The reels in Fortunes of the Dead are an explosion of colour as you’ll see dripping candles, skulls, bowls of fruit, ghoulish coins and cauldrons spinning around the reels. They’re joined by 3 sombrero-wearing skeleton characters. The best of these is the skeleton senorita who awards a 250-coin payout if you land 5 on a payline.
The grim reaper is the wild, replacing everything bar the scatter. The wild also offers awards of up to 500 coins per payline. Fortunes of the Dead comes with 3 features.
Once In A Wild Bonus feature - this can be triggered at random on any spin. Here you’ll be awarded a re-spin complete with 4 added wilds. You’re guaranteed to win at least 50% of your total stake in this round.
Skull Bonus feature - this take on the pick me round is triggered by landing the Skull symbol on reels 1, 3 and 5 on the same spin. Choose 1 of the 3 skulls to reveal an instant win cash prize.
Free Games feature - land the scatter on reels 2, 3 and 4 on the same spin and you’ll receive 5 free spins. A wild is dropped into play on each free spin and is then locked in place for any free spins you have left. On the final free spin, you’ll have 5 sticky wilds in place, boosting your chances of landing a chunky win.
The design in Fortunes of the Dead is bright and bold and takes a little while to get used to. There’s no playing card filler here and all the symbols relate to the theme. It’s a little overwhelming at first glance. The brass heavy mariachi soundtrack is a nice touch though.
The gameplay here is pretty good too, offering a nice variety. The number of free spins on offer isn’t large but the sticky wilds make it worth hitting. Likewise, the re-spin with added wilds. It doesn’t quite have the gloss of the similarly themed Esqueleto Explosivo from Thunderkick but Fortunes of the Dead is an entertaining take on the Day of the Dead theme and worth a spin.