Dark King: Forbidden Riches Slot Review

Where To Play Dark King: Forbidden Riches

I’m used to seeing NetEnt toy around with different themes and concepts in their online video slots, and Dark King: Forbidden Riches is the latest game to come from the well-known Swedish software provider. It’s a title that explores the dark, mythical underworld, accompanied by a relatively volatile math model that’s sure to keep even the most adrenaline-filled slot players at bay.

In this Dark King: Forbidden Riches slot review, I’m going to be giving you an in-depth look at what to expect from the game – and whether or not I feel it’s a slot worth playing.

As with most of NetEnt’s slots, Dark King: Forbidden Riches certainly looks the part, and the graphics are exemplary. The slot is built around a 5-reel, 3-row format, and there’s 20 fixed paylines in play here. (Fixed, meaning that you’re unable to adjust the number of paylines – also known as win-ways – on every spin.) I was pleased to see that the minimum bet was just 0.20 credits – it’s a game all players can enjoy – and the maximum bet is set at a whopping 400 credits too, so even the highest-staking player can enjoy the game’s action!

Graphically, NetEnt has done an excellent job with Dark King: Forbidden Riches I feel. The dark, gloomy look of the slot actually fits in really well with that I think the software provider were trying to achieve, and while it’s a little bit somber – I’d go as far as saying bleak in parts – they do a really good job in rendering the graphics and an eerie soundtrack accompanies each and every spin. Let’s kick off this Dark King: Forbidden Riches slot review with a look at how to actually play the game!

How To Play

One of the things I always compliment NetEnt on is their game’s user-interface – and Dark King: Forbidden Riches is no exception to the quality I’m used to seeing the software provider putting out. I find the user-interface incredibly easy-to-use and easy-to-navigate, and the first thing you’ll need to do is set the amount of money you want to bet; this is easily achieved through the “Bet” button, and from here, you simply need to select how much money you want to wager on each spin – and you’re all set!

Dark King: Forbidden Riches also offers you a wide variety of in-game options – the most notable of which is the autoplay function. This is fairly standard on most other mobile slots these days. If you’re unfamiliar with autoplay, it allows you to set up to 100 spins to play-out automatically, without you needing to manually click the spin button for every press. There’s also a quickspin function, which decreases the time it takes between spins – useful for those who want to expedite the process and speed things up! However, I should point out that quickspin is no longer available to UK players due to new regulations imposed by the UK’s Gambling Commission.

Symbols and Payouts

Like many of NetEnt’s slots, Dark King: Forbidden Riches uses playing card values, including 10, jack, queen, king, and ace as the game’s lower-paying symbols. These aren’t worth a huge amount of money, to be honest – although with the right multiplier, in the free-spins bonus, they can still accumulate nicely.

Dark King: Forbidden Riches’ higher-paying symbols are a bit more in-line with what I’m used to seeing from a modern video slot in today’s fast-paced iGaming industry, and you’ll see four minions acting as the medium-paying symbols, along with their leader, the Dark King himself.

He is, naturally, the game’s highest-value symbol, awarding a payout of up to 25X your stake for a 5-of-a-kind combo. Again, thanks to the multipliers during the bonus round, this payout can increase quite substantially.

Bonus Features

Dark King: Forbidden Riches is all about the bonuses and features – in fact, I’d go as far as saying that without them, the game is actually somewhat boring and underwhelming to play. Below, I’m going to break down what the bonuses and features inside Dark King: Forbidden Riches are, and how they work.

Multiplier Wilds

During the base-game, any time that you manage to land two or more of the wild symbols in view you’ll trigger the mini multiplier feature. This sees a multiplier of between 2 and 5X applied to each wild – and the multiplier wilds multiply against one another, so there’s some pretty decent potential to form big wins here, if you’re lucky.

Free Spins

It’s the free-spins bonus round that most players will be looking out for in Dark King: Forbidden Riches, and it’s triggered by landing 3, 4, or 5 of the scatter symbols anywhere in view. The scatter symbols, by the way, are presented by the Red Gem. Landing three in view awards you with 10 free spins, while landing four or five awards 12 and 15 free spins respectively.

Before the free-spins begin, you’ll notice that a hot spot is added to the reels; this takes the form of a giant cross. During the free-spins, landing any wilds within this cross will see them locking in place – and the win multiplier is increased by +1. You are also awarded one additional free spins for each of the wild symbols that you manage to lock into place. It’s possible to get the multiplier as high as 5X here – and it’s here that the game’s big wins can be found.

Jackpot and How To Win

Unfortunately, I do have a bit of an issue with the fact that NetEnt has chosen to “cap” the maximum amount of money you can win while playing Dark King: Forbidden Riches at just 2,000X your stake. This seems incredibly low – especially in today’s cutting-edge online gambling world where game developers are releasing games with 50,000X+ win-potential – and I find it disappointing that the maximum win isn’t more, if I’m honest.

This 15,000 Euro Mega Win looks nice – and it was. But it was also something of a relief if I’m honest. I’d been playing for a while and was well behind at this point, which just shows how volatile this slot is.

In terms of actually achieving the maximum win – again, I can’t help but approach the topic with an element of defeatism, as I believe getting anywhere near the maximum win of 2,000X is going to prove incredibly hard; you’ll need to unlock the 5X multiplier during the free-spins bonus round, of course, and hit win after win with all wilds locked in place and the top symbol appearing on the first and fifth reel.

Software

While Dark King: Forbidden Riches may fall a little short of my expectations when it comes to the maximum win, the game developer’s software doesn’t disappoint – and that’s because NetEnt has chosen to implement their “One Touch” technology on the mobile-optimized version of Dark King: Forbidden Riches. For any of my readers who aren’t familiar with what One Touch is, it’s essentially NetEnt’s solution to mobile gaming.

It’s designed to make mobile gameplay as accessible and easy as possible – and it negates the need for you to download or install any additional software to begin playing. In fact, to begin playing you simply need to open up the game from your chosen mobile device, and tilt your device into landscape mode. (You can, actually, play Dark King: Forbidden Riches in portrait mode – but I feel the experience is much better when played in landscape mode.)

Thanks to NetEnt’s One Touch platform, doing everything from your mobile device – from changing stake size, to viewing the results of previous rounds – is made easy, and I found, from my testing that the software runs incredibly quickly and smoothly – I definitely can’t find any major faults with the game, when it comes to mobile-optimized gaming!

Summary

NetEnt has chosen to go pretty dark with Dark King: Forbidden Riches – and I think, from a creative perspective, the game does a great job at capturing the theme of the slot. From the moment I opened up the game I was met with stunning visuals, graphics – and some pretty cool-sounding musical effects – and I love the fact that NetEnt hasn’t taken any shortcuts, especially when it comes to the overall game design.

The Dark King himself bears more than a passing reseblence to Sauron from the Lord of the Rings films. So this game is likely to appeal to fans of other similar slot titles, such as Magic of the Ring, 24K Dragon and Dragons of the North.

The gameplay itself is smooth – and regardless of whether you play from a desktop computer or laptop, it’s smooth, uninterrupted and lag-free.

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My main gripe with Dark King: Forbidden Riches is the fact that the maximum win is just so small. 2,000X your stake is an insanely small amount – especially when we’re used to seeing monsters, like Dead or Alive 2, and Money Train 2 offering 100,000 and 50,000X max wins respectively – and I just don’t feel that Dark King: Forbidden Riches is going to be able to compete against these other high-variance monsters, especially given the fact that the game actually plays like a high variance machine.

That being said, I’m sure Dark King: Forbidden Riches will have a fair number of players – especially now, while the game’s new. Whether we’ll be talking about it in years to come, however, remains to be seen – although I’d wager my money on it not becoming one of the software provider’s most notable slot releases.

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Last Updated on February 21, 2021