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14 August 2024 
Stockholm Syndrome Slot Review
Stockholm Syndrome from Nolimit City is taking us hostage where players find love in the most unlikely place – in chains and isolated.
The science of Stockholm Syndrome is an interesting thing. It’s said to be the counterintuitive reaction to terror whereby the captive party develops feelings of affection towards their captor.
It may be a survival instinct, cognitive dissonance, dependence or isolation from normal affection that manifests in a skewed perception of kindness from the aggressor.
The name was first penned when the Kreditbanken robbery of 1973 saw two robbers take four employees hostage for six days, one of which developed romantic feelings for their captor. After their release, they defended the robbers and refused to testify against them in court.
The butterfly effect of things is interesting. 51 years ago two robbers flapped their wings (or guns in this case) in Stockholm, and in 2024 Nolimit City’s latest slot was born.
With a multitude of loveable Nolimit City x features to experience plus a plethora of features and a rather rugged-looking captor, the Stockholm Syndrome slot looks to be a thrill ride to remember.
Hot off the heels of Outsourced and Apocalypse, Stockholm Syndrome feels a little more serious, or perhaps just not as eccentric. That’s not to say there aren’t features here that feel quite crazy though, as that seems to be a persistent factor throughout the catalogue.
Base Game & Features
Stockholm Syndrome is a 5-reel Video Slot featuring a 3-4-3-4-3 row formation. This game is playable for as little as £.€0.20 per spin, up to a maximum bet size of £.€100 per spin.
Wins occur when 3-6 identical symbols land from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel, across 432 ways to win. The highest-paying symbol produces wins of 7.5x your bet for a 6-line winning combination.
Winning symbols will explode from the reels, creating space for new symbols to drop in. During each new spin, a random High-paying character symbol is awarded a Multiplier of x2, x3, x4, x5, or x10.
Con Man Wild
The Con Man Wild is triggered when it appears fully in view on reel 3. Once active, the bottom position of reel 3 is unlocked to become part of the Con Man Wild symbol.
A random High-paying character symbol (excluding the highest-paying) is chosen at random, causing all instances of that symbol to become Wild. When the Con Man Wild appears partly in view from the top, it is unable to be removed by winning combinations.
xBomb Wild
xBomb Wilds substitute for all other symbols except Scatters. In the base game, an exploding xBomb Wild will remove adjacent symbols except Scatters and other Wild symbols.
The xBomb Wild increases the Total Win Multiplier by +x1 per each collapse. However, all xBomb Wilds explode before the next collapse. During Bonus modes, xBomb Wilds only increase the Total Win Multiplier.
POLIS Feature
The POLIS Feature is triggered in the base game when POLIS symbols land in the same row sequentially. During this feature, the first 4 positions receive locked Coin Values with random multipliers. These values are: 5x, 10x, 25x, 100x, 250x, 1,000x, 5,000x, or Max Win.
The 5th position will receive up to 3 Keys. Each key will unlock one of the locked Coin Values or the Max Win symbol. All unlocked coin values are added and multiplied by your total bet for the win.
SOS Feature
Another feature to look out for is the SOS Feature, which triggers when SOS symbols land in the same row sequentially. During this feature, the ‘O’ symbol will be transformed into an xBomb Wild.
The SOS Feature is only available to trigger in the base game, only when no win or avalanche occurs. However, during a Bonus mode, the SOS Feature will always trigger.
PISS Feature
The final feature available is the PISS Feature, which triggers when PISS symbols land in the same row sequentially. During this time, all PISS symbols will transform into xBomb Wilds.
This feature is only available in the base game, only when no win or avalanche occurs. During a Bonus round, the PISS Feature will always trigger.
Respin
Landing 2 Scatters with no Avalanche triggers a Respin on the bottom position of reel 3. During the respin, there is an increased chance of landing the 3rd Scatter required to trigger a Bonus mode.
Nolimit Booster
Players can opt-in for 1 of 2 Nolimit Boosters:
- At a cost of 1.5x your bet, a guaranteed Scatter symbol will land on reel 5.
- At a cost of 10x your bet, a guaranteed Con Man Wild will land on the top position of reel 3.
Bonus Buy
- Hostage Spins – 80x your bet
- Syndrome Spins – 390x your bet
- Lucky Draw 1 – 183x your bet
- Lucky Draw 2 (50/50) – 235x your bet
- POLIS 1 – (150x your bet) Awards the POLIS feature with up to 3 Keys
- POLIS 2 – (300x your bet) Awards 2 POLIS features with up to 3 Keys for each row
- POLIS 3 – (450x your bet) Awards 3 POLIS features with up to 3 Keys for each row
- POLIS 4 – (1,500x your bet) Awards 3 POLIS features with up to 3 Keys for each row. The 5x, 10x, and 25x Coin Values are removed.
- POLIS 5 – (8,000x your bet) Awards 1 POLIS feature and 1 Key, with the possibility of winning the Max Win value.
Hostage Spins
Landing 3 Scatters in the base game triggers Hostage Spins, awarding 7 Free Spins. Once active, the bottom position on reel 3 is unlocked.
During this round, each full Con Man Wild that hits will increase its Multiplier value by +x1, choosing a High-paying character symbol from a predetermined order to upgrade into the highest-paying symbol for all remaining spins.
The first time a Con Man Wild hits, the Lowest-paying character symbol is chosen, while the second Con Man Wild selects the next Low-paying character symbol, and so on.
Each time a Con Man Wild appears, an additional +1 Free Spin is awarded. All xBomb Wilds will become sticky throughout the entire round, and landing a Scatter symbol awards another +1 Free Spin.
Syndrome Spins
Landing 4 Scatters in the base game triggers Syndrome Spins, awarding 8 Free Spins. Once active, a reel configuration of 3-4-4-4-4-3 is set.
During this time, Con Man Wilds appear on reels 3 and 4. When a part of the Wild appears on the reels, it will either nudge up or down until it is fully in view on the reel.
High-paying character symbols will be collected from the 4 middle reels, only when a Con Man Wild hits. If 2 Con Man Wilds should hit at the same time, all High-paying symbols will be collected twice.
The Collect Meter can exceed 5 if all meters are filled. Once all collect meters are full, a special Syndrome Feature will activate, causing the middle reels to react in a certain way:
- Reel 3 Wild – Covers the entire reel in Wilds, awarding a Win Multiplier depicted by the number of collected symbols displayed below reel 3. The Multiplier begins at x2, increasing by +x1 for each additional symbol collected beyond 5.
- Reel 4 Infectious xWays – Opens up a new position to reveal a symbol size of 2, affecting all instances of that symbol to become the same size. Collected symbols below reel 4 will increase the xWays by +1 for each collected symbol beyond 5.
- Reels 2 & 5 xReelSplit – Causes each symbol on the reel to split into 2. Collected symbols below reels 2 & 5 will increase the split size by +1 for each collected symbol beyond 5.
Each Con Man Wild and Scatter that hits will award an additional +1 Free Spin respectively. xBomb Wilds become sticky throughout this round.
Hit the Road
When the max win cap of 28,873x is reached, the game round ends immediately and the total figure awarded.
Conclusion
Nolimit City holds a special place in our hearts. Perhaps we ourselves are experiencing the phenomenon of Stockholm Syndrome? They lure us in, lock us into their world with stunning graphics, music and gameplay and sometimes they treat us mean.
We’re locked firmly into the Nolimit City universe and just outside the bars seemingly beyond reach is the stunning potential, and just sometimes Stockholm Syndrome will bestow that potential upon you, beginning that paradoxical psychological response of devotion to it.
Unlike Loner, our main character here isn’t pathetic at all. He’s not the kind of man to sit around and meander through life aimlessly – he’ll take what he wants forcefully or otherwise. The base game of Stockholm Syndrome is typically feature-rich, and the bonus rounds take things to another level, and there are many to experience.
It’s nice to see the return of Infectious xWays, xBomb and xSplit, which perhaps don’t get as much airtime as perhaps xWays and xNudge. We have said it before, but how these work together is what makes them industry leaders. In a way, it reminded us slightly of Das xBoot with its reel configuration, yet the game as a whole is hard to relate closely to any other. It’s another testament to how these features can be used in such a diverse manner
The Polis Feature is quite cool, depending on the values locked behind the bars of course, and the maximum win of 28,873x makes it feel as if an incredible balance was achieved between volatility and potential.
You may argue that Stockholm Syndrome isn’t Nolimit City’s best because it’s absent of those ‘WTF’ moments that we’re accustomed to. You’d be right, it isn’t their absolute best, but it’s by no means down the rankings as one of the worst. While we too missed Kenneth Must Die‘s blue baby and Land of the Free‘s incestuous charm, it’s hard to penalise Nolimit City too much for taking a more serious approach here.
Welcome Bonus
