Mortal Oath

Mortal Oath: Slot Overview

Another software provider has joined the growing legions of Hacksaw Gaming studios and has released its debut offering into the world. The studio is Foxhound Games, and it has leapt off the starter blocks with Mortal Oath, a release that is refreshingly unbound by convention. Instead of meekly dipping its toe in the slot scene with something safe, yet dull, Foxhound Games has instead embarked on a more unique journey, though one possessing gameplay that may have been influenced by Hacksaw Gaming.

Mortal Oath might come under the wider umbrella of Asian theme, but this is no happy-go-lucky smiling Cai Shen and sycees kind of slot. It is set during the Sengoku era, or the Warring States period, which was a time of civil war, political intrigue, and social upheaval in Japan from around 1467 to 1600. In the game world, it is also a time of demons, hells, and divine retribution, in 'a land ruled by fear and flame', where a demon hunter is out to cleanse the mortal realm. This translates to a windy, desolate scene for Mortal Oath to do its thing in, where reality and fantasy collide.

Played on a 5x3 gaming grid, Mortal Oath supplies 9 paylines in the base game for landing winning combinations. Beneath the skin lies a highly volatile math model, and of the two RTP variants, 96.32% is the higher value. Clicking the up and down arrows allows players to choose a stake of $/€0.10 to $/€100 per round.

Nine regular paying symbols may land. They consist of three coins, scrolls, blades, headgear, and three demon symbols. Hitting a line of 5 OAK pays 1x to 10x the stake. When the wild is in view, it replaces all regular paying symbols and 5 wilds in a winning line award 20x the bet.

Mortal Oath: Slot Features

The features are base game only Corrupted Hunter symbols, a hold 'n' win style bonus round with special symbols, and feature buys.

Corrupted Hunter

Corrupted Hunter symbols are wild and only appear in the base game. They expand to cover the whole reel if the expanded symbol would be part of a win. When it expands, it displays a random multiplier and 3 empty stacks. Each time it is part of a winning line, one stack is filled. When part of multiple winning lines, multiple stacks can fill at once. When all stacks are filled, a respin is triggered. During the respin, the Corrupted Hunter is sticky. New Corrupted Hunters cannot land on a respin. Possible multiplier values range from x2 to x100.

Demon Symbols

Demon symbols do not have multipliers in the base game, where they act as the high pay symbols. During the bonus round, their multipliers become active. Bonus Demon symbols are sticky during free spins, where the Bonus Yellow, Blue, and Green Demon have values of x1-x3, x4-x6,and x7-x9, respectively.

Night of the Hunt

Landing 3 scatters in the base game triggers the bonus round. During it, only bonus feature symbols or blanks may land. The round's total multiplier starts at 0. Landing Bonus Demon symbols progressively increase the multiplier. When the round ends, the multiplier is awarded. The feature has 3 lives that reset when a feature symbol lands. One life equals one spin. When lives end, so does the bonus. If the grid is filled with Bonus Demon symbols, a 500x payout is added to the total multiplier.

• Collector - Collects all Bonus Demon multipliers on the grid and adds them to itself, but does not remove the values from the original Bonus Demons. It then acts as a Bonus Demon symbol and is sticky. If it lands by itself and there are no Bonus Demon symbols, it gets an x1 value. If it lands together with a Gun Ability on the same spin, the Gun will not target it.
• Gun Ability - Targets one Bonus Demon and shoots up to 3 times. Each shot doubles the multiplier value of the Bonus Demon symbol. It does nothing if it lands with no Bonus Demons on the grid.
• Gates of Hell - Lands with an x5 value and stays on the grid. Each time a bonus feature symbol lands, the multiplier doubles. Once a life is consumed, the Gates of Hell multiplier is added to the Total Multiplier and the symbol is removed from the grid. Only one can be active at a time.
• Guardian Statue - Lands with 4 empty stacks, one fills immediately. One stack is filled each time a symbol lands. If a life is lost before all 4 stacks are filled, the Guardian Statue is removed on the next spin. When all 4 stacks are filled, the Guardian Statue stays sticky and can trigger Divine Retribution.

Divine Retribution triggers when all 3 lives are gone, and an activated Guardian Statue is on the grid. It doubles all Bonus Demon multipliers, adds them to the Total Multiplier bar, clears the grid of sticky symbols, and refills lives back to 3. Can only trigger once per bonus round.

Feature Buys

BonusHunt FeatureSpins cost 3x and make each spin 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game, while Corrupted Hunter FeatureSpins cost 50x to guarantee at least 1 Corrupted Hunter symbol lands, though scatters will not land. Night of the Hunt costs 100x to buy.

Mortal Oath: Slot Verdict

Mortal Oath is a creative debut from Foxhound Games, laying the foundation for a newcomer willing to go beyond conventions rather than play it safe. By avoiding the vibrant, lucky charms of traditional Asian slots for a bleak, demon-haunted world, the studio has begun the process of carving out its own distinct identity. Set during a supernatural version of a historical era, the theme is quite immersive, with the hunter and demon elements giving Mortal Oath character.

On a less fun note, the base game could be tiring, and the symbol values seem weak for a slot with just 9 paylines. Corrupted Hunter symbols and the up to x100 multiplier values are indispensable for making anything decent come out of that phase, and you can see the influence Hacksaw Gaming might have had there, since expanding wild multipliers are one of the studio's favoured features. A possible Hacksaw Gaming touch to the bonus round is more debatable, which sounded vaguely Chaos Crew-ish when reading the rules, though it is appreciably different in practice. What let Mortal Oath down a bit was a lack of major drama at certain points. Solid results occurred in the bonus game, but they were somewhat anticlimactic even when producing a sizable win. Maybe more emphasis on special symbols like the Gates of Hell, which can rocket in value, and more of a celebration of big wins could have made the bonus more emotionally impactful.

Still, there is plenty here to like, and on the whole, Mortal Oath was an enjoyable slot, with a sturdy 10,000x max win. For a studio's first release, Mortal Oath shows promise and is the sort of debut that grabs attention. While it could have dished out higher highs to ride, interest has been piqued as to where Foxhound Games is heading next.