Mental 2

Mental 2: Slot Overview

And now for something completely dreary - or not, if you're the sort of gambler who was thrilled by the online slot Mental, Nolimit City's 2021 descent into madness. Before then, Nolimit City had dabbled on the darker side of life in slots like San Quentin xWays or El Paso Gunfight, but in Mental, the gloves really came off. Not only did the theme send chills down the spine, but the gameplay was such that it required time to comprehend what had actually happened on the reels after the fact, on account of all the slicing, dicing and transforming. The studio has been a sequel binge for a while now, and it has plumbed the depths of human decency once again, releasing the demented follow-up, Mental 2.

The original release portrayed an institutional setting that really did not look like a nice place to be. Mental 2 scores no higher on the pleasantness meter. Like before, loading the game is like stepping into some wretched sepia-stained hell hole of an asylum where people with mental difficulties are tossed in to forget about rather than help or cure. In this unhinged setting, players bump into a 'murderous, deranged daughter who butchered her parents' and where 'someone very special is waiting for her.' Not a comedy, then.

Mental 2 has held onto the non-flush gaming grid, which lands symbols in a 3-2-3-2-3 pattern. In this reel arrangement, there are 108 ways to win, but features such as splitting can significantly increase this number. It should be no shocker to learn that the math model volatility at 12 is considered 'Insane', though the maximum RTP of 96.06% resides in the realms of normality. A bevvy of feature buys and boosters are on hand, while the base bet range is your standard 20 c to $/€100.

Mental 2 makes use of 10 pay symbols divided into 5 low-pay Skeletal symbols and 5 higher-paying Patient symbols. None are particularly joyous images. Hitting a line of 5 Skeletal symbols wards 0.5 to 0.75 times the bet, while a line of 5 Patient premiums is worth 1 to 2.5 times the bet. When wilds are on the reels, they substitute any of the 10 regular paying symbols.

Mental 2: Slot Features

Mental 2 packs a lot of tools in the feature cabinet, from Fire Frames & Fire Reels to Dead Patients, Enhancer Cell modifiers, xHole, xMental, Mental Transform, 3 bonus rounds, boosters, buys, and God Mode.

Fire Frames & Fire Reels

At random, 1 to 13 positions on the grid in the main game may become Fire Frames. Any symbols landing in a Fire Frame are split into 2 parts. Also, at random, 1 to 5 reels may turn into a Fire Reel, and any symbol landing on a Fire Reel splits into 3 parts.

Dead Patients

This feature activates when there are 2 or more Dead Patient symbols. It reveals one of the Patient symbols with a multiplier of x5 to x9,999. The multiplier value represents the symbol count on that reel.

Enhancer Cells

Enhancer Cells are located at the bottom of reels 2, 3, and 4. The more Fire Frames that appear, the more Enhancer Cells activate - 4 Fire Frames activate the reel 2 Enhancer Cell, 6 Fire Frames activate Reel 2 and Reel 4 Enhancer Cells, while 8 Fire Frames activate all 3 Enhancer Cells. A Fire Reel counts as 2 or 3 Fire Frames, depending on the size of the reel it is on. Each Enhancer Cell may reveal:

• A regular wild symbol.
• xSplit symbol - splits 1 symbol on each reel into 2 and splits itself into 2 wilds.
• xNudge wild - always nudges to become fully visible on the reel, increasing the win multiplier by +1 for each step. Several wild multipliers add to each other for a total wild multiplier, and when an xNudge is split by an xSplit, the multiplier on the Nudge Wild increases by +1.
• xWays symbol - reveals 3 paying symbols of the same type, expanding the reel height. If there is more than one xWays symbol, they all reveal the same symbol.

xHole

Activates when an xHole symbol lands in a Fire Frame or a Fire Reel on the second position of the third reel. Regular pay symbols and wilds are pulled from the main reels and then placed in random positions while their current sizes are multiplied by x2, x4, or x8. xNudge Wild only has its win multiplier modified. The xHole converts to a wild. Winning symbols before the xHole go back to the same positions.

xMental

Activated when an xMental symbol lands in a Fire Frame or Fire Reel. It triggers an extra spin where all reel positions get Fire Frames. Enhancers reveal xWays, xNudge, wild, or xSplit, and there is a possibility of triggering xHole. If an active xMental symbol lands during a bonus trigger, the xMental feature does not trigger.

Mental Transform

Landing a Disembodied scatter symbol on reel 2 or reel 4 triggers the Mental Transform feature. This feature transforms the Disembodied scatter into an xWays, xSplit, Dead Patient, wild, or Patient symbol.

Scatters

Cognitive scatters appear on the leftmost, middle and rightmost reels, while Disembodied scatters appear on reels 2 and 4. Landing 3 Cognitive scatters triggers 8 Bloodletting Spins, landing 3 Cognitive scatters and 1 Disembodied scatter triggers 8 Surgery Spins, or landing 3 Cognitive scatters and 2 Disembodied scatter triggers 10 Experimental Spins. Each scatter landing on a Fire Frame awards +1 spin, or in a Fire Reel +2 spins.

Bloodletting Spins

Fire Frames and Fire Reels are sticky throughout this bonus round. Landing 1 Disembodied scatter upgrades the remaining spins to Surgery Spins and awards +1 spin. Landing 2 Disembodied scatters upgrades the remaining spins to Experimental Spins and awards +2 spins.

Surgery Spins

On top of Bloodletting mechanics, Disembodied symbols are sticky and trigger Mental Transform on each spin. There is also the Dead Multiplier. The highest Multiplier from each Dead Patient symbol is collected with its Count. Count signifies the number of particular Patient symbols revealed. Once collected, the Dead Multiplier is transferred to the respective Patient symbol based on the Count when a new Patient symbol lands on the reels. Each time a Dead Multiplier is transferred to a Patient symbol, the Count decreases by +1. The Dead Multiplier does not transfer to symbols revealed from Dead Patient symbols. Landing a new Disembodied scatter upgrades the remaining spins to Experimental Spins and awards +1 spin.

Experimental Spins

In addition to Surgery Spins' mechanics, both Disembodied symbols are sticky and trigger Mental Transform on each spin. The Dead Multiplier count of Patient symbols does not decrease after transferring but can keep building.

Nolimit Booster

Costing 1.4x the bet, the xBet guarantees a Cognitive scatter on the leftmost reel, or at 6x the bet, the Fire Frames booster guarantees Fire Frames on all positions. 99 times the bet guarantees to activate the xHole, while 3,200x guarantees to activate xMental.

God Mode

At a not inconsiderable amount of 6,666x the bet, players can Chase the Max Win and attempt to land an xGOD symbol on each reel to win the max win. Incidentally, the max win can be achieved in the base game by landing an xGOD symbol on each reel.

Nolimit Bonus

Lastly, players may buy 8-14 Bloodletting Spins for 100x, 9-17 Surgery Spins for 250x, 10-20 Experimental Spins for 1,800x, or lucky draw for 330x.

Mental 2: Slot Verdict

Mental health is no joke, and neither is Mental 2. Not many online slots display a viewer discretion warning, letting them know there is 'violence, blood, and unsettling visuals' coming up. However, probably because this is a sequel, it didn't feel as shocking as the original game, but Mental 2 is still about as far away from leprechauns and fruit as an online slot gets. Heavy duty visuals get a heavy duty soundtrack, too, so as far as sensory assault goes, Mental 2 punches hard. It makes you wonder - do slot makers design bright and cheerful games to cushion the blow of losing money? If so, then does losing a bundle in a virtual asylum alongside a homicidal daughter exacerbate the blow?

There are plenty of ways to test that hypothesis in Mental 2, rammed as it is with various boosters and bonus buys. Optional gambling approaches have drastically changed since the original slot came out, especially things like God Mode, which can burn cash in a moment. Or, award the max win to lucky players. Many of the mechanics will be familiar to returning players. The grid set-up remains the same; Fire Frames have been boosted with Fire Reels and Dead Patient symbols, Mental Transform, as well as Enhancer Cells are back. On top of this, NLC has added its xHole feature and xMental, meaning a lot of x-features and a lot of potential mayhem when the mechanics are slicing the grid up before setting everything on fire.

Mental 2 takes everything that made the original a cult hit and dials it up even further. The chaos is sharper, the mechanics are more brutal, and the win potential is off the charts. With Nolimit City's signature intensity and a max win of 99,999x, it delivers exactly what players crave in a sequel - pure, unfiltered madness. Given that the original Mental remains one of Nolimit City's top-performing slots, there's no doubt that Mental 2 will carve out its own legacy in a spectacularly twisted fashion.