Updated
Lisa Michaels
All hail the Viking Queen! You'll take to the high seas for cash prizes in this 5x3 slot from Microgaming and GONG Gaming Technologies. Spin fun symbols include a fire-breathing bear, a wolf, a golden chalice, classic royals, and the Viking Queen. The max win available is 2,000x your stake, and the Free Spins feature includes multipliers of up to 10x to boost the size of your payouts.
Free spins:
Wild symbol:
Progressive:
Multipliers:
When I launched Viking Queen, the controls were easy to learn. Before you start playing, tap the hamburger button on the left-hand side of the screen to open the bet setup menu and pick your stake.
The spin button is in the bottom-right corner (often in slots). Press it to roll the reels. To check the paytable and read about the bonuses, click on the ‘i’ icon.
Viking Queen has 13 symbols. Twelve of them, including the Wild, award cash prizes, while the Free Spins Scatter is the only non-paying symbol.
The six royal symbols offer the most minor payouts. At the bottom of the paytable, the 9 and 10 award 2.4x your bet for 5. The jack and queen pay 4.8x your bet each.
The ace and king are worth 8x your stake for 5. The chalice and tooth trophy pay up to 10x your bet, while the wolf and prominent cat symbols award up to 14x your stake each.
The fire-breathing bear pays 40x your bet for 5, but the Viking Queen is the most valuable symbol: get 5 to win 200x your bet. She’s also the Wild to stand in for other symbols. The Free Spins Scatter symbols trigger the bonus feature.
Viking Queen has 25 fixed paylines; you must match symbols on any of them to win. The Viking Queen and fire-breathing bear symbols payout for two or more, while the rest only pay out for three or more. The Viking Queen/Wild can substitute other symbols and help you build winning combinations.
Viking Queen isn’t exactly packed with bonuses, and I was a little disappointed to realize there’s just the Free Spins feature to unlock in the base game. Fortunately, the Multiplier Map adds more depth to the bonus round and allows you to play for higher payouts.
The Multiplier Map is on the left-hand side of the screen, next to the reels. It shows the current multiplier for the next time you trigger the Free Spins feature.
The Multiplier Map starts at x1 but increases slightly each time you land a shield symbol on the reels. Shield symbols transform into Free Spins Scatters upon collection. The maximum multiplier is x10.
Each time you collect enough shield symbols, you’ll progress to the next multiplier level. However, the multiplier increases the number of shields required to advance to the next level. That makes reaching the highest multiplier before the Free Spins feature starts more challenging.
You'll win ten free spins initially if you get three or more Free Spins symbols. When you trigger the feature, all prizes are multiplied by the amount shown on the Multiplier Map. However, you can’t increase the multiplier during the Free Spins round.
Each Free Spins symbol that lands awards extra free spins with no restriction. Land 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 shield symbols to get 2, 5, 10, 20, or 50 additional free spins, respectively.
It’s nice to see that the bonus feature can be extended with just one Free Spins symbol instead of at least two or three (as is the case in many other slots).
The biggest prize you can win in Viking Queen is 2,000 your bet. The symbol values are relatively small, so the multipliers are crucial to help you win higher payouts.
It’s always great to see a slot with an above-average Return to Player (RTP), and Viking Queen’s is pretty impressive at 96.62%. That means it offers a potential return of $96.62 for every $100 bet on the game.
But remember: RTPs are only theoretical and calculated over a long time so that you can get a lower or higher return each time.
As the volatility is in the medium range, Viking Queen offers a more even balance of risk and reward.
Overall,I was impressed by the visuals and sound in Viking Queen. The background features multiple Viking longboats at sea, with a brooding yellow-tinged sky overhead. Subtle animations give movement to the water, but the boats stay in the same position. That feels like a missed opportunity, as they could have drifted back and forth behind the reels gradually. Still, that’s only a minor quibble.
You’ll hear dramatic, rousing music while you play, capturing the seafaring scenario's excitement.
Want to try Viking Queen for free before you wager real money on it? No problem. Just load our free demo to experience the base game and Free Spins round without risk. Use the hefty supply of virtual credits to test the general gameplay, volatility, and bonuses, then decide if you enjoy it enough to stake real money instead.
Love Vikings? Enjoy slots? We’ve got good news —a good range of other slot games featuring Vikings!
For example, Yggdrasil Gaming has released several Viking-themed slots, including Vikings Go Berzerk. This offers cash prizes of up to 4,000 the bet, rage meters for each character, and a Free Spins feature with sticky Wilds.
Vikings is based on the hit TV show of the same name and pays out up to 10,000 the bet. Fans will recognize Bjorn, Floki, and other characters.
Another slot to try is Vikings Fight for Honor from Foxium Studios. The max win is 20,000 the bet, and multiple bonuses are available. Let’s see how these three compare to the Viking Queen.
For me, Viking Queen is a solid slot with a few vital points, but a few minor issues keep it from being ranked among the best Viking-themed games on the market.
The Multiplier Map and Free Spins features are the highlights. Landing shield symbols will increase your multipliers and help you win bigger cash prizes while you play the Free Spins round.
That can lead to a more lucrative bonus feature overall, so you’ll probably want to keep the base game going for as long as possible before the Free Spins round triggers. That’s quite an unusual experience, as seasoned players may know.
Unfortunately, Viking Queen only offers up to 2,000 your bet, much less than you can play for in many other slots. More bonus features would add extra value, too.
Try our Viking Queen demo and play the game for free to see how it works for you!
Lisa started off as a croupier at her local casino. However she found her niche in writing and has subsequently used her real-world gambling experiences to help produce and review the many online slots that are released monthly. Lisa also contributes to keeping you up to date with Canadian newsworthy stories.
