Recently Microgaming released an online slot Wicked Tales: Dark Red. It presented the children’s tale Red Riding Hood with a noir overview. Earlier, ISoftBet had released a similar slot machine titled Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters. This was a branded slot game directly based on the dark fantasy and horror movie of the same name. It is entirely apt for wagering during the lead up to Halloween. Hansel and Gretel are now grown up and working as witch exterminators.

The high paying symbols are Gretel, Muriel and Mina along with the Horned Witch and the Red Haired Witch. Players who have seen the movie would be familiar with these characters. The low paying symbols are the playing card icons. The monster is the wild symbol. It substitutes for all symbols except the scatter symbol. If it falls on the middle row, it will expand to cover the entire reel if winning combinations can be made. The weapon of the exterminators is the scatter symbol. Two or more scatter symbols anywhere on the reels award bonus credits. Three or more scatter symbols also award 15 free spins. Wild symbols appearing on the middle row will always expand, whether or not they form a winning combination. The expanded wilds will remain sticky for the remainder of the free spins.

Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters has the standard structure of 5 reels and 3 rows. There are 10 fixed paylines. The top line award is 3000 times the line bet, which will lead to fairly high volatility. The top scatter payout is 100 times the total bet. The maximum total bet per spin is 100 credits. This will bring the high roller online casino players into the picture. Being a branded video slot, Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters uses content from the movie. The characters appear in their exact likenesses. The background artwork and audio create an eerie atmosphere suited to the content. Do not play with the sound disabled. The win animations could have been better. Hansel is conspicuous by his absence.

If you are not familiar with the plot here is a synopsis. Hansel and Gretel are summoned to track down eleven missing children. They discover that this is the work of the powerful dark witch Muriel. The Blood Moon will approach in three days and Muriel intends to use the children together with a secret ingredient to protect the coven of witches against the fire.