Riders of the Storm (Thunderkick): Overview

It’s been close to three months since Thunderkick last showed up with something new, and in a market this cutthroat, that’s practically forever. While many studios are busy fighting for space in the pit, Thunderkick seems perfectly happy to close up shop and disappear to the seaside. Their status as a proven provider has never really been in doubt—they’re sitting on a treasure trove of classics—but the approach is still unusual and, frankly, pretty daring. More than anything, it’s a mañana-mindset our rushed, high-pressure world could probably take notes from.

Luckily, Thunderkick’s long-awaited Riders of the Storm turns out to justify the wait, and you feel it immediately when the impressive splash screen appears. With thunder cracking in the distance and an emotive track looping in the background, the slot genuinely delivers that “calm before the storm” vibe. On the mechanics side, it runs on a 5×3 reel setup with 243 ways to win, so there are no paylines to track. Theme-wise, it leans into steampunk and follows three characters on a rough voyage high above the ground. You can hop aboard the Flying Dutchman from as little as 10 cents up to €/$100 per spin.

From a visual standpoint, Riders of the Storm is top-tier, packed with motion and fine detail. The reels sit in front of a huge storm front, with lanterns dangling from each corner of the frame. Symbols feature 10 to A royals, plus spear-hooks, anchors, and ship wheels, followed by the three key characters—the mechanical engineer, the huntress and the patriarch captain. The captain pays best, awarding 15 times your stake for five of a kind. There’s also the wild, which leads us neatly into the next section…

Riders of the Storm (Thunderkick): Features

The Crystal Ball Wild does more than simply substitute for other symbols in this game—it comes with extra perks too. In the base game, it can land with a 2x multiplier attached. Also during regular play, a randomly triggered Mystery Wild Reels feature can kick in on any spin, turning up to 4 reels into fully stacked wilds. In essence, it resembles the wild storm mechanic from Microgaming’s classic Thunderstorm, though the overall upside isn’t quite as strong.

Keep an eye on the compass scatter—landing 3, 4 or 5 anywhere on the screen awards 2, 20 or 200 times your total stake and launches you into the Free Spins round. Before the feature begins, you’ll need to choose actively, as there are 4 bonus option available. Here’s what you can pick:

• The Mechanical Engineer – Starting with 15 free spins and played with a x2 walking wild, this option is the lowest in terms of volatility (96.14% RTP).
• The Huntress – Starting with 10 free spins and played with a x3 walking wild, this is the medium variance option (96.15% RTP).
• The Patriarch Captain – Starting with 6 free spins and played with a x5 walking wild, this is the most volatile choice and also the one with the biggest potential (96.14%).
• Mystery Option – Will give you a random number of free spins between 6 – 15 and a random walking wild multiplier of between x2 – x5 (96.14% RTP).

Sure, 6 free spins sounds a bit stingy for the high-variance route, but because walking wild multipliers can land and then trigger respins, the feature can still stretch out for a good while. On top of that, it’s fairly generous with retriggers, letting you hit up to three retriggers and collect up to 33 extra spins overall.

Riders of the Storm (Thunderkick): Verdict

Thunderkick has landed a strong release with Riders of the Storm, no question. The sweeping atmosphere is boosted by an otherworldly soundtrack and excellent visuals, creating a genuinely distinctive audiovisual package. It isn’t the most groundbreaking slot ever made, and it leans heavily on familiar mechanics (even if they’re polished up a bit), but it remains engaging and exciting throughout.

One caution, though: the bonus seems to trigger on the rarer side, so be ready for stretches where nothing bonus-related shows up. Even so, it doesn’t feel dull, largely thanks to the randomly activated Mystery Wild Reels feature that keeps the base game lively. And when the bonus does land, things can become even more intense, with the possibility of winning up to 26,426 times your stake. That might be a long shot, but we still managed to crack 1000x on our first attempt (the 6 free spins option), which definitely helped leave a great overall impression.