Cathedral 9

Cathedral 9 Review

ELK Studios is known for their many popular slot series, but they also release plenty of stand-alone oddballs. Cathedral 9 falls into the latter category, and it’s a game with strong spiritual overtones. Set in an ancient church from medieval times, the mist rising from the cold stone floor, together with the chanting soundtrack, creates a somber atmosphere of gloom and mystery. You don’t know whether to spin the reels or kneel down to receive communion wafers, but one thing is certain: Cathedral 9 can deliver salvation in the form of substantial payouts.

You can choose bet levels ranging from €0.20 to €100 per spin, which should satisfy most types of players. Cathedral 9 plays out on a 6x5 grid with a Pay Anywhere win system, and you win by landing 8 to 25+ matching symbols anywhere in view. The symbols pay 2x to 50x your stake for 25+ on the grid, and 0.1x to 2x your stake for 8 in view. Wild symbols, which can drop down from the Feature reel, substitute for pay symbols to help complete or improve wins.

Cathedral 9 Slot - Reels Screen

Winning symbols are removed and replaced thanks to the Avalanche mechanic, allowing for indefinite winning streaks in all game stages. The 2x6 Feature reel, situated above the regular reels, also delivers explosive symbols and collector symbols in addition to wilds, and big symbols can fill up to 4x4 positions. Entombed symbols that fill the entire Feature reel deliver full-screen wins, while holy blocker symbols are collected in the Holy Collector to eventually deliver up to 6 Mystery symbol coffins.

These Mystery coffins nudge down per spin, and the super version adds a multiplier of up to x1,000 to the global win multiplier per nudge. The multiplier keeps building without resetting in the bonus rounds, and in the super bonus round, you get up to 6 super mystery coffins per spin. This is how you’re most likely to crack the Cathedral 9 max win of 25,000x your stake, and this is a high volatility game (7 out of 10) with an RTP of 94%.

Cathedral 9 Features

We have already run through most of the game’s features, but below, we give you all the details and the complete overview. To better understand how the features work, however, it’s crucial to also test the Cathedral 9 free play demo, located at the top of this review page.

Avalanche Wins

Winning symbols explode to make room for existing and new symbols to drop down and fill the gaps. This Avalanche mechanic repeats indefinitely until you hit a non-winning drop. As we shall see below, this is also how you get feature symbols from the Feature reel down onto the main grid.

Big Symbols

Regular pay symbols may land as big symbols of sizes 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4, counting as 1x1-sized symbols in the area they cover. If a big symbol has empty positions beneath it, those positions are filled with 1x1-sized symbols of the same kind. At the end of an avalanche sequence, big symbols can spawn to replace other big symbols.

Feature Reel

The 2x6 Feature Reel above the regular reels lands special feature symbols or blanks randomly per spin and avalanche drop. The feature symbols can drop down onto the regular reels as winning symbols are removed, activating their respective features.

Collector & Explosion Symbols

Collector symbols activate at the end of spins or avalanche sequences, choosing a random pay symbol to collect all instances of. Pay symbols inside coffins are not collected. The Explosion symbols explode at the end of spins or avalanche sequences, removing all symbols on their own reel and adjacent reels.

Mystery Coffins & Global Win Multiplier

The Mystery Coffins cover the full reel when they reach the bottom of the grid, which is also when they activate to reveal matching pay symbols or wilds. After all wins are calculated, the mystery coffin or coffins are nudged down by one position for another reveal. This process repeats until you hit a non-winning reveal or until the coffin disappears from the reel.

Super Mystery Coffins work the same way, but also add their multiplier value to the Global Win Multiplier. Super mystery coffins land with multiplier values of x2 to x1,000, and the global win multiplier activates as soon as a super mystery coffin hits the bottom of the grid. This global win multiplier remains active, boosting all wins for the duration of the avalanche sequence. Mini coffins spawn mystery coffins in the position above where they land.

Entombed & Super Entombed Feature

The Entombed Feature triggers when the 2x6-sized Entombed symbol lands to cover all positions on the feature reel, at the end of a spin or avalanche sequence. This replaces all symbols on the main grid with a random matching symbol for a full-screen win. The super version of the Entombed Feature triggers from the Super Entombed symbol covering the feature reel, guaranteeing a full-screen win with a random mid to high value symbol.

Holy Collect

The Holy Collect feature triggers randomly in both the base game and the bonus round. The Holy Collect in front of the reels collects energy from Holy Blockers on the reels, increasing the power of the Holy Collect. The Holy Collect builds persistently as you play, adding 3 to 6 mystery coffins to the reels when it is finally triggered.

Cathedral 9 Free Spins

The Bonus Round triggers when you land 3 to 6 bonus scatter symbols in view on the same base game spin, with each scatter randomly awarding 2 to 4 free spins. This means 3 scatters award 6 to 12 free spins, while 6 scatters award 12 to 24 free spins. The global win multiplier does not reset between free spins, building persistently until the end of the bonus round. However, the global multiplier must be activated by mystery coffin symbols hitting the bottom of the grid to boost wins, as it becomes inactive for each new spin.

You win extra free spins the same way when you initially triggered the bonus round, and you can upgrade to the Super Bonus Round by winning with all 9 pay symbols during the regular bonus round. This awards 2, 3, or 4 extra super free spins in addition to your remaining free spins, which are converted to super free spins. In the Super Bonus Round, each free spin comes with 1 to 6 super mystery coffins, and only super mystery coffins appear overall.

Cathedral 9 Slot - Free Spins

Cathedral 9 Bonus Buy (not UK)

The X-iter bonus buy menu is available in certain regions, and it comes with the following options in the Cathedral 9 slot:

• Bonus Hunt - pay 2.5x your stake per spin to increase your bonus round chances by more than 3x.
• Mega Bonus Hunt - pay 10x your stake per spin to increase your bonus round chances by more than 10x.
• Coffin Drop - pay 50x your stake to get a round with 1 to 6 random mystery coffins.
• Bonus Round - pay 100x your stake for at least 3 triggering scatters.
• Super Bonus Round - costs 500x your stake.

Theme & Graphics

The Cathedral 9 slot game takes you into the ruins of a majestic church, with statues of various praying saints surrounding the grid. The spacious, mystical atmosphere is amplified by the symbol drop echoes and the medieval choral chant of the soundtrack, with a blueish mist rising from the stone-covered floor. The reels are filled with strange artifacts like golden owls, thuribles, and chalices, hinting at the sacred rituals that once took place here. In front of the reels sits the holy collector, a basin filled with shimmering gold coins.

Cathedral 9 Free Play

If you feel eager to get started playing this game before even finishing the review, we understand completely. You can head up to the top of this page to test the free Cathedral 9 demo, if you wish, or you can scroll down to see what our verdict of this game is first. Either way, it’s a good idea to test the Cathedral 9 free play mode for a while before playing for real money at one of our recommended casinos. This way, you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into and what returns to expect from the different stages of the game.

Pros and Cons of Cathedral 9

Our Verdict

Slot games are perhaps not the first thing popping into anyone’s head when contemplating religious experiences, but that’s pretty much what ELK Studios has delivered with Cathedral 9. As usual from this provider, the game is oozing high production value on all fronts, from the majestic visuals to the enchanted soundtrack. It might not be a game that appeals to everyone, or at least not on any given Friday night. However, if you’re in the mood for something that feels almost sacred, Cathedral 9 is as close as it gets in the casino world.

Who needs church on Sunday when you can cure your hangover with this relaxing experience, albeit relaxing in a highly action-packed way. The pace of the game is excellent, as usual from ELK, with symbols slamming down in a highly satisfying way. The scatter pay win system serves the game well, but the symbol values aren’t all that impressive. Even longer avalanche sequences, with plenty of feature symbol action, don’t necessarily lead to massive wins. In my experience, it’s best to prepare yourself for this up front to avoid disappointment.

Cathedral 9 boasts tons of features, and in my view, the game would’ve been better served by toning this down a bit. The mystery coffins take the leading role for sure, and I do like that there are multiple ways to get these full-reel nudging symbols going. The holy collect feature can fill all 6 reels with coffins if you’re lucky, but even this doesn’t guarantee anything significant in terms of returns. Even if the super entombed feature fills the grid with the owl symbol, you’re still looking at only 50x your stake, courtesy of the scatter pay win system.

It helps when the global multiplier does not reset between free spins, and you’ll probably need a pretty solid multiplier to close in on the generous 25,000x max win. I like that there is a way to upgrade to the super bonus round organically, and with up to 6 super coffins per spin, the multiplier can rapidly soar to respectable levels. Cathedral 9 showcases both ELK’s innovative drive and some of their go-to features, and while not for every occasion, this is a game I will probably return to whenever I need a proper soul cleansing.