Symbiote

Symbiote Review

Croco Gaming takes you into an urban world of mutated monsters in the Symbiote slot, rendered in stylish black and white with colors that make the rather nasty premium symbols stand out. With skyscrapers towering in the background, one of the mutated beasts stands next to the 5x3 grid, ready to guide you through the gaming session. He’s active whenever a feature triggers, and mutates into a proper superhero monster in the bonus round.

Before we get to all that, however, let’s cover the basics. You start by choosing your preferred bet level between €0.20 and €100 per spin, catering to penny punters, high rollers, and anything in between. The premium symbols consist of brains, eyeballs, hands, and hearts, and you’ll also find the more standard royal symbols on the reels. You win by landing 3 to 5 matching symbols across up to 10 paylines, with wilds substituting to help complete wins.

Symbiote Slot – Gameplay Screen

Special Wild Spawn symbols can land to trigger a walking wild respin feature, and this feature goes on as long as walking wilds are present. The game’s main attraction is the bonus round, triggered by 3+ scatters. A symbol is then chosen by a comic book to become the special expanding symbol for the feature, just like in most Book of slots. This expanding symbol pays even if not on adjacent reels, awarding 10-payline wins each time.

While nothing new or extra has been added to spice up the book mechanic bonus round, you will still benefit from walking wild respins if the Wild Spawn symbol appears during free spins. Symbiote is a highly volatile slot game, which means you should brace yourself for some ups and downs. The good news is that the 97.31% RTP is well above the industry average, and Symbiote also boasts a decent max win of 5,000x your stake.

Symbiote Features

While there aren’t all that many features to cover in Symbiote Croco Gaming, what’s on offer can deliver solid payouts. Let’s check it out!

Bonus Boost (not UK)

Eligible players can take advantage of the Bonus Boost ante bet feature, boosting the bonus round hit rate by 5x. Unfortunately, the default bonus round hit rate is not disclosed, but at least you get the bonus round more frequently with this feature turned on. The price you pay for this benefit is 3x your regular stake per spin.

Wild Spawn Respins

The Wild Spawn symbol can appear on any reel, substituting for pay symbols to help complete or improve wins. The Wild Spawn symbols move one position to the left as the other positions respin, and this continues until all Wild Spawn symbols have disappeared from the reels.

Mutation Free Spins Bonus

The Mutation Bonus Round triggers when you land at least 3 scatter symbols in view on the same base game spin, awarding 10 free spins. One pay symbol is randomly chosen to become the “mutated” symbol, meaning it expands to cover all positions on the reels it appears on if, and only if, you land at least 3 instances of the symbol on different reels.

Which reels they land on does not matter, as you’ll get a max payline win even if the mutated symbols don’t land on adjacent reels. Landing 3+ scatter retriggers the bonus round with 10 additional free spins awarded, and there is no upper limit to the number of free spins you can get.

Symbiote Slot – Free Spins Gameplay Screen

Symbiote Bonus Buy (not UK)

The Bonus Buy menu is accessible via the circular yellow button located below the reels, but only for players in certain regions. You can pay 5x your stake to be guaranteed at least 1 Wild Spawn symbol per spin, and you can trigger the bonus round directly for the price of 70x your stake.

Theme & Graphics

The Symbiote game presents a dark, gritty atmosphere in comic book-style grayscale colors, making the red glow stand out behind the mutant next to the reels. This gargoyle-like creature appears to be inspired by Venom, with massive tentacles extending from its back. These grow larger and become more active in the bonus round, where the creature has mutated into its true self. Symbols like bloody brains, eyeballs, hearts, and detached hands appear on the reels, and each spin is accompanied by the industrial rock soundtrack.

Pros and Cons of Symbiote

Our Verdict

Croco Gaming has taken full advantage of Hacksaw’s OpenRGS platform once again, and the Symbiote slot also seems inspired by Hacksaw’s characteristic visual style. Heck, I hardly think anyone would bat an eye if this release came from Hacksaw themselves, at least not at first glance. Look a bit deeper, however, and your first impression might start to mutate into something else entirely.

At least that’s what happened to me. I loved the visual style and first impression, but Symbiote left me unimpressed once the test session was over. The walking wilds feature is the most original thing you’ll find in this game, as the bonus round is a disappointingly standard ‘Book of’ affair. Every developer wants a piece of the ‘Book’ action; we get that, but it just doesn’t feel right for this release.

At least try to do something original with the feature, instead of the usual expanding symbol thing. Why not allow the expanding symbols to walk like the wilds, tying these features together, or something? I don’t know, as my job is to review games, not develop them. It is admittedly kind of cool to see the monster use his overgrown tentacles to smash away the game logo when the bonus triggers, and the comic book mutated symbol selection sequence is also neat.

However, the feature itself is just too familiar at this point, a stark contrast to the originality of the visual presentation. It’s also a bit annoying that the bonus round hit rate is not disclosed, as players want to know what they are paying extra for if they switch on the ante bet. Croco Gaming’s portfolio is a bit all over the place, which is not unusual for a young developer trying to find its own voice. While Symbiote certainly is a playable game that’s a feast for the eyes, it falls short due to the uninspired bonus round.