Valkyries

Valkyries: Slot Overview

Fancy a night at the opera? Armenian developer Peter & Sons are keen and have based their slot Valkyries loosely around one of the most famous of all time. Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) from Richard Wagner is the second part of The Ring of Nibelung, first performed in Munich in 1870. The Ring cycle was conducted in reverse order, so The Valkyries played second to last and is based on Norse mythology, hence all the horned helmets presumably. It told the story of two twins separated at birth who fell in love later in life when they met. This angered the gods, who wanted Siegmund to die as punishment. However, Wotan's daughter, Valkyrie Brünnhilde, saved both Siegmund and their unborn child, who in turn ended up facing the gods' displeasure.

On odd tale, if you're unfamiliar with it, or even if you are, it's unusual, almost Greek in its tragic scope. Those not interested in any Lannister-ish goings-on will be pleased to know Valkyries from Peter & Sons leaves that topic far alone. Instead, the game is more broadly focused on Valkyries welcoming fallen heroes into Valhalla. However, the game is set at a theatre, which provides a fantastic vehicle for Peter & Sons to express themselves in their highly unique way. The visuals are like one of those boxes of yore where you look through a peephole at a scene that moves as you wind a handle. They exist, right? We aren't just imagining things here? Yes or no, the description matches what P&S has graphically produced while the soundtrack is quite sublime. If you shut your eyes and lean back a bit, you are instantly whisked away for some enchanting highbrow operatic entertainment.

Opening them again reminds you you're playing an online slot rather than kicking back at the Teatro alla Scala. As such, bets from 10 p/c to £/€50 per spin must be set, while the action itself takes place on a 5-reel, 3-row game grid. Players can enjoy a win 32.10% of the time, on average, in this highly volatile game that produces a theoretical return value of 96%. Potential is high, too and has been paired with a set of solid features relying heavily on the power of wild symbols in various forms.

10 paylines are on hand to land winning combinations of three or more of a kind across. From low to high, the regular pay symbols include 10-A royals, four Valkyries, and Wotan, presumably. Character symbols are worth 7 to 11 times the stake for five of a kind combo, trumped slightly by the wilds, which are worth 12x the bet. Wilds substitute any normal pay symbol and perform a couple of tricks, covered below when they are firing.

Valkyries: Slot Features

Features-wise, Valkyries offers a mix of free spins, a Power Reel, Dropping Wilds, Locking Wilds, Wild Respins, and a possible feature buy.

Power Reel

Landing 2 scatter symbols anywhere in view triggers the Power Reel, also known as the Wild Reel. The Power Reel is a horizontal reel that sits below the main game grid. It spins once, and if a red or blue symbol appears in one of its cells, the applicable wild symbol is added to the reel above it. Blue symbols award Locking Wilds whilst red symbols award Dropping Wilds. Wild Respins then begin, ending when no Dropping Wilds remain in view. If there are no Dropping Wilds present, Locking Wilds guarantee at least 2 respins.

Locking Wild

Locking Wilds only land when placed on the grid by the Power Reel feature. When added to a reel, Locking Wilds remain there until the Wild Respin feature ends. Locking Wilds also may possess random multipliers of x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, or x10.

Dropping Wilds

Dropping Wilds can appear on the panel naturally or via the Power Reel. On each respin, Dropping Wilds move down 1 row until they fall off the panel. Dropping Wilds may also include a multiplier of x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, or x10. If a Dropping Wild overlaps another wild, they merge for that spin and add any applicable multipliers together.

Free Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols in the base game awards 10 free spins. During free spins, the Power Reel is unlocked for the full duration, and each Locking Wild that appears adds +2 additional free spins.

Feature Buy

Where available, players can skip the base game and go straight to the bonus round using the feature buy option. The cost is 73x the total bet to land 3 scatter symbols on the next spin, triggering 10 free spins.

Valkyries: Slot Verdict

You have to give it to Peter & Sons, they dare to be different, and it is hard to think of another game that immediately compares to what Valkyries does. Sure, there are plenty of Norse themed slots, some even have Valkyries in them. Some games even have similarly functioning features, but none have been brought together quite like this. Add in the opera stage setting, the singing, the orchestral soundtrack, and you have a strangely unique experience on your hands.

Famously, not everyone goes in for opera anymore these days. Maybe we're simply less cultured than our clearly more mild-mannered forebears, so not everyone will go in for Valkyries either. However, there is something compelling about it. Perhaps it's the way Peter & Sons have perfectly fitted every single piece together. The choreography between the action on the reels and the music is astonishing. Sure, loads of slots synchronise action and sound, most really, yet Peter & Sons have once again done it in their own particular style that occasionally takes your breath away. Intermittently, this happens in conjunction with one of those rare yet spectacular Locking Wild/Dropping Wild combinations, and when the curtain closes on this one, wins of up to 20,000x the bet are possible.

Add it all up, and one wonders, could this game somehow spur an operatic revival? Are we going to see hordes of players flocking to the theatre to take in the latest rendition of Carmen or Die Zauberflöte? Probably not, but Valkyries is a decent operatically themed game regardless and another testament to Peter & Son's creative spark.