Hammerfall

Overview Hammerfal

That unholy but ever-alluring alliance of heavy metal music and medieval imagery form the thematic foundation for this incredibly intense and thrilling new slot game created by those at Play ‘n GO. Indeed, Hammerfall is like some sort of Iron Maiden meets Lord of the Rings mash-up that you can’t tear your eyes away from. However, it isn’t just the spectacular visuals that will draw people to this game, there is also a rich variety of bonus content available that is both novel and highly lucrative.
There are as many as 10 bonus features included in this game.

In their number are a cascading reels feature, a super tiles multiplier feature and what the game has dubbed the various ‘Destruction’ features. Joining these exciting bonuses are the Song features, which comprise expanded wilds, symbol replacements and symbol destruction, and the Hammer High feature which give you a special free spin with a variety of modifiers active.

Theme and Symbols

This game is inspired by the Swedish metal band Hammerfall and their various hits including “We Make Sweden Rock”. As you may or may not know, this band has a mascot named Hector, a Knight whose mighty hammer and outfit derive their aesthetics from the Norse God Thor. He is the main character for this game and can be seen cheering you on from the right-hand side of the reels throughout the feature.

The background for Hammerfall looks like some sort of hellscape similar to Mordor from the Lord of the Rings. To the left of the reels, you can see a volcanic wasteland where the sky has been blotted out by ash and smoke, giving the slot an air of evil and foreboding. To the right-hand side of the reels stands Hector the Knight, clad in red armour, his massive hammer in hand. Above him stands the keep of an ancient fortress shrouded in the same thick miasma of soot and volcanic pollution as the rest of the board. The setting is appropriately and almost overbearingly heavy metal.

The playing board for Hammerfall is a large one considering the number of symbols that it has to accommodate and the fact that it is a cluster pay slot. There are a couple of design touches that players might notice when it comes to this visual aspect of the game such as the decorated corners of the board finished in the Norse Viking style.

Symbols for this game are quite complex however when they are broken down, they are easy to understand. At the lowest end of the spectrum, value-wise, are the 5 regular gem symbols. The next tier in terms of value is the shield, the hammer, the sun, and the head of Hector. This latter symbol is the most valuable regular symbol, paying out at a maximum of 500x your stake for 15 plus in a paying cluster. The wild for this game is the Hammerfall game logo.

Game Play

Hammerfall is played on a 7-reel, 7-row playing window that uses a Cluster Pays engine, meaning that the slot behaves more like Candy Crush than it does a conventional spinning reels slot. To create winners in this game, players have to land 5 or more matching symbols together in a connected ‘cluster’. The larger the cluster of symbols, the greater the resulting payout. The betting range for Hammerfall is 20p to £100 per spin. To change the bet per spin, select a new bet from the range of bets displayed on the bottom of the reels.

Further information regarding the slot, including a display of the paytable, can be accessed by clicking on the ‘I’ sign located to the left of the balance amount on the lower band of options. The spin button sits just to the right of the reels underneath Hector’s mighty hammer. The auto-spins button can be found just to the right of the spin button. The volatility for Hammerfall is rated at the very high end of the spectrum. The return to player percentage for Hammerfall is 96.2%, which is just a touch above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is an awesome 30,000 x your total stake.

Features

As you will have probably understood from the introduction, Hammerfall has gone all out on the features to impress players.
The first feature that is key to the function of most of the other features included in this game is the cascades feature. Every time that a player lands a win by making a 5-symbol combination, this feature will come into play. Triggering the cascade feature means that the winning symbols are immediately replaced by a new set of symbols from above. This feature will continue until the new set does not form a winning combination.

Next on the features line-up is the Super Tiles feature. You will notice that throughout the game random positions on the playing board are framed in bright blue light. This indicates that the tile is ‘super’. Creating a win that includes one of these super tiles triggers the feature. When this occurs, a lightning wild will appear on the board in the framed winning position. The symbols that are part of the winning cluster are then taken away from the board, however, the special lightning wild remain for the cascade, helping to score more wins. If this feature wasn’t juicy enough, some of these super tiles come with multipliers which are applied to the win which has the tile included.

Following on from this feature are the various ‘Song features’ which concern the special Hammer Meter that you will find on the top left-hand side of your screen. Charging this meter is as simple as creating clusters. If you manage to land a cluster that is 25 symbols or more, this will immediately max out the meter and trigger one of the Songs features. The specific Song feature that is triggered is determined by the current playing world that you are in. There are 3 worlds and therefore 3 Song features. By filling the meter and triggering a feature you will progress to the next world. These features are as follows.
The Twilight Princess Song Feature- Triggering this feature means that a 2x2 Mega wild being added to the playing window.
The Second to None Song Feature- All of the high-value symbols that are currently on the board are transformed into 1 singular matching high-value symbol. If 5 or fewer high-paying symbols are on the board, then the game will also involve low-paying symbols in the feature. The And Yet I Smile Song Feature – All of the low-value symbols are taken away.

The Hammer High feature is next in line. If you by some amazing chance overcharge the hammer meter by 25 symbols (landing 50 symbols at once) the Hammer High feature will be triggered. This awards players with 1 free spin with all of the previously mentioned Song Features active one after the other. Having done this, you will move on to the next world.
Finally, come the multiple ‘Destruction Features’. These features will only activate when players create a non-winning cluster and only then very sporadically. There are 4 of these features, each of which has been explained below.

The Never Forgive feature – 1 singular symbol is randomly selected, and all iterations of this symbol are drawn towards the original, creating a destruction of symbols in their wake.

The Bring It Feature – Every high-value symbol on the board is either destroyed or transformed into the same symbol, creating a wave of cascades.

The In One Against the World feature – A symbol is randomly selected and every symbol that is adjacent to any iteration of that symbol is destroyed.

The Chain of Command feature – A linked ‘chain’ of symbols are highlighted on the grid and are either transformed into the same symbol or immediately destroyed.

Conclusion

If you are into feature-heavy slots, this is about as good as it gets. Indeed, it seems like every other spin some bonus or other is being triggered, taking you to new and exciting places. The Swedish heavy metal theme will probably not suit everyone's palate, but you can’t fault Play ‘n Go’s effort. It’s a joy to see a game such as this with very high variation and a great top win also with a rock-solid RTP too.