Northern War - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Introduction

Amid a giant battle on the Baltic Sea, Northern War is a nautically themed game set in the time of galleons, cannon fire, big wigs and potentially Pirates of the Caribbean, even if the Caribbean is the other side of the world!

Symbols in Northern War include sea captains, cannons, a galleon and the usual playing card symbols from Ace down to 9. If you strike it lucky, you could well hit the jackpot, with more than 5,000x the initial stake the top prize available on a spin.

Sail the seas and see if you can match the symbols in a winning combination. Also, you should watch out for the scatter symbols, which trigger the free game bonus, with special expanding symbols.

Northern War is a five reel, three row online video slot game, with 25 win lines, of which players can select how many they would like to be active, between 25 and 1.

Before staking real money on a spin of the reels, it is possible to play Northern War for fun currency. This is all down to the 5 Men Gaming slots demo feature, which allows players to check out the gameplay, mechanics and features before they play for real.

Theme, Graphics & Soundtrack

Set amongst a backdrop of warring factions on the Baltic Sea in around the 1700s, Northern War is suitably nautically themed. This game features great looking graphics, which would be at home on any size screen from a smartphone right up to a large scale computer monitor. The deep blue colour scheme coupled with the angry sky contrasts brilliantly with the golden accents around winning combinations.

Symbols animate subtly when they are involved in winning combinations, providing a nice reward to match the winnings.

The soundtrack borrows heavily from the work of Hans Zimmer on the Pirates of the Caribbean series. The music consists of a repeating motif which is embellished by the sound effects which trigger when the reels spin. There are sound effects which occur if scatter symbols begin to appear, but these disappear just as quickly if the winning combination is broken by reels. Unfortunately, no matter how well the soundtrack and effects are produced, they begin to jar over time, with the repetitive nature of the music detracting from the overall experience.

Northern War RTP & Volatility

Northern War has a long term average RTP of 94.95%, which is slightly low compared with similar games of this type. This game has high volatility, which provides very high maximum wins, but players must be patient in order to wait for those high value wins.

How to Play Northern War

1. It is always wise to check out the paytable when playing a game for the first time. In addition to telling you how much each symbol is worth when it appears in a winning combination on the reels, the paytable gives an overview of game views, shows the paylines as well as explaining how to enter the feature. The paytable is accessed by clicking on the 'i' icon at the bottom right of the screen. Next to this icon the arrow key which appears once the paytable is open cycles through the screens.

2. The size of bet per line can be toggled by clicking on the + and - buttons at the bottom left of the screen.

3. In addition to changing the size of the bet, to the left of these controls are option keys to change the number of lines available. The number of lines in play changes the overall bet level per spin, with the line bet multiplied by the number of active paylines.

4. There is an autoplay feature in Northern War, which is turned on or off by clicking the autoplay button at the bottom right of the screen. This is a simple on/off autoplay, which will run until it is stopped, or the bonus feature is accessed. Autoplay will also cut off if your credits run below the amount of coins needed to spin the reels.

5. If you are happy with all settings, the reels can be spun manually by clicking the 'start' button at the bottom right of the screen.

6. It is important to play Northern War responsibly, by setting a budget for each session. When the fun stops, stop.

Bet Sizes & Paytable Wins

The minimum bet for a spin involves 1 line being active, and 1 coin being staked on this line, for a total of 1 coin per spin.

The maximum total bet per spin is 250 coins, 10 coins staked on each of the 25 active lines.

The jackpot symbol is the brown haired sea captain, where if five of these are revealed on an active payline, 5,000x the line bet is won.

The admiral returns 2,000x the line bet if five of them are revealed on an active payline.

Northern War Bonus Features

The free spin bonus is triggered if three or more scatter symbols appear in any location on the reels. When this occurs, 10 free spins are awarded. During free spins, there are special expanding symbols, which increase the chance of winning across more than one line.

Overall Review Our Verdict

This is a great looking game, with an engaging bonus feature. The high volatility means that patience is required if you are going to wait for the big wins.

Disclaimer: Northern War trademark / license is owned by 5 Men Gaming. This site is not endorsed by 5 Men Gaming.