Asgard

When they put their mind to it and set their aim, Real Time Gaming can produce the most brilliant of slot games. And yet it seems that only now, with Asgard, they’ve truly captured the lightning in a jar and gave the world their true magnum opus.
Coming up with an original output with a theme that has already been beaten to death is not easy, let alone potentially damaging – people can get tired of the same old subject matters being repeated over and over and simply snub the game. However, the level of goodness here is impossible to ignore.

The sheer amount of special features here is staggeringly mind-shattering (there, we’ve said it!) and we can’t wait to get to the part about them and tell you all about it in details. So let’s get going!

Theme

How do you take a déjà vu theme, such as Norse religion and their pantheon of Gods, and make it your own? Why by giving it a cool visual spin and packing it to the point of bursting at the seams with tons of features, of course! In Nordic mythology, Asgard is the name of one of the nine worlds where Aesir Gods reside, ruled by Odin and his wife Frigg.

Game’s visuals are pleasantly surprising, in that they combine the aesthetics of cold, icy runes typical of old Nordic culture with something of a sci-fi looks on reels’ ornaments and player’s panel. This is overstated with a strikingly beautiful backdrop, depicting outer space seen from Earth’s orbit, with star clusters and Asgard floating in deep and vast darkness. Clothed in black and dark blue, it sets a stark contrast to icy, lighter hues of blue and grey on game’s main screen. Gorgeous embellishments and stone carvings along reel’s edges and intricately designed lower-end symbols seal the deal with this curious hybrid of ancient and futuristic.

Bevvy of well-known deities that ruled the hearts and minds of Scandinavian Viking tribes make their appearance as high-value symbols: Thor, Loki, Odin and Freya along with Thor’s hammer and depiction of Asgard itself.

Betting Options and Functions

Asgard is an all-ways-pays (243 payline) game that forms winning combinations on adjacent reels from left to right, with adjustable betting from $0.30 to $7.50.
AutoPlay button lets you set the criteria for auto spinning – how many auto spins you’d like (from 5 to 1000), whether to halt when a jackpot is won, stop on any win, stop one a feature is triggered etc. The speed of a game can be quickly set with a neat button on the very left, allowing for three different speeds.

On the very right-hand-side there is the Help & Rules section that opens a window detailing game’s main points such as the value and meaning of each symbol, paying diagram and discussing each unique feature – which is exactly what we’re going to do now.

Features

Asgard’s numerous unique features are triggered by the host of high-value symbols or Wild and Scatter symbols – golden Wild replaces all symbols except scatters, while silver Wild activates during the Loki’s magic mode.

• Thunderbolt Feature is triggered quite randomly, on any spin, turning reels wild which makes colossal cash outs.
• Free Games Feature is the name of the mode that is triggered by landing at least three scatter symbols. Upon succeeding, the player will be presented with a choice of four distinctive features which are as follows:
• Goddess Feature awards 15 extra spins with triple multiplier.
• Loki’s Magic awards 20 extra spins that have a Wild symbol fixed on third reel. During these extra spins, if 2, 3, 4 or 5 of bonus symbols appear, additional 1, 2, 3 or 4 extra spins will be granted.
• Thunder God Feature awards 25 extra spins with wild multipliers.
• Valhalla Feature awards 30 extra spins with morphing symbols. Winning symbols are morphed after pays get awarded and new symbols will appear where morphed symbols were. This may award more extra wins. Morphing will continue until winning combinations are exhausted. Retriggering of this feature will award another 8 spins.

Our Take

Asgard is one of our favorite slots with Norse mythology theme. It looks stunning and has a quality, epic feel to it, deserving of the subject matter. Even though there are plenty of unique features here, the diversity of them isn’t that great – they are all, basically, extra spin modes in different guises. Also, they aren’t very easy to trigger – you’ll wait quite a bit for a proper combination of symbols to land. All in all, this is a good video slot by RTG, one of their best – not without its weaknesses, but it still manages to impress much more than it disappoints.