reels in Dracula Awakening is a day/night meter. A certain number of spins occur during the day, then when the sun icon on the meter reaches the right-hand side, night-time spins begin. Each mode offers a different set of features and winning possibilities.
Playable on any device, Dracula Awakening allows players to set bets from 10 p/c to $/€20 per spin. The default RTP comes in at 95.72%, which could be higher, but it's not exactly low enough to put off any wannabe Jonathan Harkers. Max win isn't bad either at 5,317 times your stake, while the math model runs on a medium-high volatile setting.
Three to five matching symbols adjacent across a payline from a winning line, and there are 10 regular paying symbols on the table. Five are Gothic style 10-A card royals, the rest look like goblets, potion bottles, a gold pendant, a gold ring, and a lady. The value of these latter five premiums is 2.5 to 10 times your stake. A total of 3 wild symbols appear at different stages of the game to replace any pay symbol. These are 1x1 sized Dracula Wilds, 1x4 Super Dracula Mega Wilds, and converted lady wilds. The last two wilds are covered next.
Dracula Awakening: Slot Features
Red Tiger occasionally rolls out slots that possess different game 'modes'. In Dracula, the two modes make quite a lot of sense, one being daytime which lasts for 16 spins, the other is night mode, which has 8 spins. It's during the darker moments when Dracula Awakening perks up - either in night mode when Super Dracula Mega Wilds appear or Eclipse Spins when sticky wilds also come into play.
Super Dracula
When the game enters Night mode, any Dracula Wilds landing on the middle reel transform into Super Dracula Mega Wilds if they can form a win. Mega Wilds are fully stacked 1x4 in size, covering all positions on the reel. If there are lady symbols present when the Mega Wild appears, they are bitten and transformed into wild lady symbols.
Eclipse Spins
Landing 3 eclipse scatter symbols triggers the bonus round where 7 free spins are awarded. Free spins can only be triggered during the day mode. For the full duration of Eclipse Spins, a Super Dracula Mega Wild sits on the middle reel, covering all positions there. What changes is when Dracula bites lady symbols, they become wild as before, but these new wild symbols are sticky and remain locked in position for the rest of the feature. The bonus round may be extended. When eclipse symbols land on the first or last reel, +1 additional free spin is awarded.
Dracula Awakening: Slot Verdict
As we're closing in on Halloween at the time of writing, there had been a spate of vampire/Count Dracula themed slots, and Dracula Awakening adds something a little unusual to the pile. For one, The Count in this game is actually a little unnerving. For a quick recap, compare him to the grinning vamp in iSoftBet's Brides of Dracula, the hungry Count in Fat Drac, or the cartoonish Reel Spooky Megaways. Thunderkick's Baron Bloodmore or Rabcat's Anna Van Helsing were a titch grimmer, but none so much as Dracula Awakening.
Red Tiger's nosferatu looks like a rich guy who has so much money he's run out of things to spend it on, so decided to transition to a vampire for the lols. However, he might have taken to it with more gusto than originally expected – partly evidenced by the savage way he lunges at lady symbols during the Dracula's Bite feature. It wouldn't be a major surprise to know this guy has seen stuff that would make regular mortals baulk and has no qualms about never seeing sunlight again.
On the gaming side, Red Tiger often experiments with things like the split-phase day and night spins concept. In Dracula Awakening, this system gives the game an individual touch while tying in perfectly to the theme. There are benefits of both modes. Daytime is where free spins can trigger, the night when Super Dracula Mega Wilds may appear, so both phases have something to look forward to. Eclipse Spins do indeed eclipse both day or night phases since sticky wilds become a possibility. This led to the odd decent run during testing when Dracula had transformed a few lady symbols on the first couple of reels leading to the occasional decent results. Nothing major, and nothing close to the game's max win figure of 5,317x the bet.
Amongst the swarm of vampire-themed slots, Dracula Awakening offers a dash of individualism coated in typical Red Tiger gloss. The darker than usual presentation, mixed with the day/night format, full reel wilds, and sticky wilds, can add up to an entertaining option for players into the vampiric subject matter.
Amongst the swarm of vampire-themed slots, Dracula Awakening offers a dash of individualism coated in typical Red Tiger gloss.
