Festive Indulgence

It’s all about Christmas with Festive Indulgence, and this slot is packed with all the seasonal cheesy goodness you could hope for. The grid is set on a brick walled backdrop, presumably located somewhere in a very snowy town where elves are hard at work. Across the reels are a series of symbols, but the majority of these are taken up by A, K, Q, J, 10, and 9 icons. Despite the fact that these low paying symbols have been lightly decorated with stars, acorns and ribbons, there’s no getting away from the fact that they’re not packing much creativity.

The remaining symbols are a distinct improvement on their rather generic siblings. There’s a jolly looking Santa, a female elf with a slightly confused expression, golden bells, a two tiered cake, and a Christmas wreath thats stands in as the slot’s Wild. The slot features music that’s exactly what you might hear during the opening and closing credits of any Christmas movie. i.e. sleigh bells and harmonious melody. Despite the heavy dose of cheesiness, I can see how many players might enjoy turning to a theme such as this during the month of December, but I can’t imagine any relevance beyond this.

This slot only comes with a single special feature. I was slightly disappointed to learn this because the name ‘Festive Indulgence’ does conjure up images of being showered in gifts. That being said, a single really good special feature can be worth several more basic ones, so let’s find out what this slot’s packing.

Players can get in on the action for as little as C$0.09 per spin. That’s because the slot has nine paylines, each of which allow for wagers of C$0.01. The maximum players can bet at is capped at C$45, which isn’t very much considering that it’s a high volatility slot usually designed to attract big money players. But maybe they’re keeping things a little bit less aggressive in light of the Christmas theme. In terms of payout potential the slot runs at two speeds. During the base game players have access to a win that’s capped at 1,000 x the bet. This is increased to the slot’s top prize of over 3,000 x during the free spins game.

When it comes to overall payouts, you’ll find that Festive Indulgence comes in at about average, which is a trademark of most Microgaming slots. So what can players expect from the symbols on offer? The Christmas wreath symbol is the Wild, and this can substitute for all symbols except the Scatter to help players make additional winning combinations. It’s also the highest paying symbol of the game, and landing five wilds on a payline will award 1,111 x the bet. The Scatter symbol is the second most valuable, and this comes all wrapped up as an enticing Christmas gift. Three or more of these symbols will trigger the free spins round — but land all five on a payline and you’ll also be awarded 500 x your stake before the free spins round even gets underway.

Festive Indulgence’s RTP sits at a rather unimpressive 96.10%. Unfortunately, this combined with high volatility did drag down the win frequency a fair bit. The combination does feel a little unfair to players, who would be in with a better shot with a slightly higher hit rate and an increased RTP.