Nightmaker Slot Review

Nightmaker: Slot Overview

Nightmaker throws you straight into a dark and dramatic slot experience from ELK Studios. The Iron Throne‑style chair on loading soon gives way to a creepy tunnel of ridged shapes that feels ripped from a Giger sketchbook. The 5‑column grid sits right in the middle, with gloomy gothic aesthetics and a forlorn soundtrack that makes every spin feel like you are stepping deeper into hostile territory.

Beneath the moody art, Nightmaker plays like a tightly wound high‑volatility machine. The default 3‑5‑5‑5‑3 layout gives 1,125 ways to win, but corner positions and split symbols can push that all the way up to 25,000 ways. Combined with cascading wins and stacked features, the stat line supports a fierce 50,000x max win, so I approached it knowing the ride could be both thrilling and unforgiving.

Nightmaker Symbols and Paytable

On the paytable, Nightmaker keeps things thematic. Four esoteric markings act as the low pays, giving 0.4x the bet for five of a kind. High pays are three odd artefacts and a skull face, paying from 0.8x up to 10x for five. Wilds stand in for any paying symbol, and a full wild combination pays the same as the top skull, so lining them up across the grid feels properly tense.

Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	5	x10
	4	x2
	3	x1
	5	x2
	4	x0.8
	3	x0.6
	5	x1
	4	x0.6
	3	x0.4
	5	x0.8
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.2
	5	x0.4
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	5	x0.4
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	5	x0.4
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	5	x0.4
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	Scatter
	Wild
	Wild

Nightmaker RTP, Volatility and Max Win

From a numbers point of view, Nightmaker sticks with ELK’s usual 94% RTP, which is a bit under the market average. Volatility is set right at the sharp end, and you feel that in the long stretches of dead spins between flurries of action. Stakes run from 20 cents up to 100 euros per spin, so there is enough range for both testing and high‑roller sessions.

The ways engine and symbol splits mean the betting profile can swing wildly from one spin to the next. With 1,125 ways active by default and a path to 25,000 ways plus the 50,000x max win, Nightmaker sits in that monster‑potential category. I found it absolutely capable of eating a balance fast, but when the multipliers and big symbols lined up, the hits looked and felt worthy of the risk.

Slot features: Nightmaker

Base game play in Nightmaker is all about cascades and gravity. Winning symbols are removed from the grid, new ones drop in, and any feature symbols on the top row respin, so single stakes can stretch into long chains. Wilds are indestructible until they reach the bottom, and if you land several on top of each other, the whole wild stack moves together with the next winning tumble.

Any paying symbol can land as a huge 3x5 big symbol across the middle three reels. When that happens, the block splits into fifteen regular icons, with any active features applied to those columns. On top of that you have the Rattle feature, which can trigger on an initial spin and drop one to three big symbols at once, turning a dead screen into something very dangerous in a single step.

Above the reels sits the feature row, which is where Nightmaker really starts to flex. Wild Spirit can add up to six wilds on affected columns and keep them safe for an extra win. Symbol Multiplier tags specific symbols with column multipliers, Wildfire turns entire reels wild while copying the highest multiplier, and Split Symbols slice icons to increase ways, up to ten positions per reel when everything stacks together.

Bonus Game and Beast Spins in Nightmaker

The main bonus game in Nightmaker arrives when three scatters land, awarding eight free spins. For that round, one regular symbol gets a persistent multiplier, which sticks and keeps growing whenever it hits. All four corner positions on the grid open up, adding extra ways. If a scatter lands in one of those corners you get two extra spins, but the corner then turns into a permanent blocker.

If one of the triggering scatters is a super scatter, you jump straight into the super bonus. Here that symbol turns into a jumping wild, shifting to a new spot after each win and between spins, borrowing the current multiplier of the position it covers. Filling all four corners with scatters activates Beast Spins, where only big symbols spin on the middle reels, and X‑iter lets you buy straight into several of these modes.

Bonus Buy Feature

Bonus Hunt Buy a game round with more than triple the chance to trigger the bonus game.
Feature Cost:	x3 Bet
RTP:	94%
Volatility:	-
Wild Spins Buy a game round with at least 1 Wild symbols guaranteed.
Feature Cost:	x10 Bet
RTP:	94%
Volatility:	-
Beast Spins Buy a game round with a guaranteed Beast Spin. Cost is 100x the bet
Feature Cost:	x100 Bet
RTP:	94%
Volatility:	-
Bonus Buy a game round triggering the bonus game.
Feature Cost:	x100 Bet
RTP:	94%
Volatility:	-
Super Bonus Buy a game round triggering the bonus game, with a guaranteed jumping Wild symbol.
Feature Cost:	x500 Bet
RTP:	94%
Volatility:	-

Our verdict: Nightmaker

After a good number of sessions, Nightmaker feels like one of ELK’s grimmest yet most compelling high‑volatility slots. The mix of feature row tricks, big symbols, jumping wilds and Beast Spins means almost every decent hit comes from a stack of interacting effects, which suits my taste. The 94% RTP and savage swings will turn some off, but if you enjoy dark, perilous grinders, this machine absolutely delivers.

Screenshots