Introduction to Bjorn
Bjorn is a casino slot from Thunderkick, where a lonely Viking warrior faces a horde of undead in a unique cluster-pays setup enhanced with instant prizes. The studio tries to deliver a more immersive playstyle through the additional mechanism, where a hero located in the centre of the board defeats enemies to generate cash rewards. He also destroys symbols in his path, thus triggering cascades and potentially progressing the round further. As our protagonist clears the woods of evil, he can also gain upgrades that extract more value from the defeated symbols, spawn more enemies on the board to increase the number of cash prizes, or turn the path he walks on into matching symbols. During the Bonus Game, all abilities are persistent, giving you the possibility to activate all six and benefit from Bjorn's ultimate power. Let's join the fearless Viking and see if he manages to slay enough monsters to award the max win of 5,000x the bet.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Bjorn is a video slot from Thunderkick with 8 reels, 8 rows, and a cluster-pays system that requires 5+ symbols to land orthogonally adjacent. The game offers a wide range of bet options, allowing you to choose your stake from as little as a Min.bet of 0.10 up to a Max.bet of 100. Running the game's engine is a default RTP of 94.22%, which is significantly lower than the industry average that oscillates around 96.0%-96.5%, so be prepared for potentially smaller long-term returns. You'll also experience high volatility, which aims to push more value toward big wins at the expense of their reduced average frequency. The maximum prize achievable within a single spin is 5,000x the bet.
Bjorn's loading screen sets quite a powerful tone, with a muscular Viking surrounded by a horde of undead roaming through the woods and a massive troll towering above them in the background. However, when you transition into the game itself, the setting becomes less visually enticing due to its flattened perspective and the scene dominated by a generic forest in washed-out colours. The soundtrack still tries to maintain an intense atmosphere with its ominous chanting and foreboding sounds of thunderstorms. Aside from the occasional lightning, there's hardly any movement in the background, so you instantly focus your attention on the grid, where the hero waits eagerly in the middle. The game's graphics maintain a strong natural feel with its mountainous-forest landscape, a colour palette dominated by shades of green, and symbols depicting trees, bushes, and boulders. The setup is fully responsive, adapting seamlessly to any modern device, whether you play on a desktop, a smartphone, or a tablet.
The paytable consists of two sets of regular symbols that award payouts when you match at least 5 identical instances in a cluster by landing them vertically and/or horizontally adjacent. Among the low-paying symbols, you'll recognise a tree, a boulder, a bush, and a tree trunk, all awarding between 2x the bet for a cluster of 15 or more matching units. Premium icons comprise images of green, orange, and yellow runestones, bringing payouts ranging from 4x to 5x the bet for combining at least 15 instances in a cluster. Additionally, there is the main Viking character acting as a Wild, cash symbols represented by Draugr and Trolls, and Scatters depicted by a hammer.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Bjorn?
You can win up to 5,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Bjorn?
The features are Cascading, Hero Hunt, Abilities, Troll, Bonus Game, and Feature Buy.
Cascading
Thanks to the cascading mechanism, you'll have a chance to score multiple consecutive wins within the same game round. Every initial combination is removed from the grid, causing the remaining symbols to drop and new ones to populate the board. This can potentially lead to more hits, thus extending the sequence until no new combinations can be formed.
Hero Hunt
Whenever all regular wins have been evaluated, and there's at least one enemy symbol on the board, the Hero symbol in the middle of the board moves toward the monsters and slays them. Regular symbols in positions crossed by the Hero are destroyed. Defeated enemies drop Loot or increase the win multiplier, which applies to all cluster wins and collected Loot. The Hero reactivates after every cascading sequence if there are enemies to defeat present on the board. Dropped loot can be worth 0.1x, 0.2x, 0.5x, or 5x the bet.
Abilities
Randomly, at the beginning of the round, the Hero may receive an Ability or an Upgrade that will be active for the duration.
Thor's Strength = increases Loot drop chances and awards a +1-2 or +2-3 multiplier per defeated Draugar for the first and second level, respectively.
Call of Hel = adds 1-2 Draugar symbols to the board on the first level or 3-5 on the second.
Odin's Insight = transforms positions passed over by the Hero into matching regular symbols on the first level or Wilds on the second.
Troll
Troll is a 3x3 enemy symbol that counts as 9 individual symbols. Awards the respective number of Loot or multiplier upgrades when defeated.
Bonus Game
The Bonus Game can be activated by any single Scatter landing in view. When triggered, 5 Free Spins are awarded, with 1-3 random Abilities granted to the Hero. During the round, every 20 defeated Draugar awards +2 Free Spins and 1-3 random Abilities or Upgrades. All activated Abilities and Upgrades are active throughout the entire bonus feature.
Feature Buy
If you'd like to speed up the action, you can use the Bet+ option, where features and bonus rounds can be triggered instantly for a fixed price that scales with your current bet.
1.5x = Bonus Boost, with a 2 times higher chance to trigger the Bonus Game.
3.5x = Bonus Boost Plus, with a 5 times higher chance to trigger the Bonus Game.
12x = Bonus Boost Extreme, with a 20 times higher chance to trigger the Bonus Game.
150x = instantly triggers the Bonus Game.
Final Thoughts on Bjorn
Most slots don't bother utilising their characters in the actual gameplay, leaving them to perform a predominantly cosmetic role. Unless we're talking about games like Eldritch Dungeon from Print Studios or the Pirots series from ELK Studios, you'll rarely see the game heroes take on such an active function. Bjorn joins this small family of hero-centric slots with its dark fantasy crusade of a lonely Viking against an army of undead. Thunderkick is undoubtedly stepping out of its comfort zone with this one, moving away from traditional gameplay and vivid, colourful settings like Carnival Queen 2 and Pink Elephants Trinity. Even though the graphics are not of the highest quality and resemble more of a budget mobile game than a premium slot, the atmosphere is quite fitting, especially when you play with sound. Still, the setting could definitely benefit from more immersion, with ominous glowing eyes from between the trees, or their subtle movement indicating enemies lurking in the woods, for example. Altogether, the execution is functional and properly synced, but the overall quality doesn't exactly impress
The gameplay loop feels unique and dynamic from the first trigger, adding an extra layer of rewards on top of the regular cluster wins. Furthermore, the Hero interacts with the grid in multiple ways simultaneously. Not only does he defeat the monsters to generate cash loot, but also destroys regular symbols along the way to trigger more cascades and potentially extend the round's duration. Abilities, while not massively elaborate, effectively boost all features. Odin's Insight is particularly visual and impactful, as it turns all positions the Hero crosses into matching symbols, usually resulting in a guaranteed cluster after the prize collection. Free Spins take the predictable approach of adding persistence to the Abilities, thus making the Hero progressively stronger throughout the round, which is obviously a welcome upgrade. Altogether, the configuration feels well-thought-out, even if relatively straightforward, providing an interesting alternative playstyle.
Bjorn experiments with an added layer of cash prizes resulting from a roaming Hero symbol, which transforms gameplay into a dynamic fighting journey.
