Mortal Bromance

Mortal Bromance: Slot Overview

You know something is up when an online slot starts with a content warning, as developer Shady Lady's release Mortal Bromance does. Before leaping into the action, the studio wants players to know this 'game is a work of satire and parody', and once in play, it makes sense that Shady Lady felt the need to cover its butt. Mortal Bromance contains a trio of characters who look very much like… Well, apparently, 'Any resemblance to real persons is coincidental', so players are free to draw any comparisons they like, really. And so, if this mysterious beginning has spiked your curiosity, it's time to brave the weird world of ego, rapacious greed, questionable morals, hubris, and naked narcissism Shady Lady has cooked up for this game.

Mortal Bromance begins its romance in the locker room, a place where boys will be boys and all that, and already, sprinkled around the place are hints, some subtle, some not so, about what sort of game this is. Basically, as the warning says, Mortal Bromance is a parody, chock full of humorous touches, taking jabs at certain figures, unafraid to say out loud what some may be mumbling quietly. It's the sort of slot Alfred E. Neuman might have made, and like all good parody, behind Mortal Bromance's humour and pierced nipples, lie serious questions, one being how the heck did we get to this point in humanity's evolution where these are our leaders, our captains of industry, the people serving as examples of our 'best and brightest'?

The gaming grid is a 5x4 space laid out on the floor, which has 1,024 ways to evaluate regular winning combinations and a scatter pays system when special character symbols hit. Shady has rated the math model volatility as 9 out of 10, so it is high, and the RTP is 96.2%. The Store is here, bulging with feature buy options while the base bet range is $/€0.10 to $/€50.

Mortal Bromance's regular pay symbols are very tongue-in-cheek and include a sink, a tape, a bottle of cognac, shoes, a zip file, ketamine, plane tickets, and a chainsaw. Landing 5 OAK combinations of these symbols pays 0.3x to 2x the bet. The golden Pax Trumpicana coin is wild, so it substitutes for all regular paying symbols. Land five wilds in a win of their own, and they pay 2x.

Mortal Bromance: Slot Features

Scatter paying character symbols provide further titillation, joined by a multiplying Towel Reveal feature, the Bronus round, Super Bronus, and the Store's buy options.

Character Symbols

On any spin, one of three types of character symbols may hit. They are Bronald, Mollusk, and Cheezy, worth 10x, 20x, and 30x the stake for 5 OAK, respectively. These symbols pay from any position as long as at least 3 matching ones are in view.

Towel Reveal

When a character symbol forms a winning combination, each symbol may reveal a multiplier from under its towel of x2 to x1,000. If more than one multiplier is revealed, their values are added together.

Bronus

Landing 3 Bronus scatters triggers 5 free spins in the Bronus Game. During this feature, more than one type of character symbol may appear on any spin. A random character is initially selected as the current champion, carrying the championship belt. If more than three symbols appear, and multiple character types are in view, a fight breaks out. The current champ is always one of the fighters. If there are two character types, they fight each other; if there are three character types, the champ fights one, then the winner fights the last one.

Each fighter has 3, 4, 5, or 6 hearts when there are 1, 2, 3, or 4 symbols, respectively, on the grid. The championship belt has a multiplier displayed on the jumbotron above the grid. A random fighter then attacks. If successful, the opponent loses 1 heart. If blocked, nothing happens, and a new fighter acts. If the current champion lands a hit, the belt multiplier increases +1 step along the ladder on the jumbotron. When a fighter loses their last heart, they are knocked out.

If the champion wins, there is a chance the Finish Him feature activates, granting a random number of multiplier steps. If the champion is knocked out, the opponent takes on the belt and becomes the new champion. The final winning character replaces all other character symbols present before the fight.

Super Bronus

Landing 4 Bronus scatters triggers the Super Bronus Game. It functions like the normal Bronus round but awards 10 free spins.

Store

The store contains Boosters, Bonus Buys, Highlight Reels, and Loot Boxes. The Bonus Boost increases the bet to 1.5x to increase feature trigger chances, while Big Bonus Boost increases the stake to 5x for a bigger feature trigger boost. NSFW costs 55x to guarantee at least one character symbol lands on each spin. The five bonus buys vary in cost from 98x to 1,595x the stake, for the Bonus Buy, Super Bonus Buy, Bronze, Silver, and Gold Bonus. Highlight Reels let players buy the best 3 results from 100, 300, or 500 spins for 70x, 166x, or 247x the stake, respectively. Lastly, Loot Boxes range in price from 186x to 571x.

Mortal Bromance: Slot Verdict

Mortal Bromance is an unapologetically provocative slot that is as much social commentary as it is a gambling machine, which feels destined to ruffle the feathers of some as it elicits gut laughs in others. Whether Mortal Bromance is your cup of tea or not, we really need casino game makers to keep developing slots like this to shake the dead wood from the gambling tree. Not necessarily as a political statement, or a blast of cheeky humour, or just for the sake of being controversial, but all of those reasons and more. It's unlikely that everyone will enjoy this kind of satire; some may find the jabs at their heroes a little too on the nose. But, for those with a sense of humour or thicker skin, Mortal Bromance's political and tech-bro satire should be a riot.

Shady Lady hasn't just relied on shock value to entertain. From a technical standpoint, the mixing of ways and scatter pays is an interesting twist, adding extra desirability to the three different character symbols. The Towel Reveal feature adds a layer of anticipation as characters flash values of up to x1,000 each, giving the base game its moment to shine. Then there is the Bronus round, where we get to see the 'buddies' duke it out, including Mollusk as Iron Man and the Terminator, which is classic; plus the fighting can lead to some significant multiplier values as the round progresses. The Super Bronus round keeps its upgrade simple, simply awarding more free spins, but that might be huge, as it gives players the chance to hold onto the critical multiplier even longer, for deployment against character symbol wins, should they hit.

Visually and thematically, Mortal Bromance is certainly memorable. It's not trying to be elegant, universally appealing, or remotely subtle. Instead, it's loud, amusing, and controversial, while also managing to reference an online slot classic. Mechanically, Mortal Bromance stands on solid ground with creative features and sizable winning potential of 20,000x the bet, making it ideal for gamblers looking for an edgy, unique slot that lands a body blow on current social, political, and cultural issues.