Viking Runecraft 1000: Slot Overview
Software provider Play'n GO has returned to the world of Norse mythology to make Viking Runecraft 1000, a redesign of the original Viking Runecraft slot to fit the developer's 1000 series. In the process, the studio has removed almost all of the gameplay found in the original and replaced it with a scatter pays, multiplier symbol combination. As a result, players who were hoping to find a newly updated, refreshed version of the 2017 classic are going to be sorely disappointed. Since, to expedite the process, Play'n GO has simply switched skins, providing players with Rise of Olympus 1000 dressed in Viking Runecraft clothing, where the new wrapper encloses a game that is closer to a thematic spin-off than a true sequel.
Wrap up warm because Viking Runecraft 1000's base game is situated in an inhospitably icy patch of earth, where the rocks are jagged, and the snow forever drifts in. Equally intimidating are characters displayed one at a time next to the grid, such as Freya, Thor, and Heimdall. This time, they are for show, as they don't interact with the action the way they have in previous Viking Runecraft games. In fact, they don't really do anything other than look imposing since the Gift of the Gods feature is absent from Viking Runecraft 1000. The scene completely shifts to one of dense heat for free spins, while the music is dramatic at all times, and you can see why players are continually drawn to this topic.
Where Viking Runecraft utilised cluster pays, Viking Runecraft 1000 makes use of scatter pays, meaning 8 or more matching symbols landing in any grid positions create a winning combination. The winning symbols are removed, and the grid is refilled. Cascades repeat like this till no new win forms. This is a highly volatile slot, played on a 6x5 gaming area. Players may stake $/€0.10 to $/€50, and get a theoretical max RTP of 96.24%.
From the bottom of the paytable on up, we find axes, what looks like a piece of a necklace, a helmet, a hammer, three circle symbols, and three character symbols. Winning combinations of 8 OAK are worth 0.1x-0.8x, or a 12+ OAK win awards 0.9x-9x the bet. Wild symbols do not land in the game.
Viking Runecraft 1000: Slot Features
Viking Runecraft 1000 veers sharply away from the original slot when it comes to features, as players can look forward to Multipliers, free spins, and the GO Ultra ante bet.
Multipliers
Multiplier symbols may land on the reels, and they have 15 stages going from x2 to x1,000. Multipliers multiply the total win at the end of each base game spin or free spin. If more than one multiplier is in view, they are added together before being used up to a max of x3,013. If multipliers are on the grid and the round cascades, there is a chance they upgrade by +1 stage.
When a multiplier is upgraded for the first time, it increases by +1 stage. When multipliers that have already been upgraded once are on the grid, and a cascade occurs, there is a chance to trigger Volatile Upgrade, which increases them from one stage higher up to the final stage. Volatile Upgrade can trigger multiple times to multipliers that have been upgraded at least once during cascades.
Free Spins
Landing 3 or more scatters in the base game awards 12 free spins. Players win an extra +3 free spins during the feature when 3+ scatters hit, up to 36. What changes in free spins is that any multipliers used in a win are accumulated (up to x3,013) until the last round of the feature.
GO Ultra
If GO Ultra is activated, it guarantees landed multipliers upgrade by one stage higher. The GO Ultra adds 50% to the stake.
Viking Runecraft 1000: Slot Verdict
Kind of weird, and disappointing, that beyond the skin, Viking Runecraft 1000 bears almost no resemblance to the original Viking Runecraft. Or maybe not so weird when you consider the way it was cloned from Rise of Olympus 1000, itself not resembling the original Rise of Olympus release beneath the veneer. Both seem constructed more to take on Pragmatic Play's hugely popular wider family of Gates of Olympus slots than as a continuation of any grand tradition. If you were under the impression Play'n GO was stuck in a rut, releasing low-thrill local jackpot slots or relying heavily on past glories, then Viking Runecraft 1000 is only going to reinforce those ideas. It's an odd game, digging up one of the studio's older classics, tearing off the skin, then stapling it onto the mechanisms found in Rise of Olympus 1000.
That said, the gameplay itself is not without merit. The scatter pay system, combined with escalating multipliers, has obvious potential, though whether it will ever hit the advertised 60,000x is a wonder. It's unconvincing whether Viking Runecraft 1000 is a clear Gates beater, but it gives that scatter pay mega hit a fairly decent run for its money, and it has a theoretically very large multiplier cap. It was not for nought that Pragmatic Play struck success, and some of what made Gates compelling spills over to Viking Runecraft 1000, as well.
Still, it was hard to escape the thought that Viking Runecraft 1000 revisits a popular intellectual property more for branding purposes than for any wild slot evolution. While the Norse setting has plenty of atmosphere and the scatter pays and multiplier combo can no doubt produce moments of excitement, it's hard to ignore how far removed this 1000 release is from what made the original Viking Runecraft stand out. In the end, Viking Runecraft 1000 feels less like a continuation of a beloved franchise and more like a template-driven redesign slung out the door to fulfil a gruelling corporate quota.
Viking Runecraft 1000 has moments, but it also comes across as a corporate skin swap that tears out many of the things which made the original successful in the first place.
