Vikings (NetEnt): Introduction

Earlier this year at an iGaming conference, NetEnt unveiled not one but two major blockbuster releases – Narcos and Vikings. When the first details surfaced, Yggdrasil’s third Vikings slot was just around the corner, so it was natural to question whether NetEnt might end up copying Yggdrasil. As it turns out, these are completely different games, as you’ll notice. For anyone unfamiliar with the Vikings tv-series, it’s a historical drama produced for the History channel and HBO. The story follows Ragnar Lothbrok, the legendary Viking ruler, and his crew as they pursue their exploits as told in old sagas such as Ragnars saga Loðbrókar from the 13th century. Fans of the show will be pleased to spot the familiar actors from the series featured on the reels.

The scale of the visuals wasn’t unexpected, but we still have to admit the powerful intro caught us off guard and immediately set the tone while raising expectations. Once inside the game, it was a pleasant surprise to find a win-all-ways format, which is fairly uncommon for NetEnt and something they used to great effect in Jungle Spirit released in 2017.

If you know the series, the atmosphere will feel instantly familiar as soon as you load in. If you don’t, you’ll still likely admire the effort NetEnt put into the presentation, with the reels placed in a cold, bleak Norse setting of towering hills descending toward an icy lake. And don’t worry too much about the solitary raven keeping an eye on you!

As noted earlier, Vikings is a slot that doesn’t use pay lines. The 243 ways system means you win when 3 or more matching symbols land anywhere on consecutive reels. In the base game, Vikings runs on a 5×3 layout, but during the free spins feature it expands to a 7×5 grid, boosting the win potential to a huge 78,125 ways.

On top of that, the slot includes several different features, which we’ll break down in more detail below. It’s available across all devices, and the betting range runs from €0.20 to €200 per spin. The fairly high maximum stake is actually a hint that this isn’t a super high potential title. The 96.05% return to player is standard and sits comfortably within the usual range.

Vikings (NetEnt): Symbols & Features

Vikings features 10 symbols in total, with 5 low-value icons shown as 10, J, Q, K, and A forged in steel and splashed with blood. Since this is a licensed, branded slot, the premium symbols are characters from the series, although the Vikings logo is used as the highest-paying symbol, awarding 0.5x for 5 of a kind. Premium symbols can appear stacked on the reels in both the base game and the free spins round. Notably, there’s no Wild symbol at all, which likely made room for the additional premium character.

One of the core mechanics is the Hotspot feature. In the base game, reel 3 is highlighted with an electric effect to mark it out. When a stacked Viking symbol lands and completely covers the third reel, every other Viking symbol will change into that same symbol. The key point is that the Viking symbols don’t need to connect, as all Viking symbols are counted when calculating wins.

There’s also a random mechanic called the Shield Wall Feature. It may trigger at any moment in both the base game and the free spins feature, appearing as a cluster of 3×2 or 5×2 shield mystery symbols in random positions on the reels. The shields then reveal a premium symbol and the game evaluates the resulting wins. This feature will not trigger while the Hotspot feature is active.

7 free spins are triggered by landing 3 scatter symbols on reels 3, 4 and 5. The bonus can’t retrigger because scatter symbols are removed during the free spins round, but there’s still plenty of potential in what’s called the Raid Spins . Essentially, it’s more of the same action, but with a much larger reel set that significantly increases the possibilities. The 5×3, 243 win ways layout becomes 7×5, 78,125 win ways, and the single Hotspot reel expands to cover the three middle reels.

As in the base game, if a Viking symbol lands on any of the Hotspot reels, all other Viking symbols will convert into that symbol. If two different Viking symbols fully cover the Hotspot reels, the one positioned furthest to the left is selected as the transforming symbol. Thanks to the Hotspot feature, it’s possible to hit wins of up to 10,000 times the stake on a single spin, which is certainly impressive!

Vikings (NetEnt): Conclusion

Vikings has a strong chance of becoming NetEnt’s best release since Jungle Spirit. Yes, it can feel a little frustrating when you run into dead spins and plenty of low-paying bonus rounds despite the enormous number of win ways, though to be fair, some providers are much worse in this regard.

Vikings is unquestionably a mega potential slot, yet it isn’t anywhere near as punishing as Novomatic or Merkur slots tend to be, just for comparison. On top of that, Vikings feels well balanced, with enough going on to keep players entertained and engaged.