Cursed Crypt: Slot Overview

Heading into a crypt for a bit of exploring (or looting) is probably best done somewhere that isn’t cursed. Still, some folks can’t resist, and that’s exactly where we find ourselves—torch in hand with software provider Hacksaw Gaming—descending into the online slot Cursed Crypt, an Egyptian-themed adventure where random symbols are spread across the reels, all wrapped in a suitably eerie presentation.

If Cursed Crypt has a close relative in the Hacksaw Gaming catalogue, it’s surely the dread-soaked Hand of Anubis. Both lean hard into a pitch-black tone, avoiding the usual glossy Ancient Egypt look in favour of something that feels like the Necrons from the Warhammer 40K universe touched down on Earth. The whole experience is steeped in gloom and menace, cut through by glowing green accents that build a richly dark atmosphere.

Using the up and down buttons beside the spin control lets players choose a stake of 10 c to $/€100 per spin, and a little further left you’ll find the bonus buy option. When playing normally, Cursed Crypt’s default RTP is 96.22%, and its volatility is medium-high, which the studio rates as 4 out of 5. Winning combinations land when matching symbols connect from the leftmost side of the grid across at least 3 consecutive reels, and 1,024 ways to win fire across the 5-reel, 4-row layout.

If the atmosphere hasn’t chased you off, here’s how the paytable shapes up. The low-value set is made up of 5 hieroglyph-style symbols, while the top end features 5 character/animal icons. Any low pay delivers 1 times the bet for a 5 OAK hit, rising to 3-15x the bet for a 5 OAK win with a high symbol. Wilds can appear on every reel. They replace all standard pay symbols and pay 20 times the bet for landing a 5 wild winning line.

Cursed Crypt: Slot Features

Cursed Crypt’s feature set feels familiar in the way certain symbols spread along reels, handing out benefits when things fall your way. The difference here is that, rather than unleashing multipliers or similar boosts, the spread mechanic drops in random symbols instead—both during the base game and across the two bonus rounds. There’s also a selection of bonus buys for anyone who’d rather jump straight into the highlights.

Cursed Reels

When the Curse symbol appears, it spreads the Curse upwards to the top of the grid, forming Cursed Positions. Cursed Positions are replaced with a random symbol.

Wrath of Sobek

During the base game, landing 3 FS symbols activates this feature and awards 10 free spins. In the Wrath of Sobek round, there is an increased chance of landing Curse symbols. Landing 2 FS symbols grants +2 free spins, while landing 3 FS symbols grants +4 free spins.

Tomb of Tutankhamun

Live out those Howard Carter daydreams by landing 4 FS symbols in the base game to trigger 10 free spins in the Tomb of Tutankhamun bonus. In this bonus round, the Curse symbols will only fill Cursed Positions with high-pay symbols or wild symbols. Landing 2 FS symbols grants +2 free spins, while landing 3 FS symbols grants +4 free spins.

Bonus Buys

Cursed Crypt provides players with the following bonus buys:

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins – 3x the bet, each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game. RTP 96.35%, very highly volatile.
• Curse of Three FeatureSpins – 40x the bet, each spin guarantees at least 3 Curse symbols land. RTP 96.34%, highly volatile.
• Curse of Five FeatureSpins – 150x the bet, each spin guarantees at least 5 Curse symbols land. RTP 96.34%, very highly volatile.
• Wrath of Sobek – 100x the bet, highly volatile. RTP 96.3%.
• Tomb of Tutankhamun – 200x the bet, very highly volatile. RTP 96.34%.

Cursed Crypt: Slot Verdict

Getting to a final take on Cursed Crypt took a few twists and turns. Spoiler: the end result was positive. At first, reading about special symbols that climb upward to the top of the reels and drop in matching symbols sounded a little too similar to other Hacksaw Gaming titles that use a comparable idea—say, Beast Below. To be fair, earlier games often paired that kind of behaviour with wild multipliers, so it’s hard to claim Cursed Crypt is doing the exact same thing. Still, the upward-spreading concept was close enough to prompt a slightly weary “here we go again” before actually getting stuck in.

That hesitation didn’t last long, because the gameplay in Cursed Crypt turned out to be solid—better than expected, in fact, for a few reasons. First, the production quality is strong, and its heavier, spookier, more threatening take on Ancient Egypt stands apart from most slots in this theme. Hacksaw Gaming can absolutely deliver feather-light titles like Om Nom, but it also clearly knows how to build a haunting thriller like this. Second, while spreading random symbols may not sound as instantly exciting as spreading wild multipliers, the real edge comes from Hacksaw Gaming fitting a ways-to-win system into Cursed Crypt rather than relying on the more typical paylines approach. Much like Beam Boys, things can get nasty when Curse symbols start landing in force. Trying out Curse of Five FeatureSpins was a particularly entertaining way to see the Curse mechanic at full tilt.

The feature set is built so that 10,000x the bet winning potential is available across all of Cursed Crypt’s game modes. Beyond that, there’s little more to add—Hacksaw Gaming has pulled it off again, combining sharp design choices into another moody, tightly wound slot that comfortably holds its own among the studio’s earlier releases.