House of Doom 2: The Crypt Slot Game from Play’n GO

House of Doom 2: The Crypt – Play’n GO has expanded on every aspect of the original, but it still won’t be for everyone.

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Let’s get something a little tricky out-of-the-way first – Play’n GO advertises this game with five different RTP figures, ranging from a more than satisfactory 96.25% to an entirely unacceptable 84.25%. This option is selectable by each casino that hosts the game, so be sure to check what RTP setting is in use before you start to play this game.

Play’n GO also provides some interesting statistics about the game too – the maximum win is 6,000x your stake, and your chances of winning this amount are a billion to one. Yes, you read that correctly – a BILLION. It would be truly fascinating if all slots developers would provide information like this so that we could compare slots in this way directly.

House of Doom 2: The Crypt Overview

The original House of Doom wasn’t a bad game, but it didn’t make much of a splash in the world of online slots after its release back in 2018. This follow-up adds a tonne of new features but also retains several elements from the original which should please those who are still playing the game.

The original game was inspired by a Swedish heavy metal band named Candlemass, who had produced a song named “House of Doom”. It seems someone at Play’n GO must really like this band, as this time around they have licensed three separate songs for use in the background music of The Crypt.

The Crypt retains the standard five-reel, 20 pay line setup as the first game, and whilst Play’n GO label the graphics and sound of this game as being “upgraded”, I think many people would agree that things simply look a bit different this time around – I don’t see anything here which stands out as being dramatically better visually.

House of Doom 2: The Crypt Symbols & Payouts

Taking a look at the pay table, things appear relatively standard upon first glance. The low-paying symbols consist of the usual royals in a Gothic script. You’ll need to hit something higher than four Queens on a line to win more than your stake, and even the maximum win for five Aces is just 3.5x your bet.

The picture symbols (labelled “Ritual Relic Symbols” on the pay table here) consist of a Skull, Candles, Deadly Nightshade, and a set of Knives. You can win up to 10x your stake for hitting five skulls on a pay line, but that still sounds ridiculously small. Where is all the huge win potential?

Special Features

Firstly, the “Spirit Gate” feature can trigger randomly on any spin, placing a gate over one of the five reels. If a wild lands inside the gate, it will expand to fill the reel as well offering a free respin with a special feature activated. There are four different wild symbols, three of which can appear during the base game. These are:

• Queen of the Damned – Spirit gates will be added to all five reels for the respin
• Fire Mistress – Adds a multiplier to the value of your respin win – either 2x, 3x, 5x, or 10x
• Metal Priestess – All “Ritual Relic” symbols are upgraded to the best paying skull

Hitting three scatters on reels one, three, and five triggers the regular free spins feature. If the scatters land in a spirit gate they will be upgraded to flaming scatters, and if you hit all three scatters when they are flaming you will trigger the enhanced “Crypt Spins” feature.

This is very difficult to do during normal play, but much easier during the free spins. In this mode, any upgraded scatters will remain flaming for the duration of the feature, giving you several spins during which you have the opportunity to upgrade all three scatters and enable the crypt spins.

Finally, the crypt spins feature adds additional spirit gates and an extra wild – the Spirit of Unity. Catch this symbol in a spirit gate and your respin will begin with all three of the previous additional wild features activated. It is here, at last, where we see the game’s true potential – spirit gates on all five reels make additional respins extremely likely, a 10x multiplier, and all picture symbols upgraded to the top paying symbol all at the same time? This is where you will find your billion-to-one shot at winning 6,000x your stake.

House of Doom 2: The Crypt – The Verdict

I feel as if I somehow don’t understand what Play’n GO was trying to do with this sequel. It’s a fun game, for sure, but the music won’t be to everyone’s taste yet turning it off feels like you are taking away from the true House of Doom 2 experience. The number of steps involved in obtaining the top-paying Crypt Spins makes this game annoyingly addictive, and I never managed to activate them in over an hour of spinning.

I can imagine those who enjoy the look and feel of this game (along with its soundtrack) spending many happy hours spinning its reels. For the rest of us, Play’N’Go’s other recent releases are probably a better bet.