Join Ragnor Lothbrok, Lagertha, Loki, and Bjorn Ironside in this new game based on the hit T.V series; and just like the characters it follows, this game lands with ferocity.
This is the first of two new branded slots that NetEnt have signed contracts for, the other being Narcos which is due for release in the first quarter of 2019 after a deal was struck with the production company Gaumont.
Vikings itself is a 5 reel slot with 243 paylines, but if you are lucky it can become a 7 reel grid with a ridiculous 78, 125 ways to win during Raid Spins (hold your horses, more below). That should give you plenty of opportunity for pillaging the reels.
NetEnt have made this a visually appealing title too, with superb graphics blending action screenshots from the series and jagged metal playing card symbols to create a world full of steel and blood. The soundtrack and FX complete the scene by adding tension and drawing you in.
Features
With a big title like this, you would expect a barrel full of features and Vikings doesn’t disappoint.
The Hotspot Feature is the most likely to show up: if a fully stacked character lands on reel three all other character symbols on the reels will change to replicate it, giving you more chances to win.
This can bag you anything from 6 to 200,000 coins depending on how many face characters you had on the reels at the time the Hotspot occurred.
Shield Wall is a randomly triggered feature and comes with a good solid battle cry from Lagartha before the shield wall itself comes down.
The shield wall covers a random area on the reels and then changes all covered symbols into a randomly chosen one, at which point the pays are re-evaluated and hopefully grant you some decent returns.
What’s that phrase? The best defence is a good offence.
Finally, Raid Spins. This is where you can see the most impressive wins because the grid opens up to a 7 x 5 with a clearly defined box in the middle. However, it will take some patience to get there.
Land 3 of the Raid Spins shield symbols in the base game and you will be granted 7 Raid Spins, during which an extra two Hotspot reels turn active in the box and behave as described above. With the oversized grid this can potentially pay out huge sums.
Battle Report
A lot of the numbers seem big but the chances of hitting them are very low, and this is quite a volatile slot so make sure you have a bankroll and the patience to cope with that. Nevertheless, players are reporting successful sessions and it is possible to win more than 600x your stake in the base game.
Many people are hailing Vikings as a welcome return to form for NetEnt, who have fallen from grace somewhat in recent times when it comes to new games, at least. Others complain that the balance is off.
In our opinion, it is certainly stylistically impressive and fun to play, and has already shown that it can produce the goods to some degree when it comes to big wins – although we are still waiting for someone to report that theoretical 10,000x top prize.