Vikings Go Berzerk Slot Review
You’re on the deck of a longship, carved dragon-head prows curling up either side of the reels, grim faces staring out from the shields along the hull, a cold northern sky behind everything. Vikings Go Berzerk puts you there and leaves you there. It’s a setting Yggdrasil have since carried to Egypt and to Olympus in the sequels this 2016 game began, and the original stakes a claim those follow-ups never abandoned: that a bonus round can feel like a fight worth waiting for.
It runs on a 5×4 grid with 25 paylines, medium-high volatility, a 96.1% RTP and a 4,000x ceiling, with bets from 0.25 to 125 per spin. Nearly a decade on, the formula has been refined but not bettered. Set sail and see.
Base Game & Features
The grid is five reels by four rows, with 25 fixed paylines running left to right. Wins need three or more identical symbols in sequence from the leftmost position, and only the highest combination on each line pays. The bet is one coin per payline, with the coin value setting your stake.
The reels carry four Viking symbols and four coin symbols. The Vikings are the premiums: a red-bearded raider, a purple warrior in a horned helmet, a green fighter in a skull cap and a blue-shielded woman. The coins are the lows, running from a gold ship design down through silver, bronze and a dark variant.
The wild substitutes for everything except the Free Spin symbols and the treasure chests. At the default 2.50 stake, the paytable reads:
- Red Viking: 3 pays 3.00, 4 pays 10.00, 5 pays 25.00
- Purple Viking: 3 pays 3.00, 4 pays 10.00, 5 pays 20.00
- Green Viking: 3 pays 2.50, 4 pays 7.50, 5 pays 17.50
- Blue Viking: 3 pays 2.00, 4 pays 7.50, 5 pays 15.00
- Gold coin: 3 pays 0.60, 4 pays 3.00, 5 pays 7.00
- Silver coin: 3 pays 0.60, 4 pays 3.00, 5 pays 6.00
- Bronze coin: 3 pays 0.50, 4 pays 2.50, 5 pays 5.00
- Dark silver coin: 3 pays 0.50, 4 pays 2.50, 5 pays 4.00
Where a win starts with three wilds, only the highest interpretation of the line pays. Free Spin symbols don’t sit on paylines at all; they pay scattered. To convert a coin win into your own currency, the total is multiplied by your coin value.
Rage Meters
Each of the four Vikings has a rage meter beside the reels. Every win involving that Viking adds rage, and bigger wins add more. Fill a meter completely and you’re awarded seven free spins with that one Viking in Berzerk mode.
It’s a slow burn by design. The meters make the base game a collecting exercise rather than dead time between bonuses. Four separate meters means four separate projects running at once, and the pace suits patient play.
Treasure Chests
The Treasure Chest always lands on the fourth reel, and it carries five prizes from which you choose one. In the base game the options are a coin win of 2x to 40x your bet, or 7 to 21 free spins.
The chest also lands during free spins, where the prizes step up: coin wins of the same 2x to 40x, two to four extra spins, a wild reel, or one or two extra wilds. Because you’re picking from five, the chest is a genuine choice rather than a reveal.
There’s a Golden Treasure Chest too, on the fifth reel. It holds better coin wins, a higher chance of free spins, a rage boost, and the Ragnarök free spin mode outright.
Vikings Go Berzerk Free Spins & Bonuses
Free spins arrive from three or more Free Spin symbols, or from a treasure chest. The symbol count sets the length: three symbols give seven spins, four give fourteen, and five give twenty-one, each with a bonus attached.
The Wild Fight
During free spins, any Viking that lands fights the siren. Win the fight and the Viking turns into a sticky wild, held in place for the rest of the round. Lose it and the Viking pays nothing for the trouble.
Sticky wilds that accumulate across seven or more spins are where the big results come from. It’s a small piece of theatre with real consequences attached.
Berzerk Mode
A Viking in Berzerk mode always wins against the siren, no dice involved. Every appearance becomes a guaranteed sticky wild. Berzerk Vikings come from completed rage meters, or from the round modifiers below.
The Pre-Spins Bonus
Before your free spins play out, one of five bonuses is awarded at random:
- Ragnarök Free Spins: all four Vikings are Berzerk
- Starting Wild: one sticky wild placed in a random position
- Wild Reel: a sticky wild reel placed on a random reel
- Free Spins: one to three extra spins
- Extra Chests: five extra treasure chests and golden chests added to the reels
Ragnarök is the prize of the set. With every Viking guaranteed to convert, the reels can lock up with sticky wilds fast. It’s also the round the golden chest sells when it offers the mode directly, and the extra chest bonus stacks more of those chests onto the reels while it runs.
The two wild bonuses do quieter work. A starting wild or a sticky wild reel gives the round a head start before the first fight resolves, and with chests still landing on reels four and five, the round can grow well past its starting length. Free spins, on the fifth and final spot of the list, are the plainest of the five: one to three extra spins, nothing else.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.9/10
Nearly a decade on, the bones of Vikings Go Berzerk still hold up, and it’s not hard to see why Yggdrasil kept sending the crew on voyages. The rage meters give the base game a shape most slots of its era never had: every Viking win does two jobs, paying now and building towards a Berzerk round later. The wild fight turns every Viking landing in free spins into a small held breath.
The strength is the chest-and-bonus layer. Between the pick-one chest on reel four, the golden chest on five and the five random pre-spins bonuses, no two bonus entries feel quite the same, and Ragnarök remains one of the better round modes of its generation. The weakness is the pace: four rage meters, a one-in-five hit rate and medium-high volatility mean the build to anything Berzerk can be a long row to hoe.
It suits players who enjoy a long build and don’t need the modern trimmings: there’s no bonus buy, no multiplier ladder, just collecting, fighting and sticky wilds. For everyone else, the later voyages tightened the formula. This is the one where the crew first earned their rage, and it’s still worth shipping out with them.
Vikings Go Berzerk FAQs
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What is the RTP of Vikings Go Berzerk?
The RTP is 96.1%, a solid figure for a medium-high volatility game of this era. -
Is Vikings Go Berzerk high volatility?
It’s rated medium-high, so expect stretches between meaningful wins and sizeable swings when the bonus features land. -
What is the hit frequency of Vikings Go Berzerk?
The hit frequency is 20.9%, which works out to a winning spin roughly one time in five. -
How many paylines does Vikings Go Berzerk have?
There are 25 fixed paylines, paying left to right, with only the highest combination on each line paid. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Vikings Go Berzerk?
Bets run from 0.25 to 125 per spin, adjusted through the coin value. -
What is the maximum win on Vikings Go Berzerk?
The maximum win is 4,000x your bet. -
How do you trigger free spins in Vikings Go Berzerk?
Land three or more Free Spin symbols for 7, 14 or 21 spins, or hit a treasure chest. Completing a Viking’s rage meter also awards seven free spins with that Viking in Berzerk mode. -
When is Vikings Go Berzerk released?
Vikings Go Berzerk’s release date is 23 November 2016.
