Forging Wilds
By Pragmatic Play
Forging Wilds by Pragmatic Play invites you right into the heart of a Viking forge, with armour and heavy hitting hammers on the reels. The slot is played on 5 reels and 3 rows, with 20 paylines. With high volatility and a max win of 10,000x your bet, this slot will appeal to those chasing big payouts. It's a simple slot with one core feature - the forged wilds stick in place for re-spins with multipliers added to them, and in the free spins round up to 15 random wilds are added to the reels with each spin. Play from 20p.
| Game Name | Forging Wilds |
|---|---|
| Developer | Pragmatic Play |
| Theme(s) | Viking |
| Release Date | 26.08.24 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Reels | 5 |
| Paylines | 20 |
| Volatility | High |
| RTP Rate | 96.52% | 95.51% | 94.46% |
| Max Win | 10,000x |
| Min Bet | £0.20 |
| Format | 5-Reel |
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Review Scorecard
What Our Reviewer Says …
Great atmosphere, but the one multiplier wild feature on show lacks the power to really elevate this game to the top level
What We Like
- A simple slot, easy to follow
- Re-spins with progressive multipliers when wilds lock in place
- Nice 10,000x max win to play for
- Fun theme for fans of Norse and Viking slots
What We Didn't Like
- Some slot sites run at lower RTPs
- Main Forging Wilds feature didn't appear enough
Theme and Design
The ideas factory at Pragmatic Play has been pumping out new things again, this time a blacksmithing slot. Forging wilds has a fairly unusual subject matter, but feels kind of similar to a handful of other mediaeval, fantasy, viking slots.
The game is set in what seems to be a castle with lots of forge tools and a distinctly Viking-esque character. The graphics have a beautiful glow, with lots of light and shadow. It feels properly ‘finished’, especially with the intricate metal knotwork surrounding the reels.
RTP and Variance
Like many Pragmatic Play titles, this game has different options for RTP. The default is a perfectly respectable 96.52%, but operators can also choose to set the RTP to 95.51% or 94.46%. It’s worth checking that you’re playing with the default, as the other two are a little on the low side.
The volatility on this game is also high, so make sure you’ve got a generous bankroll to see you through any dry spells.
Maximum Win
A top payout of 10,000x is certainly not a prize any of us would be annoyed to win, but there are a few games that offer a larger max win.
If you’re searching for massive prizes and don’t mind taking a hit to RTP then Templar Tumble 2 Dream Drop has a similar mediaeval/fantasy theme and has a non-progressive max win of 20,000x the bet, plus a progressive jackpot too.
Symbols and Paytable
Forging Wilds is played on 5 reels and 3 rows with 20 paylines. Wins are made by matching at least three symbols, running from the leftmost reel to the right.
The game features 10 pay symbols in total, plus a wild and a scatter. The lower value symbols are the J, Q, K, and A card ranks, which award 2x to 2.5x the bet for a line of five. The premium symbols include an Air Blower, Anvil, Helmet, and a Warrior character. These symbols pay between 10x to 40x the bet for a line of five matching symbols.
Features and Gameplay
The gameplay in Forging Wilds, as the name suggests, revolves mostly around wilds. The mechanics are pretty interesting though, so let’s take a look at them.
Wilds
The Wild symbol, which can appear on any reel, has the same value as the Warrior, paying 40x the bet for five and substituting for all regular symbols to help complete winning combinations.
Forging Wilds
Sometimes, after a wild symbol has made a win it might become ‘forged’. If it does, you get a respin with this wild locked in its place and a +1 added to its multiplier. The forged wild might remain after the respin, in which case you get another (and another, and another) until there are no more forged wilds on the reels.
Tip: Wild multipliers only apply to winning combinations that the wild itself is part of. In the case that more than one wild with a multiplier is included in a single winning combo then their multipliers are added together.
Forging Wild Respins
If you hit 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols you begin the free spins feature with 5, 10, or 15 wild symbols respectively in a ‘pool’. On each respin, a random number of these pooled wilds will be added to the reels in random positions.
These wilds can also become forged and the round ends when the pool of wilds is empty and no forged wilds remain on the reels. You can also get an additional 5, 10, or 15 wilds added to the pool by hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters in this round.
Final Verdict
The Forging Wilds slot does as the name suggests, offering a couple of interesting mechanics that all revolve around wilds. The fact that you get a respin until the forged wilds are no longer forged is a great touch, that means you get a lot more bang for your buck. The multipliers are handy too, again edging you closer to that 10,000x top prize.
The graphics are the thing that sets this game apart from poorer competitors. Everything feels super polished, and the theme, although a little unusual, feels cohesive. Overall, it’s a solid slot with some fun features and a top prize that’s worth shooting for.
Testing Notes
Test spins and results analysis by Mark Wadie.
Results from 250 spins for free on Forging Wilds on Pragmatic Play’s test servers.
- Stake Size: 1
- Start balance: 100,000
- End balance: 99,845.75
- Hit Rate: 23.2% (58 winning spins in 250)
- Biggest Win: 18.35x
- Bonus Round: 0
Forging Wilds has a cool atmosphere, with the echoing sound of the blacksmith’s hammer, furnace-like backdrop and orchestral score. I enjoyed that and it gives a good sense of drama to your spins.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite matched in the gameplay.
The win rate is fine at 23.2%, roughly in in 4 or 5 spins producing a win, but the I only saw the Forged Wilds – the main even in the base game – 5 times in 250 spins, or 1 in 50 spins on average. That meant the session dragged a bit. Also, to get any value from the Forged Wilds you need to get a run of 4 or 5 re-spins going and good multiplier values in there too. That only happened once, producing a win of 18.35x thanks to 5 re-spins and multipliers of 3x and 4x.
It's a nice feature, but in this event it dropped too rarely, and with too little impact. I didn’t crack the free spins round either which itself looks very powerful. Had I done that, I might feel differently as it brings a lot more wilds to the reels. This is all evidence of the volatile nature of the game. It will requires a lot of patience. Whether you have that will depend on whether you feel the production is enough to carry the game through those slower spells.
Who Made Forging Wilds?
- Name: Pragmatic Play
- UK License: Remote 046683-R-325951-014
- Total Games: 500 +
- Known For: Wide range of themes and styles, live casino including gameshow formats, and bingo
- Popular Slots: Fruit Party, Dog House Megaways, Big Bass Bonanza, Release the Kraken
