Stockholm Syndrome

In an industry saturated with simple, friendly releases, provider Nolimit City have always been one to push the boundaries.

With just a quick glance through their catalogue you’ll see an exploration into BDSM and kink in Kenneth Must Die, a satirical look at a certain subset of society in Land of the Free, and some ‘don’t drop the soap’ jokes in San Quentin.

We’re back looking at another weird topic today as this team leaves the factory floor of Outsourced to focus on the imbalanced ‘love’ between a hostage and a captor in the aptly titled Stockholm Syndrome.

With RTP options available up to 96.08% (96.26% feature buy), this extremely (10) volatile release can produce wins up to 28,873x bet.

Stockholm Syndrome Base Game

If you’re going to take a closer look at Stockholm Syndrome, where else to go but the country where the idea was formed? We find ourselves in Sweden in this release, looking towards a building surrounded by police – or ‘polis’, in the native tongue. If you’re familiar with the story of the first documented case of Stockholm Syndrome, you’ll know immediately that we’re outside a bank.

On the reels we see a variety of hostages and captors, along with simple lettered non-premiums which spell the word POLIS. Other than that we have some CCTV and some special symbols, but we’ll explain more on these below.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Stockholm Syndrome (objectively a very odd sentence to type), but there’s a definite juxtaposition between it and the likes of Punk Rocker 2 or Apocalypse, which are just a lot ‘busier’ in their artwork. I’d liken this one to being more like Whacked! or Rock Bottom, if I had to choose.

It’s all finished off with an interesting soundtracked dotted with unique sound effects and police sirens.

Stockholm Syndrome Offers Players a Default 423 Ways to Win

Stockholm Syndrome Base Features

Taking place across 5 reels, wins are formed on Stockholm Syndrome by matching at least 3 symbols on adjacent reels, beginning with the leftmost reel. Reels hold 3-4-3-4-3 symbols, producing a total of 432 ways to win, although this can increase with some of the special symbols or in the super bonus mode, which we’ll cover soon.

Symbols available begin with non premiums, with P, O, L, I and S symbols, awarding wins between 0.15 and 0.20x bet for 3 of a kind matches, increasing to values between 0.50 and 0.75x bet for 5 of a kind wins.

At the premium end, we have four hostages and a robber. Land 3 of a kind of any premium to see wins between 0.30 and 0.50x bet, increasing to values between 0.90 and 2.50x bet for 5 of a kind matches.

During Syndrome Spins, an additional reel is added which makes it possible to land 6 of a kind combinations. Non premiums pay between 1.50 and 2.25x bet for 6 of a kind matches, whilst premiums pay between 2.70 and 7.50x bet, also for 6 of a kind matches.

Finally, Wild symbols come in a couple of different forms but always substitute for all symbols except Scatters or special symbols.

Stockholm Syndrome Con Man Wild Feature

Nolimit Booster

There are a few different features to cover in Stockholm Syndrome, but we’ll start with the Nolimit Booster options, which are basically xBets.

There are two Nolimit Booster options available to players:

• CAM_BET – by betting an additional 50% a Scatter is guaranteed on reel 5.
• CON_BET – by betting 10 times your stake, a Con Man Wild is guaranteed on the top position of reel 3.

In the 96.08% game setting, RTP decreases slightly to 96.05% when using either Nolimit Booster option.

Avalanches

Next up are avalanches.

On every spin, all symbols involved in a winning combination will be removed from the reels, with all remaining symbols dropping down to the bottommost position on their respective reels.

New symbols will then drop in from above to fill the remaining gaps, with avalanches continuing until no new wins are formed.

A Random Character is Chosen on Every Spin to Receive a Multiplier of x2, x3, x4, x5 or x10

Character Multipliers

On every spin, a character symbol will receive a multiplier. This can be any character, not just those in view.

Possible multiplier values are x2, x3, x4, x5 or x10.

The character and multiplier is displayed at the top left of the reels inside the target – it does not change throughout avalanches.

This multiplier value is applied to all instances of the chosen character symbol on the initial drop and avalanches.

Con Man Wild

When a Con Man Wild symbol lands fully on reel 3, the Con Man Wild feature is triggered.

There is a locked position at the bottom of reel 3. During this feature, this position will be unlocked, becoming part of the Con Man Wild and changing it into a 4 symbol tall Wild.

A random character symbol will be chosen, and all instances of that symbol will be transformed into Wild symbols. The only character symbol that cannot be chosen is the highest paying symbol – the robber.

Additionally, when a Con Man Wild symbol lands on reel 3 but is not fully stacked, it will not be removed during avalanches.

Stockholm Syndrome SOS Feature

xBomb Wild

xBomb Wild symbols can land on any reel, and substitute for all symbols except Scatters when they do.

The behaviour of an xBomb Wild differs depending on whether you are in the main game or bonus game.

In the main game, xBomb Wilds will explode and remove all adjacent symbols, with the exception of Scatters and Wild symbols.

When an xBomb Wild explodes, it increases the win multiplier by +1 before the next avalanche.

All xBomb Wilds will explode before the next avalanche.

POLIS Feature

When P, O, L, I and S symbols land in the same row sequentially, the POLIS feature is triggered.

During this feature, five symbol positions are revealed, with the leftmost four locked.

Behind the locked positions will be coin values with random bet multipliers. Possible multipliers are 5x, 10x, 25x, 100x, 250x, 1,000x, 5,000x bet or a max win symbol.

The fifth position will spin and reveal 1, 2 or 3 keys, with each key opening a random locked position.

After all keys have been used, the values behind the locked positions are added together and awarded.

Stockholm Syndrome PISS Feature

SOS Feature

When S, O and S symbols land in the same row sequentially, the SOS feature is triggered.

During this feature, the ‘O’ that has landed will be transformed into an xBomb Wild symbol.

The SOS feature will only be triggered in the main game if there is no win and therefore no avalanche.

PISS Feature

When P, I, S and S symbols land in the same column sequentially, the PISS feature is triggered.

During this feature, the P, I, S and S symbols are all transformed into an xBomb Wild symbol.

The PISS feature will only be triggered in the main game if there is no win and therefore no avalanche.

Respin

Rounding up the base game is the Respin feature.

When two Scatter symbols land in view and no avalanche is triggered, the bottom position on reel 3 will unlock and respin.

When this happens, the third Scatter may land in the position that respins.

Landing 2 Scatters With No Avalanche Will Trigger a Respin, Unlocking the Locked Position at the Bottom of Reel 3 to Potentially Reveal the Third Scatter

Stockholm Syndrome Bonus

Like the majority of Nolimit City releases, there are a couple of different bonus features.

Before we look at the different features on offer, let’s cover some important information:

• The SOS feature will always be activated in any bonus mode, even if there is a win or avalanche.
• The PISS feature will always be activated in any bonus mode, even if there is a win or avalanche.
• xBomb Wild symbols that land in any bonus mode will only increase the win multiplier, and won’t explode to remove adjacent symbols.

Hostage Spins

Landing 3 Scatter symbols will trigger 7 Hostage Spins.

During this feature, the bottom position on reel 3 is unlocked.

Each time a Con Man Wild symbol lands fully, the Con Man Wild win multiplier will be increased by +1 and an additional +1 spins is awarded.

Additionally, a character symbol will be chosen to upgrade to the highest paying character symbol for the remaining spins.

Character symbols are chosen in a predetermined order – working from the lowest paying character to the second lowest, and so on.

xBomb multipliers will also be sticky throughout this bonus.

Finally, landing a Scatter symbol during Hostage Spins will award an additional +1 spins.

Stockholm Syndrome Hostage Spins

Syndrome Spins

Landing 4 Scatter symbols will trigger 8 Syndrome Spins.

During this feature an additional reel is added, with reels now holding 3-4-4-4-4-3 symbols, producing 2,304 ways to win.

Con Man Wild symbols can land on reel 3 or 4 during Syndrome Spins, acting as the traditional Nolimit City xNudge Wild when it lands partially in view by nudging up or down until it covers the entire reel.

When a Con Man Wild symbol lands in view, character symbols will be collected from reels 2-4. If there are two Con Man Wilds in view, character symbols are collected twice.

Collected character symbols are stored in their respective collect meters.

The collect meter is considered full when it reaches 5 symbols, but it can collect beyond that.

Syndrome Feature

When all collect meters are full, the Syndrome feature is triggered and the middle reels are made special in the following ways:

• Reel 3 Wild – reel 3 will be covered by a Wild symbol with a win multiplier which starts at x2 but increases by +1 for each extra character symbol collected beyond 5.
• Reel 4 Infectious xWays – a new position opens on reel 4 to reveal two of the same symbol, then all instances of that symbol on the reels becomes the same size. The size of the xWays symbol increases by +1 for each extra character symbol collected beyond 5.
• Reels 2 and 5 xSplit – each symbol on reels 2 and 5 will be split into 2, with the split size increased by +1 for each extra character symbol collected beyond 5.

xBomb multipliers will be sticky throughout this bonus.

Finally, landing a Con Man Wild or a Scatter symbol during Syndrome Spins will award an additional +1 spins.

Stockholm Syndrome Syndrome Spins

Nolimit Bonus

Players in appropriate regions can skip straight to the action with the following Nolimit Bonus options:

• Hostage Spins – 80x bet (96.02% RTP)
• Syndrome Spins – 390x bet (96.26% RTP)
• Lucky Draw (67% Hostage Spins, 33% Syndrome Spins) – 183x bet (96.16% RTP)
• Lucky Draw (50% Hostage Spins, 50% Syndrome Spins) – 235x bet (96.26% RTP)
• POLIS 1 (1 feature with up to 3 keys) – 150x bet (96.04% RTP)
• POLIS 2 (2 features with up to 3 keys per row) – 300x bet (96.04% RTP)
• POLIS 3 (3 features with up to 3 keys per row) – 450x bet (96.01% RTP)
• POLIS 4 (3 features with up to 3 keys per row and x5, x10 and x25 removed) – 1,500x bet (96.04% RTP)
• POLIS 5 (1 feature with 1 keys and max win guaranteed to be a possibility) – 8,000x bet (96.17% RTP)

The above RTP values are based on the overall setting of 96.08%.

The maximum win available in Stockholm Syndrome is 28,873x bet. If the sum of a single game round exceeds this, the game round will end and 28,873x bet will be awarded.

Stockholm Syndrome POLIS Feature (POLIS-5 Feature Buy)

First Impression

It’s always an intense operation to understand and review a Nolimit City, and this one is no different.

Artwork, animations and sounds are to the usual standard; one of my favourite things is that subtle 70s vibe that the whole thing has – not too in your face, but enough that you notice it.

There is a certain level of humour that doesn’t make as much of an appearance in Stockholm Syndrome compared to Loner, for example, but it could just be that the team felt this one didn’t call for it.

In the base game, a number of different features keep gameplay moving forward – kind of like the feature rich offerings from Blueprint Gaming, but modified to fit with the volatility and potential of this release. Regular symbols being used for spelling words rather than actually having special symbols is a nice touch, because you do start to notice more of these “near misses”, which keeps excitement and anticipation at an all time high.

In the bonus modes things are kicked up a notch, with Syndrome Spins being the real star of the show. Symbol upgrades, Infectious xWays and xSplit all contribute, so there’s plenty to look out for as you spin.

The first thought when you play the Syndrome Spins feature is that it’s quite reminiscent of Das xBoot; you really just want to trigger the Syndrome feature to see the special features make an appearance, preferably after landing xBombs to increase the multiplier – simple.

Simple in description, but not so simple in real life. Maybe I got very unlucky, but when testing I think I bought more than two dozen before seeing the Syndrome feature, which leads me to believe it’s quite rare.

That being said, that doesn’t mean this feature is a harsh as you’d imagine – many of the rounds in testing paid handsomely even without the Syndrome feature – in this release impressive wins are certainly possible from landing regular combinations on the reels. Still, it would be interesting to know how frequently the Syndrome feature is triggered.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Nolimit Bonus options. Is it too much? Well, you’ll decide that for yourself. The real talking point on this topic is the POLIS 5 bonus, which costs a whopping 8,000x bet.

Ultimately this one just feels like a new twist on God Mode, without the ‘or nothing’ option to accompany the ‘all’. Still, it’s hard not to think of the scenario in which a player spends 8,000x bet and only unlocks 5x bet.

Maybe that won’t be possible, but if I know the brutality of Nolimit City maths, it probably is – especially since my worst result was spending 8,000x bet to win 100x bet.

With that in mind, we know that as time goes on, trends move more and more towards extreme volatility in this industry, and the maximum win is certainly nothing to be sniffed at if you’re lucky enough to see it – 28,873x bet, to be exact.

Finally, maths is extremely (10) volatile and RTP options are available up to 96.08% (96.26% feature buy), so as always it’s worth checking this.

There is a certain irony in this release – maybe we’re all suffering from Stockholm Syndrome after years of being convinced that extreme volatility equals enjoyment. Still, if you’re a fan of Nolimit City’s maths models and the plethora of features that so often accompany their slot games, you’ll feel right at home here.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.