Vikings Slot is a new release from NetEnt based on the famous TV Show called Vikings. The slot features the main characters from the show including Ragnar Lothbrok and the others. The atmosphere of the slot in the graphics and music is spot on with the same theme as the show Vikings.
Slot Mechanics/Features
It starts in the normal 5 reels, 3 rows with 243 ways to win setup but this changes in the Raid free spins to 78,125 ways to win! There is also no wild symbol in the game which is unusual but increases the volatility of the slot.
One of the features that occurs randomly is the ‘Shield Wall’, several shields (between 6 and 10) will appear on the reels. The shields are removed and will reveal a premium character or the Vikings logo. This can happen during normal spins or the Raid Spins.
The Middle Reel (white) is called the Hot Spot zone and if a full premium symbol covers it then it becomes active. This will active and cause all other character symbols to change to the character that landed in the hot spot. It will then award a scatter pay of that symbol as a win.
The main feature of the game is the Raid Free Spins which activate when 3 Raid spins symbols land on reels 3,4 and 5. The grid changes into a 7 reel, 5 rows with 78,125 ways to win and the middle changes into a 3 by 3 hot spot zone.
Seven spins are awarded and just like in the base game if a stack covers one of the new hot spot zones it activates like the hot spot feature in the same way as the base game and gives scattered pays on that symbol.
What to look for
This is an interesting change of design for NetEnt into something with a little more volatility than their usual slot choice. At first everything looks familiar in set up and layout, you could even mistake the base game as nothing new.
However, this all changes in the Raid spins, as the volatility changes from low – mid to mid – high. As you play the base game you can get some nice wins as the top symbol is too hard to hit.
The random feature of shield wall is frequent but misses quite a bit and even then, does not pay much however this too changes a lot in the free spins as you can get nice hits.
Be warned the free spins can only be triggered on a 3,4,5 scatter which makes it not particularly easy to trigger. This game basically revolves around the bonus as do higher volatile slots.
So, don’t take your first impression of this game from its base game as it won impress you much and wait till you have tried the raid spins a few times. You will soon realize this holds the potential of this slot which is a good design.
Watch one of our big wins on Vikings Slot here!
Final Thoughts
NetEnt has been in for a lot of criticism about its slots recently mostly about not moving on with the volatility changes in slots. We feel that NetEnt have had some slots recently showing steps forward in design like Hotline and Lost Relics, this slot joins that list of promise that NetEnt is listening and is moving forward.
The graphics and sound quality of this slot is ultra-high, and we feel has got the concept of the television show its based on. The fact that NetEnt have learnt to experiment with its free spins into a Megaways style has shown some progress.
However, most people will dismiss this game because the base game holds very little potential unless you can get a lot of the top V symbol which we have found hard to land at all.
Had the base game got something to improve the potential of that we would be looking at a very good rating of what is a highly playable game.
We feel this will be one of the few NetEnt slots to see some decent play of the recent releases. Let’s hope this signals a better-quality future release schedule from NetEnt.