Following the release of 4 Fantastic Fish in Egypt together with 4ThePlayer, on May 3o, Yggdrasil, a Malta-based globally recognized iGaming provider, released RagnaWolves WildEnergy™, a Norse mythology-themed slot featuring great wolves in search of the sun and moon.
In fact, the inspiration for this slot came from the myth of the young puppies Sköll and Hati, in their haunted chase after Sól and Máni chariots. The gods feared them and their father and they were therefore under Odin’s constant imprisonment in Asgard. In addition, god cast a spell on the young wolves and they were condemned to constantly chase the sun and the moon.
Wild visual:
True to its name, the main theme of the slot is the aforementioned wild wolves that lead the player to visit Ragnarok. The background of the reels includes red/orange clouds, a full moon and a few stars in the distance – true wilderness. Additionally, the game can be played on any device.
The slot is powered by the WildEnergy™ mechanic, a new GEM (Game Engagement Mechanic) that gives the player the chance to land a multi-life Wilds that activate fruitful respins, which means a WildEnergy Wild can land on the screen with a number of lives attached to it. Lives are triggered through a specific trigger, usually when a symbol is part of a win. These Wilds become sticky and activate respins as long as there are more lives. Additional WildEnergy symbols can appear on the screen throughout respins, creating the possibility of an infinite number of wins.
To win, players must form a combination of 3 or more matching symbols on adjacent reels begginning from the reel furthest to the left on the dynamic 5×3 grid.
The basic low-value symbols are the runes in red, yellow, blue and green, while the high-value bonus symbols are the man in green, blue wolf, red wolf and woman in yellow. A combination of five low-value bonus symbols is worth 0,5x, increasing to 1x to 2x a player’s bet for a combination of five high-value bonus symbols.
The game has high volatility, around an average RTP of 96.1% and a maximum win of 10000x a player’s bet.
Slot features:
Wild Symbol – there are two different Wilds, the Multiplier Wild and the Countdown Wild. Equipped with specific characteristics, both help to enable a large number of winning combinations by replacing other paying symbols apart from the Scatter, aka the giant golden tree.
Multiplier Wild – during the spins of the player, these Wilds can appear on the middle reel and then the player can trigger respins if they are part of a win. This Wild Multiplier is sticky and remains in place throughout the respins, which happen as long as new wins are made.
It has a multiplier connected to it that grows with every new respin that happens and is applied to newly made wins. It begins with a multiplier of 1x, and with each new win, it increases 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, etc. As soon as no more wins are made, the Multiplier Wild and its attached multiplier vanish.
Countdown Wild – Countdown Wilds may appear on reels 2 and 4, where the player triggers respins by making a win with one of them. However, this happens with an attached number showing either 2, 3 or 4, correlating with the number of respins player has won. Throughout the respins, Wilds like this are sticky.
Free Spins – the player triggers this feature by creating a combination of 3 Scatters at the same time, which may appear on the reels 2, 3 and 4. At the beginning of the feature, the player is automatically rewarded 10 free spins, and throughout the feature, more Wilds will appear leading to more respins.
Golden Bet – the feature is triggered for 10x a player’s bet. However, it practically guarantees the player a random Wild on each spin.
Bonus Buy – in order to trigger this feature, the player should want to get to the Free Spins feature immediately. After it starts, a player can select one of these options:
- 100x – activation of Free Spins and the player gets 10 free spins;
- 500x – activation of Free Spins and the player gets 13 free spins. Also, the value of the Multiplier Wild will not be reset.
Commenting on the launch, Stuart McCarthy, Head of Product & Programs at Yggdrasil, said: “We are delighted to debut another fantastic GEM with the release of Ragnawolves WildEnergy™. As always, we’re confident this mechanic will be well received by our player base and will help this new title onto sustained success in the coming months.”