Valhall Gold Slot Review
Valhall Gold from ELK Studios brings to an end a series that has gripped players everywhere. It’s an odd week in the world of slots. We wave off the dynamite Gold Series just days after we bid farewell to the Money Train series with their last game, Money Train 4.
Of course, The Gold Series has spanned much more than 4 games. Never before have we travelled with Kane to the realm of the gods.
Few explorers in the world of slots have seen as many wonders as Kane, if any at all. We doubt even the resume of Rich Wilde could compete. It seemed like only yesterday that we checked out one of the earliest releases, and it’s very bittersweet to be reviewing our last.
In this instalment, Kane enters the Nordic world as he traverses to his final destination, Valhalla.
Why Valhall Gold, you ask? We could find some reasoning if we cared to research, but we’ve a feeling it’s because the name Valhalla Gold was already taken…
In typical ELK Studios fashion, they’ve made Valhall Gold beautifully immersive, and once more, Kane is garbed in the appropriate attire. All looks good at first glance, but will the very last Gold Game go out with a bang?
Valhall Gold Base Game and Features
Valhall Gold is a 6-reel, 4-row Video slot with up to 531,441 ways to win. Valhall Gold has a theoretical RTP of 94.00% and a max win cap of 25,000x. Rows expand upwards to a maximum of 9 rows in total. The number of ways to win will increase as the rows do, to the following number.
- 4 Rows – 4,096 Ways to win.
- 5 Rows – 15,625 Ways to win.
- 6 Rows – 46,656 Ways to win.
- 7 Rows – 117,649 Ways to win.
- 8 Rows – 262,144 Ways to win.
- 9 Rows – 531,441 Ways to win.
Winning combinations are formed when 3 or more of the same symbols land from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel. The minimum bet available here is £.€0.20 per spin and the maximum bet available is £.€100 per spin, with plenty of other suitable options in between the two.
In terms of symbols, the highest-paying regular symbol here is Kane, followed by the Wolf, Horse, Owl, and 4 patterned tiles. Low-paying symbols fall to Red, Purple, Green, and Blue Runic tiles. Wilds substitute for all other symbols except Scatters, Loki, Odin, and Thor symbols.
Each time a winning combination forms, all winning symbols will be removed from the reels, and an additional row of symbols is added to the top, up to a maximum of 9 rows in total. This will continue as long as new wins are formed during this time.
Big Symbols
All High and Low-paying symbols from the paytable are able to land in view as a Big symbol, either 1×1, 2×2, 3×3, or 4×4 in size (including Wilds).
Odin’s Raven symbols land as 1×2 in size across the reels, acting as Blockers. Raven symbols will only activate and transform into Wilds when there are at least 2 of them present on the reels at the same time.
Empty positions that occur below Big symbols will be filled with a 1×1-sized symbol of the same symbol type as the Big symbol. Empty positions below Thor Wilds and Loki symbols are filled with 1×1 regular Wild symbols.
All symbols that extend past the current achieved amount will award a refill up to the highest row reached per symbol extension. Further refills will continue, up to a maximum of 9 rows.
Spike Symbols
Special spike symbols are both regular paying and Wild symbols with a Spiked Frame around them. Spike symbols point in a certain direction towards the centre of a reel or row.
Spike symbols may also point out from symbol corners and aim toward the centre of a diagonally adjacent 1×1 symbol or into a Big symbol. Wins formed with Spike symbols can intersect multiple times, resulting in additional wins, draining the winning symbols of their values (excluding Wilds).
Spike symbols that pass through a Big symbol can create a Spike replication line that is offset and adapts to the edges of the Big symbol. Spike symbols are able to pass through Loki, Thor, and Odin’s Raven symbols, but they will not transform into Spike symbols.
Loki Symbol & Features
Loki acts as a Blocker symbol, appearing in a size of 2×2 on the reels. This symbol provides different features for each win evaluation. A win needs to be formed if you are to activate the Loki symbol, which will then activate him for the rest of the round.
- Loki Multiplier – Awards a random Multiplier of x2, x3, x5, or x10 to all base game wins for that particular spin. Loki’s Multiplier is additive to any saved multiplier during the Bonus round.
- Loki Both Ways – Activates a win evaluation from both left and right.
- Loki Spike Storm – Awards a random number of Spike Frames to existing symbols in view, transforming them into Spike symbols.
- Loki Axe Fury – Upgrades a random number of symbols in view to the same symbol instance.
Thor Symbol
The Thor symbol is a standard 2×2 Wild that will remain Sticky during a single drop.
Valhall Gold Free Spins
Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 Scatters across the reels in the base game triggers the Free Spins round, awarding 10, 15, 20, and 25 Free Drops respectively.
At the start of Free Spins, the Bonus game will begin with an automatic Safety Level of 5 rows. Each winning drop will increase the Safety Level by +1 row, up to a maximum of 8 Rows. The 9th Row is only activated when a large symbol extends into it, which will then play the remaining drops at a maximum of 9 rows.
If a win occurs with a Loki feature, it will activate the feature’s slot in Loki’s inventory. The next win that occurs with the same Loki feature will save the feature in Loki’s inventory, where the feature becomes sticky for the remainder of Free Spins.
When Loki’s inventory saves a Loki Multiplier, it will be applied to all future wins that occur. Loki has the power to award additional Multipliers after the first Multiplier has been saved.
Activating the Both Ways feature will remain in play for the remainder of Free Spins, once it has been saved in Loki’s inventory. This will open up both right and left win connections in future win evaluations.
Each remaining Free Drop will have a Spike Storm activation once the initial symbols have dropped, and after it has been saved in Loki’s inventory. This feature can only be saved once in Loki’s inventory. Loki can award additional Spike Storm features even after the Spike Storm feature has been saved.
Each remaining Free Drop will have an Axe Fury activation once the initial set of symbols has dropped, and the Axe Fury feature has been saved in Loki’s inventory. Loki may award additional Axe Fury features after it has been saved in Loki’s inventory.
Valhall Gold: X-iter
Those outside the UK will have access to ELK Studios’ X-iter feature, where 5 Bonus Buy options are available as follows.
- Bonus Hunt – 1 Drop with more than Double your chance of triggering the Bonus round for 2x your bet.
- Big Block – Awards 1 Drop with a guaranteed Big symbol for 5x your bet.
- Trickster Loki – Awards 1 Drop with a guaranteed Loki symbol for 25x your bet.
- Bonus Game – Triggers the Free Spins round for 100x your bet.
- Super Bonus Game – Triggers the Super Free Spins round with at least 10 Free Drops and Loki’s inventory fully active for 500x your bet.
Valhall Gold: Our Verdict
The idea of an afterlife in Valhalla seems to be for those who fell in battle, but perhaps Kane earned a place there, given all of his daring feats. Though it wouldn’t surprise us if he just found it against all logic. He is quite tenacious in that way.
In our eyes, Valhall Gold is an excellent last instalment and a fitting tribute to the gold series overall. When the first few games were released, it stunned us how consistent they kept the games, but how different they made them at the same time. That awe remained until the very end with a final game that varies the formula slightly but in a very effective way.
Valhall Gold leaves the scene a bit quieter than Money Train 4 did, but it doesn’t always come down to win potential. Valhall Gold still boasts of attractive stats, with up to 25,000x as a maximum win.
If you’re a fan of the Gold Series, then Valhall Gold will be another exciting game, although unfortunately the last. It’ll be hard not having another in line to look forward to, but it’s a fitting end, and we commend ELK for having the foresight to end on a high.
