Devil Slot Machine is a delightful gambling distraction, but it needs some polish

SHOULD I PLAY DEVIL SLOT MACHINE?

If you happen to be really into pinball, slot machines, or tower defense games, you’ll probably want to take a look at Devil Slot Machine. I admittedly don’t play any of those genres often, but the premise of gambling my soul against a demonic entity was something that grabbed my attention. Although Devil Slot Machine could certainly use some more polish, the interesting game mechanics and retro pixel graphics were enough to make me think the full-release version has potential.

PLAY IT FOR YOURSELF

From December 23, 2023, through January 7, 2024, TapTap is running our Pocket Playfest Winter Edition. That means you don't need to take our review as the final word; you can try playing this game yourself! If you live in the United States or Canada, you can test out any of the ten games featured in the Pocket Playfest using our cloud gaming technology. And even if you're not in the US or Canada, you can still vote on your favorite games and get entered in a giveaway for some incredible prizes. Get all the details here.

TIME PLAYED

I spent around three hours with Devil Slot Machine on my PC. Most of this was learning the mechanics of how the game actually works. Once I had those down, I was able to test out all of the various game modes and even win a round or two.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT DEVIL SLOT MACHINE?

• Retro graphics. Some folks may count this as a point against Devil Slot Machine, but I think the simple retro graphics really add to the game’s charm. There’s no need for super-fancy graphics when I’m essentially playing pachinko on my PC. The lo-fi aesthetic also means that the game can run relatively smoothly even on lower-power hardware. But the tower defense animations and environmental changes still added enough visual variety to hold my interest.

• The feel of the slots. Once I got the hang of Devil Slot Machine’s gameplay, it was pretty fun. I had to strategize and decide where I wanted to upgrade defense towers, balance spending HP for stronger offensive capabilities, and decide where to place defense towers based on how they would affect adjacent towers. If that sounds complicated, well...it is. But the game did a great job of teaching me the basics before too long. By the end of each run, there were so many demons filling my screen that I got great satisfaction from sitting back and watching my carefully crafted defenses rip them to shreds.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN DEVIL SLOT MACHINE?

• Awkward controls. I have no idea why I couldn’t use the arrow keys and was forced to rely on the mouse instead. In part due to this control choice, moving my character to shoot cards against demons in Devil Slot Machine felt laggy and unresponsive. Precision is such a necessary part of the game; I can only hope that the developers tweak the controls or at least give players the freedom to change the control layout on our own in the final version.

• Slow, difficult-to-read text. For such a fast-paced, chaotic game, the the text in Devil Slot Machine moves really slowly. During story sequences, words are scribbled onto the screen at a snail’s pace, and when I clicked to try to skip the animation, it moved onto the next text bubble entirely. To make matters worse, some of the text is incredibly small, so I had to squint just to read it.

• Rough tutorial. I had to replay the tutorial four times before I really understood how to play Devil Slot Machine. The game isn’t that complicated, but the English localization still needs some work to make things clearer faster.

• It gets old fast. Even though I only played it for a few hours, Devil Slot Machine felt a bit stale by the time I was done with it. More game modes, more fleshed-out progression, or other ways to change up play style could go a long way toward making the game more fun to stick with. 

PLATFORM TESTED:

PC.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO PLAY ON THE CLOUD?

Most of the things I mentioned about the PC version of Devil Slot Machine is applicable to the cloud version I played on my iPhone 13, except the screen is much tinier here! Seriously, I could barely make out the text. Not to mention, the movement seemed even more haphazard, swiping on my phone, when compared with using a mouse. It made me wish there were basic arrows or directional movement even more here.