New
Our rating:
Developer: ELK Studios
Release date: 22nd May 2025
Nightmaker Slot - Screenshot
RTP: 94.00%
Max Payout: 50,000x stake
Volatility: High
Min Bet: 0.20
Max Bet: 100.00
Reels: 5
Paylines: 25,000
Theme: Horror
Jackpot: No

Nightmaker

Paul Clare
Reviewed by Paul Clare Last updated:

Expect the unexpected as ELK prepares to blow your mind with its latest slot. Nightmaker is a 5x4 creation with blocked out corners and loads of modifiers that can produce a little havoc along the way. There's a bonus game with free spins and a super version with walking wilds that can all help boost your payouts towards the maximum 50,000x win.

Full review continued below ↓

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Our Rating

“Making nightfall with a massive 50,000x payout!”

3.9 out of 5

Features
8/10
Design
8/10
Gameplay
7/10
Win potential
8/10

Nightmaker Review

Hang on in there, everybody! This isn't a game that you can pick up particularly easily. Not all of the grid functions as you think it might and even when it does start performing, you might wonder what on Earth is happening at the top of the game area. It all results in some quite confusing sequences we need to pick apart right now.

slot feature screenshot

Gameplay & Features

I won't lie, as soon as this game appeared, I thought it was going to break my brain! It all starts with a 5x4 set of reels, plus an extra row at the bottom that receives standard wins. There’s also a row at the top which is your feature reel. 

It results in thousands of win ways, so don't worry about the exact mechanics. All you need to know is that wins begin on the left-hand reel and matching combos continue on adjacent reels. 

The most valuable symbols are the pictures with a 10x max reward and the royals will get you up to 0.4x. Winning symbols disappear and new ones drop in to potentially create more payouts. 

The standard wins aren't particularly convincing and that means something needs to be modified!

Modifications are possible thanks to the feature reel, which brings 4 additions to the game. There’s the Wild Spirit, which affects between one and three symbol positions and can bring up to six wild symbols. 

The Wildfire can replace all symbols in a column with wild symbols and then there are symbol multipliers and split symbols as well. These can appear at any time and so can large symbols. The Rattle feature awards up to three big symbols.

Bonus Games 

Three bonus symbols trigger 8 free spins and one of your payout symbols is selected to receive a persistent multiplier. The four corners of the grid are unlocked and you can land extra free spins as bonus symbols land in the now opened corners. 

The large symbols come into play when bonus symbols land in all four corners and for this, you'll only see big symbols during the feature. There is a super version and this occurs when one of your bonus symbols is a super bonus. The wild symbols now walk around and help produce bigger wins. 

The x-iter options are as follows:

Nightmaker - Feature Row

Feature Row

The horizontal reel can bring features onto the grid to modify the game experience. Up to 6 wild symbols might arrive, multipliers can boost your wins, symbols are replaced with wilds and some can split.

Nightmaker - Beast Spins

Beast Spins

You could see the reels randomly produce up to three big symbols and these can appear up to a maximum of 3x5 in size. During the bonus game, this can be even more special as you may get a few spins that contain the big symbols.

Nightmaker - Bonus Games

Bonus Games

The four corners are now unlocked and this increases your chances of hitting a win. If you land another bonus symbol in one of the four corners, you get an extra two spins. You'll need three bonus symbols to trigger the game and one of your symbols will be selected to receive a persistent multiplier. The super version comes with a jumping wild that moves between spins.

Win Potential

Not only is there potential to cause some confusion with this game but also the potential to land some big wins as well. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the 50,000 max win as it does seem like a bit of a pipedream. But with super high volatility, you never know how big the bonus game payouts can grow.

I didn't witness the multipliers stretching too far and that's why I find it hard to think that anything massive will come along too often. Keep an eye on your balance as you will get quite a few dead spins. However, I was pleased to see the occasional prize over 100x.

big win screenshot

Design

ELK always creates a detailed and vivid account of whatever theme it's trying to reproduce. This time, we find ourselves in the belly of the beast with the reels having seemingly been eaten by this character. It's all very dark and satanic and this feeling is assisted by the occasional echo of screams from below. It's not an overly complicated design and it's pretty simple to pick up on mobile phones as well.

Our Verdict

Nightmaker brings together some good ideas with many ways to keep the base game interesting and pick up some decent wins at the same time. However, it is a little overly complicated and lots of fans won't have the patience for this one. It perhaps isn't ELK's best effort but it's worth experiencing for yourself.

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