Vikings Fortune: Hold and Win slot review

Vikings Fortune: Hold and Win brings the frozen North to our doorstep where Vikings struggle to hold onto their hard-fought treasures, protected with free spins and bonus games.

Originally developed by Playson and released in 2019, Vikings Fortune: Hold and Win is one of the newest games that came from this developer. For me, they have a reputation for creating excellent slots that nonetheless stay close to the classic slot experience. Where developers like Yggdrasil or NetEnt are a little more prone to experiment, Playson prefers to perfect the most popular type of game.

Vikings Fortune: Hold and Win is seemingly set in Scandinavia back when the Vikings were at the height of their power. The background shows us an icy fjord with a temple on the side. The 5-reel, 3-row playing field has 25 paylines and has different Viking characters as well as animals associated with Viking culture.

The graphics are very sharp and well-drawn, showing the different symbols in great detail. The background looks like an original art piece that helped me a lot in emerging myself in the setting. Some of the symbols are animated but most of them are static. All in all, I found it enjoyable to look at without it wowing me.

The music is rather low-key during the base game, with a barely audible rumble in the background as the reels spin. Only when there’s a win are we treated to a short jingle. Getting 2 Scatters will cause the last reels to spin longer while a drum builds up the tension. When the bonus game or free spins mode activate, there is a more active song playing. As I got further into the game, I liked the sound design more and more!

Symbols

Vikings Fortune: Hold and Win has a set of symbols that are partly based on Vikings and the other half are high cards. The high card symbols are unfortunately just basic letters, it didn’t seem like the developers tried to incorporate it in the Viking theme at all.

The symbols are from highest to lowest:

• Wild: Substitutes all other symbols in the game except the Scatter and Bonus symbols. Max. 200x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.
• Treasure Chest (Scatter): Get 3 on the screen at the same time to activate the Free Spins mode. Get 8 free spins when it activates. Pays 5x your bet with three-of-a-kind on the playing field.
• Gold Coin (Bonus): With 5 or more Gold Coins on the screen the bonus game starts.
• Viking: Max. 20x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.
• Female Viking: Max. 12x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.
• Wolf: Max. 8x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.
• Raven: Max. 6x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.
• Ace: Max. 2x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.
• King: Max. 2x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.
• Queen: Max. 2x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.
• Jack: Max. 2x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning payline.

The payouts for the different symbols are quite low, even with five-of-a-kind. This is slightly offset because there aren’t a lot of symbols in the game. With its Medium Volatility, I did find it quite easy to get wins but they weren’t too high. The Bonus Game and Free Spins mode did make up for that a lot, which fits the listed volatility.

Features

The slot keeps things relatively simple. The different features aren’t something that nobody has seen before, but they are presented in a clear and obvious way to keep confusion to a minimum.

The features are:

• Wilds: The game randomly adds Wilds to the reels. These substitute all other symbols in the game except the Scatter and Bonus symbols. They have their own value when making up a payline on their own.
• Bonus Game: With 5 or more Bonus Symbols on the screen at the same time the Bonus Game starts. The playing field is empty except for Bonus symbols. For a number of spins, Bonus symbols can be added to the playing field. Each bonus symbol has a coin value on it. At the end of the Bonus Game, all coin values are added up and rewarded.
• Free Spins: With a Scatter symbol on reels 1, 3 and 5 the Free Spins mode starts. Players are awarded 8 free spins.
• Colossal Symbols: During Free Spins mode, Colossal symbols are added to the game. These can be different sizes, from 2x2 to 3x3.

The Free Spins mode and the added Colossal Symbols really paid off for me, resulting in some big wins. The issue was getting to the Free Spins mode because that did not happen very often. Activating it would grant me 8 free spins which were plenty to get a good win out of it. I didn’t see any Colossal Wild Symbols, unfortunately. They might be in there but if they are, they’re pretty rare!

The Bonus Game was a nice quick addition to the game, with a decent payout. The way Bonus Symbols were added was a little vague and if the game spun but didn’t add any symbols, the only way to tell was to see the counter go down. There wasn’t any other indication I didn’t get a new symbol added. Again, this feature sometimes resulted in some quite substantial wins. It did trigger more often than the Free Spins mode.

It reminded me a lot of Narcos by NetEnt. That slot had the same Bonus Game and Free Spins mode but those were a bit more extravagant. I reckon if you prefer the barebones version of these Features, Vikings Fortune: Hold and Win will suit you better.

In Conclusion

Vikings Fortune: Hold and Win is a slot that plays and looks great. It stays close to the classic video slot idea with some popular features and a quick playstyle. I enjoyed it mostly because it doesn’t look to do anything spectacular. Instead, it stayed close to what it was comfortable with and I’m sure a lot of players will appreciate that.

The symbols were beautiful but also a little standard, especially the card symbols. Even though the game uses runes in the slot, they somehow decided not to incorporate those into the symbols. I found that a little disappointing but not enough to downgrade my recommendation.

Players who are looking for something either even more classic or who are looking for the games that push the boundaries of what slots can be won’t find that here. This is an honest, deliberate attempt by Playson to deliver a sturdy slot without too much or too little decoration.

With the ability to choose a bet between £0.25 and £100 per spin as well as the prospect of a max. win of 1,435x your bet players can decide how exciting they want to make it. I found that going for a larger bet could pay off but it was also riskier as the medium volatility sometimes resulted in a dozen or more spins without a single win. That is sure to deplete your funds rapidly!