If you have been playing online slots for any length of time, you will undoubtedly know about Play’N’Go by now. This developer seemingly appeared out of nowhere and immediately began pumping out high quality games, and one of the first types of online slot that they focused on was what we refer to today as grid slots. Viking Runecraft is very similar to the earlier game Gemix but uses a much more “manly” theme in place of the cutesy figures and candy crush style symbols of its predecessor. Tellingly, the RTP is roughly the same at 96.70% (although casinos can set lower RTP’s on most Play’N’Go slots if they wish) and it is a cluster pays game – just like Gemix.
Another reason to suspect that this is essentially just a rehashing of the mechanics and math model from Gemix is the fact that there are four base modifiers which can activate at random on any spin, although these have been improved over the ones in Gemix, some of which were very poor to the player. The same world structure is also used, with different gods adding different types of wilds to the screen as you progress through each of the game’s different maps or worlds.
If you have played Gemix then you pretty much know what to expect here, but it’s worth taking a look at our free demo slot of Viking Runecraft anyway because the base modifiers are so much improved from Play’N’Go’s earlier title.
| Provider | Play'n Go |
| Reels | 7 |
| Rows | 7 |
| Paylines | Cluster Pays |
| Bonus Rounds | 3 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 100 |
| Volatility | High |
| RTP | 96.70% |
| Our Rating | 7.7 |
Viking Runecraft Slot Casino Bonuses
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Viking Runecraft Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
The theme is typical Norse mythology – the gods Thor, Odin, Freya and Heimdall all feature as the characters who trigger the games four base modifiers, and the super charge and other bonus features have all been renamed with suitable titles such as “Valhalla” and “Ragnarok”. The graphics do look good, although strangely they don’t appeal to me as much as those used in Gemix – it just feels like the rune stones were thrown together quickly to make a more male-influenced version of Gemix. I suspect the graphics artists were given much more time to work on Gemix than they were on Viking Runecraft online slot. The ridiculously catchy music from Gemix has been replaced with an ambient soundtrack – something I am distinctly torn about. Sure, I hated that music… but I sort of loved it too, at the same time. I think we’ll leave this here.
The math model used in Viking Runecraft looks to be almost identical to Gemix from a quick glance at the paytable. The symbols are a little harder to see without zooming in on my browser, but I guess this was necessary to fit with the “runes” theme. The top symbol is Thor’s hammer, paying 1,000x your stake for a cluster of 15, but then there is a change – the next symbol, the helmet, pays just 250x your stake for a cluster of 15 unlike the heart in Gemix which paid 500x. This RTP all appears to have been redistributed amongst the very top end of the paytable, allowing for a higher maximum win of 5,000x your stake, but this also wildly increases the variance of the game too. So, whilst the two paytables may appear extremely similar at first glance, an hour or two playing these games back-to-back may well have a very different outcome for your bankroll. Choose your stake with care!
Speaking of the stakes, you might think Play’N’Go would have reduced the maximum win to match the increased variance in Viking Runecraft online slot, but as far as I can tell the betting range is still €0.10 to €100.00 in both demo and real money versions of the game at the casinos I frequent.
Base Game & Modifiers
In terms of the base gameplay, seasoned Gemix players should feel right at home – it’s the same 7×7 grid with four modifiers which appear on all “worlds” of the game, but as mentioned in the opening paragraphs, these modifiers are more balanced this time around. In Gemix, the light beam was far more profitable than the other three features – thankfully, you won’t feel instant disappointment the moment you don’t get that one specific “amazing” modifier in Viking Runecraft:
Thor Feature
Somewhat similar to the chain lightning feature in Gemix, the Thor feature strikes the grid with lightning creating up to nine wild symbols, but this time the positions don’t have to be arbitrarily linked from corner to corner, allowing for much more varied and potentially profitable configurations. It’s not the best of the bunch, but it is definitely better than the chain lightning.
Odin Feature
Definitely the weakest of the four features here, but nowhere near as bad as the Crystal Warp – only four wilds are created in groups of two. The advantage here is that these four wilds tend to appear in spots where they are very beneficial to the player. Almost every time this feature activated for me, it would result in a win. Given, it was not usually a huge win, but it was a win nonetheless!
Freya Feature
Possibly the best of the features, although the next one, Heimdall, can also be very profitable on some occasions. The light which Freya shines on the runes will continue creating wilds in clusters of four until a win occurs, so you are essentially hoping for the blocks of four to continue missing each other as long as possible in the hope that eventually three or four of them will line up with existing runes to create a huge win. I did see one big win from this feature during testing, and I can imagine it creating many more given a little more time!
Heimdall Feature
The Heimdall feature adds a wild symbol to all seven rows of the play field. Unlike t he light beam feature from Gemix, these probably won’t appear in a vertical line, but you only need them to land close to each other for a big win to occur.
Note that all four features in Viking Runecraft only appear on losing spins.
Viking Runecraft Slot Bonus Features
Again, as in Gemix, there is no free spins feature or anything like that in Viking Runecraft, but once again Play’N’Go have seen fit to include a few additional features to keep things fresh and interesting as you play through what is an unknown number of different levels:
Runes Bonus Feature
This works similarly to the world bonus in Gemix, except that you collect a set 12% of your previous winnings each time you finish a world or collect wins on all five of the low paying rune stones during a single world. This means you don’t necessarily have to finish a world to collect the bonus, although you will typically find it often ends up that way anyway.
Ragnarok Feature
Just a simple renaming of the supercharge feature from Gemix here, if you win on 40 runes during a single spin your winnings will be multiplied by 3x.
World Wilds Feature
Finally, just as in Gemix, each world features a different way for wilds to be randomly added to the screen at the end of any none-winning spin. Sometimes these will be blocks of wilds, others they will be sticky wilds, and so forth. The bonus wheel on the bottom left gave me some hope that things would be shaken up a little here compared to Gemix, but sadly the wheel is only used for the Runes Bonus feature… a missed opportunity, perhaps?
Viking Runecraft Slot Review Final Thoughts
Whilst Viking Runecraft is undoubtedly a more “manly” version of Gemix, it somehow feels a little rushed compared to Play’N’Go’s previous effort. The light beam feature might have been unbelievably overpowered compared to the other modifiers, but at least hitting it was extremely exciting – the same cannot be said of anything on offer here. As a package, the four modifiers are definitely better, but none of them stand out in the same way as the light beam did. Strangely, it feels like that feature would have been better suited to a higher variance game such as this one. Overall? A bit of a rare miss for Play’N’Go, but I’m sure it will appeal to some players that Gemix does not.
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