Ragnarok 40K

Ragnarok 40K: Slot Overview

Ragnarok, or 'Doom of the Gods' in Old Norse, is an end of world battle fought between monsters, gods, and giants. Software provider Slotmill has already brought the world to the brink of a fiery conclusion once before, but it seems the studio didn't think the original Ragnarok was cataclysmic enough. As such, the team has returned to the battlefield with Ragnarok 40K, a follow-up which retains most of the first slot's components, reinforced with quadruple the winning potential, a new Super Mode, and a chonk of a bonus buy that requires a deep, wide wallet pull to cover.

The title has changed, and the max win has changed, but Slotmill has pretty much left the visuals as they were. No bad thing, since the original Ragnarok 40K was a fine-looking Viking slot dense in mood that hinted at the mystical side of life. Not a lot of battling takes place in this game, but the mountainous, fjord-like location is as good as any for titanic forces to clash, culminating in the end of the world. Basically, the changes are more of a mechanical nature rather than cosmetic.

Winning potential is up in Ragnarok 40K, but the RTP has dipped slightly to 96.07%, while volatility remains high. As a cluster pays machine, winning combinations are formed on the 5x5 gaming grid when at least 5 matching symbols are connected vertically and/or horizontally to each other, and an Avalanche mechanic triggers with each cluster win. Players may stake 20 c to $/€60, which increases by 50% when using the Xtra-Bet to make it 3 times more likely to trigger a free spins bonus. For extra swift play, gamblers have access to Slotmill's Burst Mode.

On the paytable, we find 3 carved stone block low pays, then 4 character symbols. Clusters made up of 5 matching symbols pay 0.15 to 0.4 times the bet, rising to the biggest clusters containing 12+ matching symbols, which are worth 5 to 12.5 times the bet. The game's Avalanche mechanic removes winning symbols from the reels and fills gaps by dropping symbols downwards. The Avalanche feature repeats until no win appears.

Ragnarok 40K: Slot Features

Most of the features of the previous game return, such as wild symbols, a progressive win multiplier, Loki's Trick, giant symbols, free spins, and bonus buys. In addition, Ragnarok 40K has a new Super Mode, which can trigger at random or be bought.

Wild Symbol & Progressive Win Multiplier

After winning symbols are removed, a wild symbol is placed in one of the spaces created by the Avalanche before other symbols fall in. The wild substitutes for all symbols except scatters. Each Avalanche win also doubles the win multiplier, which resets to x1 at the start of each base game spin.

Loki's Trick & Giant Symbols

Loki's Trick may trigger at the start of a game round. When it does, the win multiplier is increased by a random number of steps. Also, at the start of each new game round, or at the end of a game round where no more wins are present, giant symbols of 2x2 or 3x3 in size may randomly appear on the grid. A 2x2 or 3x3 giant symbol counts as 4 or 9 regular symbols, respectively.

Free Spins & Super Mode

Hit 3, 4, or 5 scatters in the base game to be awarded 8, 10, or 12 free spins, respectively. The win multiplier starts the feature at x1 and does not reset until the round ends. Scatter symbols are not present on the grid during the free spins round. The Super Mode is activated at random when the free spins round starts. When activated, the giant symbol feature is guaranteed to trigger on every spin.

Fast Track

Fast Track allows players to buy direct access to Ragnarok 40K's features. The options are one spin with Loki's Trick guaranteed for 25x the bet, or 100x to buy the bonus round, 400x to buy free spins triggered by 5 scatters, 1,000x to buy the Super Mode Super Bonus or a 350x Gamble feature. The Gamble feature has a 25% chance of landing 5 scatters, a 25% chance of landing 5 scatters with Super Mode activated, and 50% to win nothing.

Ragnarok 40K: Slot Verdict

Since this is a revamp rather than a full-blown sequel, we probably shouldn't expect masses of evolutionary steps to have occurred since the previous Ragnarok slot, and Ragnarok 40K is no Cambrian explosion. Instead, one might presume that Slotmill, a studio already happy to act on feedback, took notes from users, then ticked a few things off players' wish lists. At the top of a lot of wish lists (about a lot of slots) has got to be bigger winning potential, and this Ragnarok 40K effortlessly knocks it out of the park. Where the original hit the brakes at 10,000x, Ragnarok 40K, as the name suggests, ups the figure to 40,000x. Anyone who wanted a bigger number to aim at certainly gets that.

The other significant upgrade is the inclusion of Super Mode. The encouraging thing about Super Mode is that players don't need to do anything special in order to trigger it, other than hit the requisite number of scatters to trigger the bonus round. Do that, and who knows, Super Mode may randomly step in to quicken the pulse. Slotmill recognises that some people might not have the time or patience to wait for Super Mode to naturally trigger, so for busy gamblers with 1,000x to responsibly drop, Slotmill has included the Super Mode Super Bonus buy, the biggest feature buy the studio has done to date, pushing Gold Betty Free Spins from Brew Brothers off the top spot.

A lot of the time, it might be tough to tell the two slots apart, as Ragnarok 40K replays the same sort of GigaBlox-meets-DoubleMax-meets-cluster-pays formula that the original delivered. There are differences, sure, but they're mostly tweaks rather than leaps - and in terms of innovation, Ragnarok 40K doesn't bring much new to the table. That said, it still manages to barge the original Ragnarok out of the way if bigger, meaner, scrappier slots are your thing.