Raidmark

Raidmark Review

With Raidmark, Hacksaw partner Ace Roll invites you to join a band of Viking warriors, as they are about to raid a castle somewhere on the windy British Isles. The atmosphere is tension-filled, not least thanks to the Norse mythology-inspired chanting of the soundtrack, but also because you only see the backs of these stoic warriors as they are mentally preparing for the deadly battle that is about to erupt. We’ll get to the features of this game soon enough, but let’s start with the basics.

Raidmark plays out on a wooden 5x4 grid carved with traditional Norse mythology patterns, and wins form on 14 paylines that are snaking their way across the reels. You need at least 3 matching symbols on a payline to win, starting from the leftmost reel towards the right. The premium symbols, consisting of axes, battlehammers, shields, helmets, and horns, pay 1.5x to 3x your stake for 5 of a kind, while the rune-like royal symbols pay either 0.5x or 1x your stake for the same.

Raidmark Slot - Reels Screen

The Wild symbol is the highest value symbol in the game, awarding 10x your stake for 5 wilds on a payline. However, as usual, the Wild symbol also substitutes for any pay symbol to help complete or improve wins. What’s more, Wilds can expand to fill entire reels if this means that a win is created. Wilds that expand reveal 1 of 3 viking warriors, each representing a range of multipliers. You can get either a rookie, raider, or veteran viking warrior on the expanded wild, with multipliers ranging from 2x to x200.

The Onward bonus round plays out just like the base game, but presumably with a higher hit rate of wilds and expanding multiplier wilds (no official stats about this, but it was our experience during testing). The Mark of Raid bonus round, however, features wilds that always expand and can remain in play for an indefinite number of free spins (determined by a duel). Raidmark is a high volatility slot game, offering an RTP of 96.27% (RTP ranges), a hit rate of 23.8%, and a max win of 10,000x your stake.

Raidmark Features

The time has come to take a deeper look at the features of this game, and we would like to remind you that you can sample them for yourself by checking the Raidmark free play demo, found at the top of this page. Let’s get to it!

Expanding Multiplier Wilds

Wild symbols that land in the base game expand if that means they will be part of at least one winning combination. Expanded wilds fill the entire reel, and you can land wild symbols on any reel in all stages of the game. However, expanded wild symbols cannot land on reels that contain a FS scatter symbol. After expanding, the wild reveals a viking character which determines the multiplier range the game randomly chooses from. It works as follows:

• Rookie Viking - reveals a multiplier of x2, x4, x5, or x10.
• Raider Viking - reveals a multiplier of x15, x20, or x50.
• Veteran Viking - reveals a multiplier of x100 or x200.

The multiplier applies to the win the full-reel viking wild symbol is part of. If more than one full-reel viking wild is part of the same win, the multipliers are added together before boosting the win. In the base game, the full-reel viking wilds are removed before the next spin starts.

Onward Bonus Round

Landing 3 FS scatter symbols anywhere in view on the same base game spin triggers the Onward Bonus Round. You get 10 free spins by default, then a 12-sided die roll determines how many additional free spins you get. You will get at least one additional free spin from the die roll, and up to 12 are possible. This means that you will get between 11 and 22 free spins each time this bonus round triggers. The Onward bonus round plays out like the base game.

The Mark of Raid Bonus Round

The Mark of Raid Bonus Round triggers when you land 4 FS scatter symbols anywhere in view on the same base game spin. Once again, you get 10 free spins before the roll of a die determines how many additional free spins you get by landing on a number between 1 and 12. This means that you will get between 11 and 22 free spins also in the The Mark of Raid Bonus Round.

The difference between the base game, the Onward Bonus Round, and The Mark of Raid Bonus Round is that all Wild symbols that land expand to cover full reels and reveal a multiplier. A viking duel then determines if the wild remains in play for another free spin or if it is removed. Each expanded wild can remain in play for indefinite free spins, depending on the outcome of the duel that plays out per new spin.

Raidmark Slot - Free Spins

Raidmark Bonus Buy (not UK)

Eligible players will find the Bonus Buy menu via the purple “Buy Bonus” button below the grid to the left. It offers the following options in the Raidmark slot:

• Bonushunt Featurespins (extreme volatility) - pay 3x your stake per spin to increase your bonus round chances by 3x.
• Disembark Featurespins (extreme volatility) - pay 50x your stake to be guaranteed 2 wild symbols, but there is no guarantee they will expand. Also, no FS scatters can land in this mode.
• Onward FS Bonus (extreme volatility) - pay 100x your stake to trigger this feature.
• The Mark of Raid FS Bonus (extreme volatility) - pay 200x your stake to trigger this feature.

Theme & Graphics

Raidmark takes you on a Viking raid to what looks like medieval England, with a castle towering ominously in the background. The Viking warriors are standing in the field with their spears and banners as clouds move hastily across the sky on this windy and fateful day. The chanting Norse mythology soundtrack builds an atmosphere of perilous anticipation as both you and the warriors are preparing for the battle ahead. On the reels, you’ll find blowing horns, helmets, shields, battle sledgehammers, and battleaxes, as well as rune-style royal symbols.

Raidmark Free Play

The best way to prepare for the real money battle is to test your strength on the battlefield in the free Raidmark demo. It’s located at the top of this page, in case you missed when you first landed on this page. Simply head up there after you’re finished with the review (our verdict of the game follows below), and hit the big ‘play demo for free’ button. You can then access all the features of the game via the bonus buy menu, which is a great way to learn what to expect when playing for real. Once your Raidmark free play session is over, leave a comment in the comments field to tell us what you think of the game.

Pros and Cons of Raidmark

Our Verdict

Ace Roll is a relatively new provider and Hacksaw partner, which makes it understandable that they’ve decided to play it somewhat safe with this release. That being said, Raidmark is a visually polished and highly atmospheric Vikings romp, successfully tapping into the stoic and gritty allure of these famous warriors. The design team over at Ace Roll is clearly a talented bunch, and I enjoyed how the fierce heroes are just standing there, staring down the castle they are about to attack with the hypnotic, ritualistic Norse chanting building the perilous anticipation.

The wind-swept battlefield is about to get bloody; you can really feel that in your bones as you play this game. However, the duels playing out on the expanding wilds in The Mark of Raid Bonus could definitely have been both more bloody and better executed. All you see is an axe and a sword clashing together, and it’s the same animation each time. We get that Ace Roll, like any Hacksaw partner, is not supposed to outshine their master, but a bit more visual grit in these critical moments would have gone a long way.

Mechanically, Ace Roll delivers a highly volatile ride fueled by the expanding multiplier wilds. This is hardly the most innovative idea, especially not compared to what Hacksaw has done with the concept, but it’s a tried and tested feature that can be deadly effective when done right. I purchased the Disembark Featurespins 25-30 times during my test session, as well as plenty of bonus rounds, and I never once saw anything but the Rookie Viking. I landed some decent wins, though, as even lower-level multipliers can do damage when they combine forces.

Like many Hacksaw partner releases, Raidmark feels a bit like a watered-down Hacksaw game. Both bonus rounds seem to increase the hit rate of the expanding wilds, which is okay without being anything spectacular. The Mark of Raid bonus shines a bit more with its semi-sticky expanding wilds, but again, you’ll seldom see the elusive higher-level vikings. All in all, I’d say Raidmark is a great game for slot rookies to test their strength on the volatile battlefield before taking on the even more brutal releases from master Hacksaw.