Asgardian Stones
Perhaps it is not a surprise that NetEnt has bet on another game with Norse mythology as its theme. Not only for the success of the film “Thor: Ragnarok " released in 2017, but also for the fact that the NetEnt be a Swedish company, and therefore play "at home" by adopting this theme. In any case, the power of the mythological gods of ancient Scandinavia always opens new doors for slot machine lovers to let themselves be seduced, in this game that also recovers the fictional kingdom of Asgard, Marvel's creation.
Game features
Asgardian Stones features 5 reels and 3 lines, with 20 paylines. The game has a dynamic similar to the famous “Cascading Reels” inspired by Tetris, with the apparent vertical fall of the symbols resulting in an explosion of the winning lines and with the symbols immediately above, as if moved by the law of gravity, ”falling” to the respective places left vacant.
The “normal " symbols, evoking the Thor movies and the runes
vikings
(namely in the representations of the playing card), occupy a single “house”. However, colossal (occupying 2×2 squares) and super-colossal (occupying 3×3 Squares, more than half of the playing surface) symbols will appear.
Bonus
The bonuses in this game are a bit different than usual. The " lucky wheel “is a set of 3×3 symbols, which should appear to the right (on reels 3 to 5) and will offer free spins or a cash prize” indexed “to the player's bet (it can be 1, 2 or 5 times the bet amount). You can win up to 15 free spins and reactivate to get up to 25 extra spins.
Not being a bonus game per se, the “Colossal Crush” mode can be considered as such due to the extra unpredictability it brings. In this mode, the giant symbols do not stop falling and “destroy” the symbols from below, with large-scale winnings.
Graphical effects and compatibility with all platforms
NetEnt ensures compatibility with mobile platforms along with desktop gameplay, and there is no doubt that this game (running on HTML5 technology) is graphically quite appealing. Some critics point out to Asgardian Stones the problem that the multiplier effect (2 to 4 times) only arises in conjunction with the appearance of the colossal symbols, which can be a bit reductive compared to other games. Nevertheless, its RTP rate of 96% is reasonably in line with the average in this type of slot machines and it can be quite visually appealing – the idea of giant boulders falling and offering prizes appears as if a Norse god is throwing giant pebbles at the player's bad luck, destroying it with a frisson of victory.