Octo Attack

Octo Attack: Slot Overview

Octopuses, or octopi, have been known to untie knots, solve puzzles, and escape aquariums, so it's safe to say they possess a certain level of intelligence. Interestingly, around two-thirds of their neurons are located in their arms rather than their head, and as everyone knows, they've got eight arms. As such, it wouldn't be super surprising to discover that somewhere, out there, in the vastness of the void, is a world where octopus entities have risen to the top of the food chain to become their planet's dominant species. Perhaps a world where octo-scientists marvel at the glimmers of intelligence shown by bipedal primates in their labs. And, one day, who knows, maybe a fleet of octo-ships will visit Earth, though whether on a mission of peace or war, we will have to wait to find out.

This brings us to the online slot Octo Attack, starring an eight-armed chappy going by the name of Otto the Octopus. Otto has been brought to life by Hacksaw Gaming, and the studio has placed the cephalopod in a monochrome world of 'trash, dumpsters, waste', with the occasional bit of colour splashed about the place. Otto's pretty easy to spot. He's the blue, angry-looking dude lurking beside the 6-reel, 5-row gaming area covered in a variety of odd, miscellaneous items. Octo Attack is an odd game in general, but good odd in that way Hacksaw Gaming is able to bring a bunch of seemingly random bits together in one place, coat it in a layer of punk rock, pop art-style irreverence to create something très cool.

Landing 5 or more matching symbols that are connected to each other in vertical and/or horizontal directions creates a winning cluster. Hacksaw has rated the volatility of Octo Attack at 3 out of 5, or medium, and the RTP is 96.27%. At least, this is the return value when betting 10 c to $/€100 per spin, but the figure may change when utilising the bonus buy.

The black and grey hook, bolt, speech bubble, box, and heart are Octo Attack's low pays, while the coloured fish, beverage, mushroom, ice cream, and shark are the highs. Five-of-a-kind clusters are worth 0.1 to 1 times the bet, while 26+ clusters pay 100 to 500 times the bet. Wild symbols substitute for all regular symbols on the paytable. Wild symbols may land with adding multiplier values of x1 to x10.

Octo Attack: Slot Features

Otherwise a major annoyance, but in Octo Attack, Ink Stains are a desirable outcome. When there is a win, after the evaluation, the winning symbols are removed and new symbols drop in to replace them. The winning positions are also highlighted with Ink Stains. Ink Stains are removed from the reels after they have been used by the Tenta-Grab mechanic. Ink Stains are also removed between base game spins.

Eye of Otto and the Tenta-Grab Mechanic

The Eye of Otto symbol activates the Tenta-Grab mechanic when it lands and there are Ink Stains present on the grid. Once activated, the Tenta-Grab mechanic grabs one random symbol on the grid and replaces all Ink Stained positions and itself with the grabbed symbol. The Tenta-Grab may grab low symbols, high symbols, FS symbols, wilds, or wild multiplier symbols. If a wild or wild multiplier symbol is grabbed, the replaced symbols will be either wilds or wild multipliers with higher or lower values than the grabbed symbol.

Eighth Arm Is The Charm

Landing at least 3 regular FS symbols in the base game at the same time triggers this feature. The number of triggering FS symbols equals the number of awarded free spins. During this bonus, Ink Stains are not removed between spins until they have been used as part of the Tenta-Grab feature. For every 3 regular FS symbols that land at the same time, +1 free spin is awarded.

Give Me Eight!

Hitting at least 3 epic FS symbols at the same time in the base game activates this feature. The number of triggering epic FS symbols equals the number of awarded free spins. Like before, Ink Stains are not removed between spins until they have been used as part of the Tenta-Grab feature. However, the Tenta-Grab only grabs wilds or wild multiplier symbols. For every 3 epic FS symbols that land at the same time, +1 free spin is awarded.

Bonus Buy

Octo Attack's bonus buy section offers these:

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins - each spin is 5x more likely to trigger a bonus for 3x the bet.
• Tentacular FeatureSpins - each spin guarantees at least 1 win, and 1 landed Eye of Otto symbol for 50x the bet.
• Eighth Arm Is The Charm - 100x the bet.
• Give Me Eight - 300x the bet. The Tenta-Grab grabs only wilds, wild multipliers, or FS symbols.

Octo Attack: Slot Verdict

They're a clever lot, Hacksaw Gaming, aren't they? Masters of throwing together a bunch of oddly selected items and turning out a fiendishly good game. Not always. Some are pretty logical. Wanted Dead or a Wild is an obvious Western, Stormforged does the Norse thing, Rotten is horror, and so on and so forth. Then you've got the, let's call them, the weird collection slots, which bring together a peculiar assortment of items, characters, and ideas into one place. Chaos Crew 2, RIP City, Beam Boys, that sort of thing. Octo Attack is a classic example of one of those Hacksaw Gaming slots which is low on colour range, high on absorbing playability.

Otto has a lot to do with the best that Octo Attack has to offer. He's instrumental, really, since it's all well and good smearing the grid with Ink Stains, but it's not until an Eye of Otto symbol hits that the feature magic can really spark. Technically, the magic may occur at any moment as well, since Octo Attack's 10,000x the bet max win potential is attainable in every single game mode. But, as always, free spins are where it's at, especially the super free spins phase, Give Me Eight. In Give Me Eight, not only do Ink Stains coat the reels until they are used in a Tenta-Grab trigger but pay symbols will not be grabbed. It's not hard to imagine how potent converting a major portion of the reels to wild symbols can be in a cluster-paying game. Then factor in the possibility of getting wild multipliers as well.

Heady stuff and Octo Attack can be a right old hoot when things are going gangbusters. Like finding an amazing ensemble at the thrift shop you can't wait to show off to your friends, Octo Attack makes its unusual collection of thematic objects, character, and a hint of a story work exceptionally well. Helped, of course, by a highly potent set of features.