Arctic Valor Slot Review

Released in February 2019, this game can be played at online casinos such as Unibet, CasinoCruise or Spinit.

Theme and basic information

In Arctic Valor we get once again Valkyries as the heroines of the game. The recent ELK Studios’ title Valkyries already introduced these ladies to us: mystical warrior women of the Norse folklore, who decide who lives and who dies on the battle fields of the Vikings and who take the newly deceased to join Valhalla and Odin’s army for the final battle when the time comes.

The intro of this game is well done and pretty epic. The winged Valkyries fly down from the heavens, wielding their swords. We’re left to peer through the snow flurries until we set eyes upon the 6×4 set of reels. Four Valkyries grace the reels and they only look cool when they’re covering three or more reels. When it’s just their heads on the reels, they look awkward, mainly because of the weird positions their heads assume.

Additionally, we get swords, bow and arrows, a helmet and a shield on the reels plus three different ice crystals. Visually, the slot feels a little dated. The symbols have a sharp edge to them but are ultimately just a little pixelated, making this game look as if it was released ten years ago. A little less might have been more here.

And they payouts for even the high-paying symbols are abysmal. The Valkyries pay out 0.66x your stake for a 6-of-a-kind win. That means you inevitably lose on every spin. Mind you, the low-value symbols still pay out 0.55x your stake for such a win, so it barely makes a different which symbols land on the reels.

The only saving grace here is that the game pays out as long as three matching symbols land on adjacent reels, regardless of which reels they land on. So, you can score winning combinations on reels 2, 3 and 4 or 4, 5 and 6 or anywhere in between.

You can play this game from 0.15 to 15.00, which makes it suitable for the more budget conscious.

Watch out for the icicles in the base game

When you look at the reels, you’ll see the tips of a few icicles above the reels. They glitter and spin a little here and there and you’ll be waiting for them to fall. That happens randomly, though fairly regularly throughout the base game. Even when you’ve set the game to auto-play, you’ll be asked to click on the icicles, which usually cover 1 to 3 symbols on a given reel, to reveal either coin prizes or extra wild symbols.

It’s just about the only useful way for you to get some extra coins considering how low the payouts are in this game.

More icicles in the free spins

Three scatters anywhere on the reels will activate the free spins. You will get 7 free spins, which is not a lot. During the feature, the icicles may fall on every single spin, which is the only added benefit here. Additionally, Valkyries generally land stacked 3 symbols high as full symbols on the reels instead of just with their heads. They may not always cover the reels, however, and only land with their upper half on the reels.

Weirdly, when Valkyries land on the reels, icicles will specifically target them and fall onto the same reel. That makes little sense because it would have been more beneficial if the icicles would have landed on an adjacent reel to leave behind a wild symbol, making the most use of the Valkyries who are worth more than other symbols. That’s not the case, though, and you might feel a little cheated here.

Conclusion: Lacklustre mechanics in a slot that could have been so much more

The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) of Arctic Valor is 96.7%, which is surprisingly good value, especially considering the low payouts in this game. In theory, that means wins should be fairly frequent and more generous than one might expect. And sometimes it works out that way. The random icicles can be helpful here and both features show up often enough to keep you entertained.

But the overall quality of the mechanics isn’t great, and neither is the quality of the slot. Even the spinning of the reels is not a smooth affair and it gets worse when you play on mobile. You may actually find yourself trying this game out just to figure out what it is all about, but it’s quite possible that you will never play it again afterwards. That’s a shame, because there is potential here, which seems to have been wasted.