It’s time to take another trip to Valhalla in the Gates of Thunder slot. The title comes from SpinOn, but Yggdrasil released it as part of its partner program, designed to showcase smaller, lesser-known developers. The famous provider gave SpinOn plenty of opportunity to shine with Gates of Thunder. The slot invites players to land wins of up to 10,000x their stake and features an exciting free spin round and some big multipliers. In this Gates of Thunder review, I explore all of this and more in detail.

SpinOn and Yggdrasil have put together a really eye-catching design for Gates of Thunder. Norse mythology-themed slots are nothing new, but Gates of Thunder stands out from the competition by taking things back to basics.

The backdrop showcases a range of ice-covered mountains while Thor stands at the side of the reels, occasionally springing into life when they are spinning. The action heats up when you trigger the bonus round. The game brings about Valhalla and covers the background in flames.

Overall, I really liked the design of Gates of Thunder and also found that it looked great as a mobile slot.

The Gates of Thunder slot uses a Cluster Pays mechanic like the one made famous in games like Gates of Olympus. The action takes place on a six-reel, five-row grid. Winning combinations form when players land eight or more symbols anywhere across the reels.

The game uses a tumble feature that triggers whenever you land a win. All winning symbols disappear from the grid, and new ones tumble into their place. This continues happening until there are no more new wins.

Gates of Thunder’s main action focuses on free spins and a multiplier. The Multiplier symbol can land on any spin, displaying values of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 12x, 15x, or 25x. The game collects these until the end of a Tumble and applies them to any wins.

Global Multipliers can also land; these can be worth 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 8x, 10x, or 20x. These multiply the value of the existing multiplier if one is in place.

Landing three or more Scatter symbols will trigger the Thunder Bonus Free Spins. Three, four, or five/six Scatters will trigger 10, 15, and 15 spins with a 50x starting multiplier, respectively. During the spins, the multiplier will remain collected until the end of the spins. The game will them apply it to all wins throughout.

There is the option to buy your way into the bonus rounds. For 100x, 150x, or 650x your stake, you can buy 10 spins, 15 spins, or 15 spins with a 50x starting multiplier, respectively.

Upon seeing the Gates of Thunder title, I expected to find yet another game that utilizes the famous ‘Book of…’ gameplay mechanics, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a scatter-pay slot with a multiplier bonus instead.

My initial thoughts on the game’s design were positive. While the theme is not particularly original, the slot comes to life with some slick animations and excellent character design. I started playing the Gates of Thunder demo version for free, adjusting to the slot and seeing what it offered.

My demo run through the game was a success – the Buy Bonus feature allowed me to test the bonuses before I played for real money in my top online casino. I started wagering $1 a spin and failed to get much luck with my first ten or so spins.

However, when I triggered the bonus round, I was lucky enough to land an 8x multiplier early. This brought me some solid wins, as I picked up $28 from the ten spins I triggered. After this, though, I found the bonus round hard to activate, and multipliers were hard to come by. Overall, it’s an enjoyable experience, but it definitely lived up to its high volatility.

I found the math model in the Gates of Thunder slot disappointing. Yggdrasil is typically quite lenient with its RTPs, but Gates of Thunder comes in at a lowly 94.00%, which is below average. The maximum win is a solid 10,000x. As I’ve mentioned, the game is extremely volatile, and my own experience reflects that.

On the whole, I found the Gates of Thunder slot to be an entertaining game. However, its tough math model does not appeal to everybody. The disappointingly low RTP will turn a lot of players away, and the high volatility will certainly not be for everyone. However, if you can look past these, the slot offers some engaging gameplay, with the multipliers, tumbles, and free spins coming together nicely. The maximum 10,000x win is also a positive.

If you enjoy scatter-pay slot games, then Gates of Olympus and Starlight Princess from Pragmatic Play are often seen as standard bearers. If it is the Norse theme that attracts you, then Revenge of Loki Megaways, also from Pragmatic Play, is an engaging slot that has recently hit virtual shelves.