Aurora Wildsby Neon Valley Studios

The Northern Lights are a magical phenomenon that happens near the North Pole. Many artists have been inspired by this phenomenon to create wonderful art and many tourists visit the countries in the north to get a glimpse of this one-of-a-kind happening.

Scientists say that the event, also called aurora borealis, is caused by charged particles from the Sun hitting the atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere. The resulting energy is seen as an emission of light. Usually, scientific explanations take away the magic but here it’s not the case.

And now, slot games are joining in the various media inspired by this with Aurora Wilds by Neon Valley Studios who have produced the game exclusively for the igaming giant Microgaming.

Theme

The game is a whimsical interpretation of the celestial event. In the distance, icy mountains flank the sides of the screen at night. It’s a scene inspired by the natural beauty of Northern Europe.

The background is, of course, the lights themselves, flickering merrily as the punters chase one of the four jackpots in this slot game.

The symbols in the game…

…are whimsically interpreted animals made out of stained glass that reflects the beautiful lights. The two highest-paying are lucky 7 and a bar symbol reminding us that after all this is an online casino game.

The developer should really be commended on crafting an excellent and entrancing atmosphere with their graphical and stylistic choices as well as a suitably chill soundtrack.

Betting Options and Functions

The northern light sightseeing tour takes place on a 5x3 grid with 10 paylines that pay both ways. To take a look it’s as little as 20 cents per spin or as much as 60, giving a comfortable range of bets to suit various types of players.

The slot has an RTP of 96.2% which is industry-standard and a host of options we’ve come to expect from modern releases such as autospin and the option to make spins go by quicker.

Special Features

A game with a special theme like this deserves equally magical special features and Neon Valley has definitely delivered.

Obviously, the main draw to this release are the four levels of jackpots. Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand. To get a chance at one of them, punters need to have three jackpot symbols land on the middle reels. The symbols appear next to any other ordinary symbol except wild.

When all three are present the punters get to spin the jackpot wheel.

The best thing about this wheel is that punters are guaranteed to get one of the jackpots! That’s right, once the wheel starts turning, you will walk away with at least the Mini jackpot.

Rounding off the features is an expanding wild and respin mechanism where any wilds that appear automatically expand to cover the whole reel and then hold in place for a cheeky respin. They can be retriggered for a maximum of three successive respins.

Our Take

This is a strong first showing from the newest Microgaming developer partner and we must admit we can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.

High production values, excellent graphics and sound, and a really fun and unique theme are what make this title stand out. And with four different jackpot levels, there is really no reason not to give it a spin.