The Crypt

The Crypt: Slot Overview

Welcome to the grim, grey world of The Crypt designed by the creative minds at Nolimit City, in which the game sheet opens up with the line 'They say legends never die.' Makes you wonder, though, surely, given a long enough period of time, eventually, even the biggest legends will be forgotten about, right? Maybe people stick around longer these days thanks to things like the internet preserving their lives and achievements, but one day, even the Earth will end up desiccated by the sun's expansion, and then what? Well, maybe humanity will have colonised other planets by then and taken with them a full record of our legends and their legendary deeds.

Until that day comes, we've got games like The Crypt to keep tabs on certain famous people who have passed away. However, the legends in The Crypt aren't represented how they were while they were alive, but rather, they appear on the reels in a zombified form, all bones and whatnot. After seeing the game in action and reading over the rules, there is a slight link between The Crypt and the Warrior Graveyard, and an even greater link, mechanically, between this and Dragon Tribe. Instead of dealing with unnamed warriors or dragons, though, The Crypt is all about famous faces who made their mark in the entertainment business – more on them soon, and if this is what is meant by legends never dying… not so sure if that's an afterlife many would cleave to.

Just as existing in a zombie form of afterlife won't be to everyone's tastes, neither will The Crypt's math model, which has been rated as 10 out of 10 in terms of volatility, with a free spins frequency of 1 in 328. This funnels into a fairly average RTP of 96.05% (default, lower models are available) when betting 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin, or 96% when using the xBet. When the xBet is switched on, the stake increases by x3, making it 5 times more likely to trigger free spins. The action itself takes place on a 6-reel, 4-row gaming grid with ways to win ranging from 4,096 to 46,565, depending on the features currently active.

The paytable is where legends come into the picture. On the high pay symbols, we appear to get Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse, John Lennon/Lou Reed(?), Kurt Cobain, Lemmy, and Elvis, paying 0.9 to 2.5 times the bet for a 6 OAK winning way. Below them in value are 9 to A card royals, awarding 0.5 to 0.75 times the bet for a 6-matching symbol win. In the base game and in free spins, winning symbols are removed from the reels when they hit. Empty spaces are filled by symbols dropping down from above, and cascades continue till no new win hits.

The Crypt: Slot Features

Not exactly a majorly complicated feature fest by Nolimit City standards, the features to cover here include the xNudge Wild, xWays, Resurrection Spins, and the Nolimit Bonus.

xNudge Wild

When a wild lands, it drops to the bottom position of its reel and increases a win multiplier for each step it drops. Then, it expands to cover the entire reel, substituting for anything but the scatter. With an xWays symbol, the multipliers can increase to x6. xNudge Wilds may land on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5. When more than one xNudge Wild is part of a win, the values are added to create a total win multiplier.

xWays

xWays is a mystery symbol that can reveal 2 or 3 of the same symbol, thereby expanding the reels/ways. xWays symbols may land on all reels, expanding a reel up to 6 symbols high, and more than one xWays symbol may land on a spin. At full stretch, reels may be expanded to create up to 46,656 ways to win.

Resurrection Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols awards 10 Resurrection Spins. Any extra triggering scatter awards an extra +3 Resurrection Spins. During this round, at least 1 xWays symbol is guaranteed to land on each initial cascade. While Resurrection Spins are running, every fourth winning cascade turns one of the five dead legend high-pay symbols into wilds for the rest of the round and awards +2 extra free spins. Also, any win with the highest paying symbol awards a +1x multiplier on that symbol. Winning cascades with the highest paying symbol do not count towards turning symbols into wilds – only for the multiplier increase.

Nolimit Bonus

From the feature buy menu, players are able to buy 10 Resurrection spins for 100x the bet (RTP 96.21%), 13 Resurrection Spins for 200x the bet (RTP 96.21%), 16 Resurrection Spins for 500x the bet (RTP 96.13%), or a Lucky Draw for 225x the bet (RTP 96.03%).

The Crypt: Slot Verdict

The Crypt started out as a bit of who's who, oh it's that guy, wait up, who is that one over there? After this, it turned into a game of what's the same, what's changed between The Crypt, Warrior Graveyard, and Dragon Tribe. Turns out the first two games are actually quite different in practice, despite the grim graveyardy theme and the expanding xNudge Wild. There is a striking resemblance between The Crypt and Dragon Tribe, however. So much so that if you liked the Dragon game, there's a fair chance you'll enjoy The Crypt as well. Circling back to warriors for a bit, The Crypt's base game could be a battle at times. Strangely, quite a lot of activity took place, such as cascading, xNudging, and so on, but solid results could be hard to come by. Free spins as well, even when transforming all applicable premium symbols to wilds, the going could be tough. Apt maybe, given the subject matter, but dead spins were common and at times frustratingly annoying. xNudge's had a habit of hitting on the furthest fifth reel, and premiums could be shy at later collection stages, meaning fewer wilds where you want them.

You can see the potential, though, should it all come together. Manage to harness a shedload of ways, dump a good number of wilds on the reels courtesy of the symbol transforming features, and/or get a bunch of Elvis symbols with a handy multiplier; then, positive outcomes are a definite possibility if you're lucky. Shame The Crypt's big win count-up sequence isn't as memorable as others Nolimit City has done to celebrate the occasion. Count-ups are fittingly crypt-ish but not as provocative or as rib-tickling as they often are from Nolimit City. One of The Crypt's possible concerns is that free spins are where the game steps up a gear, but getting there might be a battle, and the 1 in 328 spins frequency would seem to bear this out. xBet did seem to cut the wait time down, but at 3x the stake, it isn't cheap and might well eat through a stack of coins.

A sizable max win lies in wait for extra lucky players of 27,000x the bet, occurring with a theoretical frequency of 1 in 17.76 million spins on the default RTP model, which is considerably more favourable than Dragon Tribe's 1 in 20 billion for pretty much the same top prize. In summation, we might have nitpicked a bit while reviewing The Crypt, but such is the standard Nolimit City has set that each release tends to get dissected under a microscope. What's come out after the inspection is a clever game with a playfully inventive theme, even if it's not one of Nolimit City's premier, outrageously innovative slots.