The term “Gates of Valhalla” brings up some striking visuals in a Google image search. Having lived the life of a warrior, you stand at the portal, ready to enter Asgard and prepare alongside Odin and the other gods for Ragnarök. Not a horrible place to go once you die, and one that continues to fascinate the minds of slot machine manufacturers. Pragmatic Play is one development firm that has gone this way before, and done it rather well. An unconventionally operated slot machine with roving wild multipliers has been installed this time near to the massive gates. They’ve upped their normal potential as well, so there’s even more reason to give Gates of Valhalla a shot.
Unless you’re a huge fan of the cold and frost, Pragmatic Play’s Gates of Valhalla isn’t as appealing as the company’s other Norse-themed slots like Power of Thor Megaways. Then Gates of Valhalla’s rough, hilly terrain is perfect for some mythical mayhem. Even if the color palette has no bearing on gameplay, the unusual brightness of the symbols may give pause, even when the concept is powerful. There are elements of Towering Pays Valhalla, Volatile Vikings, and Jammin’ Jars all at play here.
Winning combinations on the 5×5 game board’s 10 paylines occur when at least three identical symbols appear in a row, either at the top, bottom, left, right, or center. The game is extremely risky, with an RTP range of 96.46% to 96.6% (or even more if you purchase extra spins). Bets each spin may be anywhere from 20 pence and £/€100, and you can play on any device.
There are four suit symbols (diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades) for lower payouts, and three different colored faces (premiums) for higher payouts. Five matching symbols in a row pay off between 2.5 and 5 times the wager, while five matching high-pay symbols pay out between 10 and 75 times the wager. The golden lion acts as a wild that may replace any icon other than the ones that trigger free spins. In addition, it does the next set of impressive feats.
Slot Features: The Gates to Valhalla
In addition to being able to substitute for other symbols, wilds may move about the board, increasing multipliers as they do so. This happens both in the regular game and the free spins bonus round, when a win multiplier that stays in effect the whole round is implemented.
Rollover Function
The Tumble feature occurs at all times and clears the reels of winning symbols, making room for fresh symbols to fall into the empty positions. Only when no new victories arise does the falling stop.
In the Wild
During the rolling action, the wild icon does not detonate. When a wild is part of a winning combination, it doesn’t explode along with the other symbols; rather, it shifts to a new location on the board. The wild’s win multiplier is increased by one for each successive winning combination it contributes to in the same roll after it has moved. This occurs up to a factor of 5. When the multiplier is employed in a subsequent win and reaches x5, it “explodes” off the board. If a win involves several wilds, the multipliers will be multiplied together.
Bonus Turns
Free games of 10, 12, or 15 spins will be awarded for seeing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols. An overall win multiplier is active for the whole period of free spins. A tumble sequence’s final win value is multiplied by this amount. Without resetting in between spins, it begins at x1 and rises by +1 after each tumble. There is no cap on the number of times free spins may be retriggered.
Money for Spins
The free spins feature appears frequently, and the main game has a wandering wild to help break up the waiting time. Players who can’t stand the prospect of waiting around can instead spend 100 times their wager on free spins.
Judgment at the Slots of Valhalla
Gates of Valhalla started off slowly but picked up steam toward the end. While the game’s neon visuals didn’t always wow us at first, early playthroughs ranged from pleasing to exciting. The frequency of triggering free spins is considerable, and the combination of cascades, a wandering multiplier wild, and an unconventional payment structure makes for a fun gameplay experience. The growing multipliers and occasional assistance from Wilds during excellent tumbling sequences are nice bonuses. The most thrilling moments of the game were when more than one wild was active at once, which happened extremely seldom.
Although you can accomplish this in the main game, the allure of the progressive win multiplier made it tempting to instead just click the feature purchase button repeatedly. However, not every free spin was a walk in the park, and occasionally there might be no wilds at all during a bonus round. Needless to say, those weren’t very effective, and the global victory multiplier by itself wasn’t enough to get very far without some crazy help. Results may be rather excellent, however, since up to five wilds appeared on-screen at once, and the global win multiplier is added to the total win of all tumbles. This resulted in rewards of 500x or more during testing.
Although slots based on Norse mythology are plentiful, Pragmatic Play’s latest entry is nonetheless interesting. It may not have the finest visuals or atmosphere, but it has all the essentials to keep players engaged after a high-stakes session, including a reasonable chance of winning and a novel mode of operation.