Volatile Vikings: Slot Overview
Viking-themed slots are the kind of games that never really disappear. It’s a go-to setting for designers who keep coming back to the idea to give their releases a bit of extra power and drama. Luckily, studios like Relax Gaming can take a familiar concept like Vikings and still deliver something that feels fresh. Volatile Vikings blends a recognisable Relax style with a pay-in-all-position win mechanic and collectable multipliers, building towards a free spins round.
Volatile Viking plays out across two distinct phases: the base game and the bonus, with one set in a cold blue, icy north and the other on a fire-filled, red-lit screen. In that sense it’s a little Song of Ice & Fire, and the epic Game of Thrones-like soundtrack strengthens the comparison. Curiously, there aren’t any actual Viking characters on the reels, but the premium symbols bring plenty of character by chanting a tune whenever they land in winning combinations. It sounds odd on paper, yet it works surprisingly well in motion. Overall, Volatile Vikings delivers a distinctive, almost mystical atmosphere, helped along by the smart feature set Relax has put together.
One of the more unusual elements in Volatile Vikings is how it pays. Rather than requiring wins to start from the left side, symbols pay from any position. The reels are set up in a 6-reel, 5-row formation, and whenever 8 or more matching symbols land, the cascade mechanic is activated. As the title hints, Volatile Vikings is a highly volatile slot, with a healthy RTP of 96.23%, and staking options ranging from 10 p/c to $/€100 per spin.
Looking at the paytable, there are nine standard symbols in total: four lower-paying rune icons and five premium symbols. The top tier is represented by five carved wooden faces, which feel surprisingly lively thanks to their animations and the songs they sing when part of a win. Wins are based on how many matching symbols are present by the end of a cascade chain. For premium symbols specifically, landing 12+ delivers payouts of 10 to 50 times the stake.
Volatile Vikings: Slot Features
Players get access to both cascades and a multiplier reveal mechanic in every phase, which can help push wins higher while you spin in pursuit of free spins – or purchase them where that option is available.
The cascade feature activates after any win, clearing the winning symbols from the grid. The remaining symbols then drop into the empty spaces, which can create additional wins from the same spin. Cascades stop once no further win is formed.
At the start of each spin, 2 multiplier reveal symbols appear on reels 3 and 4. Each of these special symbols shows a counter and a multiplier value. The counter ticks down by one with every winning cascade during that spin. When it reaches zero, the multiplier triggers and then explodes adjacent symbols (up to 8), opening space for new symbols to fall in. Once the spin ends, all triggered multiplier values are added together and applied to the total win.
The locked chests act as scatter symbols, and landing 3 awards 6 free spins. Each extra bonus symbol adds +1 additional spin. In free spins, the multiplier reveal symbols behave the same as in the base game, with the key difference that the win multiplier is persistent for the entire feature and is applied at the end of each spin. Bonus symbols that land during the round also award an extra spin, extending the feature.
If feature purchase is permitted in your location, players can buy it for 100x the total bet. After purchase, the round begins with a guaranteed free spins trigger.
Volatile Vikings: Slot Verdict
Living up to its slightly tongue-in-cheek title, Volatile Vikings really is a high-volatility bruiser. But it’s not only the math model doing the heavy lifting—Relax has nailed the overall package. Visually, Volatile Vikings looks excellent, with that familiar Relax Gaming vibe—the cute, sprite-like style seen in titles such as Snake Arena and Hellcatraz. The fire-and-ice presentation adds extra flavour, and the Game of Thrones-style soundtrack is genuinely impressive. The tone sits in a sweet spot: not overly cartoony and not relentlessly grim. The absence of actual Vikings is a little odd, though it’s hardly a deal-breaker.
On the gameplay side, everything runs smoothly and delivers plenty of entertaining sequences. The pay-anywhere approach isn’t brand new—Pragmatic Play’s Sweet Bonanza uses something similar—but it’s still not a mechanic you see everywhere, which helps the game stand out. At first glance, the 8-12 symbol win requirements on the paytable can look like a mistake. Once you play, it becomes clear how well those numbers fit with the cascades and the multiplier reveal system. Base-game multipliers feel great once they start firing and stacking, but the real excitement comes from their persistent behaviour in free spins, where the potential ramps up dramatically. This is where Volatile Vikings can turn into the kind of slot that’s tough to walk away from when it hits a strong run, and where wins of up to 20,000 times the bet are on the table.
One small irritation is how snowballs keep smacking the feature buy button when the reels aren’t spinning. It’s not a major issue—just a minor distraction that disappears once the action starts. Beyond that, Volatile Viking makes strong use of its ideas, and it’s easy to slip back into its fire & ice setting and stay there for a while. As the name suggests, it can feel like a wild war hammer at times due to the volatility, but it’s a genuinely distinctive Viking themed slot and a lot of fun to play.
Don’t Miss
If this one was up your alley, the sequel Volatile Vikings 2 Dream Drop could be worth a look too. It includes Relax Gaming’s Dream Drop jackpot feature, turning it into a slot with massive win potential.
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ProviderRelax Gaming
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RTP96.23% (97.0% bonus buy)
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VolatilityHigh
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Reels6
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Rows5
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PaylinesScatter Pays
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Min/Max Bet0.10/100
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Max Win20,000x
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Hit Freq26.98%
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Release DateSeptember 21, 2021