Thunderstruck Stormblitz: Slot Overview
A good number of online slot players are no doubt aware of the Norse God of Thunder, Thor, and in the online slot Thunderstruck Stormblitz, software provider Stormcraft Studios pairs him up with Thyra, known in this game as the Goddess of Lightning. Both deities of the storm are linked to a Stormblitz Tower, which is able to bestow various items of desire, such as free spins, cash prizes, and jackpots. We're a long way from the legendary Great Hall of Spins, but that feature did come out a long time ago, so how about we find out how this current tower idea fares?
If there are any nephologists in the audience, then Thunderstruck Stormblitz could very well be the game for you. Behind the grid and the prize list and the rest of the UI, a terrifying storm is brewing. Stormcraft has lived up to its name when it pulled in the pixels to paint some gorgeously frightening clouds, flaring up as lightning ominously flashes. Really, it's like being up there in the sky in a plane, hoping that the pilot is planning to fly as far away from the rising maelstrom as possible. Free spins flip the scene, moving away from 'dramatic skies of Asgard' to the 'shadowed depths of Nidavellir'.
In the base game, Thunderstruck Stormblitz is played on a 5x3 reel set, with 30 paylines. The math model has been rated as highly volatile, and of the three possible RTPs, 96.5% is the biggest. Stake selection ranges from $/€0.20 at the least and $/€25 at the most, with three feature buys also present.
Runic-style J-A card ranks are joined by jugs, orbs, rings, horn mugs, and boxes on the paytable. Landing 5 matching royals pays 1x to 1.5x the bet, while the remaining pay symbols award 2x to 10x for 5 OAK. Collect symbols are wild, so they replace any regular paying symbols in a win. Collect symbols land on all reels except the leftmost reel.
Thunderstruck Stormblitz: Slot Features
The game gets its name from the Stormblitz Tower feature, which is linked to various prizes and multipliers. There is also a free spins round and feature buys.
Stormblitz Tower
The Stormblitz Tower displays various cash prizes, free spins, and jackpots. Trigger symbols appear on the leftmost reel and can be stacked. Each landed Trigger symbol activates each Collect symbol in view to collect a prize from the Stormblitz Tower. The golden jackpot Collect symbol awards free bonus spins or 1 of 5 jackpots worth between 8x and 2,000x the bet. Blue cash Collect symbols award 1 of 6 cash prizes worth between 0.5x and 5x the bet. Cash Collect symbols can randomly upgrade to jackpot Collect symbols.
Stormblitz Tower Multiplier
Tower multiplier symbols appear on the leftmost reel. Landing one awards an x1 to x5 multiplier to one or more Stormblitz Tower prizes. During the Stormblitz Tower feature, the multiplier is applied to the awarded prize. Multipliers randomly reset from x1 to x5 after any prize award in the base game, but do not reset after prize awards in free spins. Multipliers persist between the base game and the free spins feature.
Free Spins
There are two ways of winning free spins. One is from the Stormblitz Tower, the other is by landing 3 scatters on the leftmost, middle, and rightmost reels. Both award 8 free spins. For free spins, the reels grow to 5x5, and paylines increase to 50. Any multiplier on the bonus spins prize on the Stormblitz Tower applies to all line wins during the free spins round. Landing 2 or 3 scatters awards +3 or +8 free spins, respectively.
Feature Buys
8 free spins with 12-20, 24-32, or 40-48 +1 multipliers applied randomly to Stormblitz Tower prizes can be bought for 100x, 200x, or 300x the stake, respectively.
Thunderstruck Stormblitz: Slot Verdict
Thunderstruck might be an iconic series, yet the latter-day reboots, despite their commercial success, have yet to reach the same levels of slot cultural status as the earlier Games Global/Microgaming editions, Thunderstruck 2 in particular. Thunderstruck Stormblitz, while good at what it does, also doesn't seem destined to match the originals' influence. Though when considering the features Thunderstruck Stormblitz comes with, bold innovation doesn't appear to have been the primary goal here. Instead, Thunderstruck Stormblitz delivers proven mass market favourites - cash collection and jackpot prizes, though the way it goes about delivering these rewards has a whiff of originality.
It comes back to the Stormblitz Tower, which shows players exactly what is up for grabs. Thyra multiplier symbols play well with this idea, since she is able to place multiplier values on the tower, positively affecting the payout values. Then it's a matter of landing Trigger symbols and Collect symbols on the grid at the same time to start collecting those prizes. When that is happening alongside the enthusiastic commentary, the action can be quite amusing. Potentially quite financially beneficial too, as Thunderstruck Stormblitz has a 10,000x max win - the biggest jackpot prize multiplied by an x5.
In the end, Thunderstruck Stormblitz struggles to step out of the shadow of its towering predecessor, but it may still scratch the itch for players who enjoy jackpot hunting and prize-collecting mechanics, especially those with a soft spot for the Norse mythology that defines this illustrious slot series.
Thunderstruck Stormblitz offers polished jackpot-collecting action with a few neat twists, but it ultimately plays it safe and never quite escapes the shadow of the series' classic entries.
