
20+ years in the gambling industry including 13+ years playing and reviewing slots.
OLBG’s Chris Taylor spoke to Tiger Holmgren, Senior Product Owner at Nolimit City, for a Questions and Answers interview about the upcoming xWays Hoarder 2 slot game.
Following the popularity of the first game at UK slot sites, the highly-anticipated sequel will be released on the 14th of January 2025.
In the Q&A with Tiger, we discuss how he is settling in at Nolimit City, the inspiration for this sequel, new mechanics and bonus features and future releases Tiger will be involved in.
Q: You’ve recently joined Nolimit City: how have you settled in?
TH: “I joined the team on the 24th of March (2024) after a long stint at ELK Studios. As with all companies, things are done differently. However, I have previously worked with nearly everyone in the Game Design team at either NetEnt or ELK and I have considered them as close friends for a decade or so. With that in mind, it was rather easy to get my footing right and have fun right out of the gates.
Along with my team, there is so much talent at Nolimit City, so it’s a great environment for me to learn new things and have the foundations to create games that both look great and play well.”
Q: What is the inspiration for xWays Hoarder 2?
TH: “The simple answer is xWays Hoarder xSplit and it being a fan favourite.
The slightly more in-depth answer is that Nolimit City designs games in a slightly different way than I have experienced in the past. Each game must have a storyline and in xWays Hoarder, the 2020 pandemic became the inspiration to hoard things, even if the setting was the preparation of a nuclear disaster. In this game, we expanded on the original storyline.
We are 7 years removed from the original game and nuclear war did break out. The character formed a gang where Karen took the reigns as their leader. Nearly all supplies have been drained however the gang heads out to loot from other settlements to sustain themselves (and especially Karen). But keep in mind that the Radiation levels can be fatal.”
Q: Has the original soundtrack been used?
TH: “The original soundtrack is used. It is too good not to be coming back. But as always with our awesome sound designers, they don’t want to just release the same thing over and over, so it is not the main soundtrack anymore. You will have to find out where it is hiding when playing the game.”
Q: What new mechanics or bonus features can we expect in xWays Hoarder 2?
TH: “Mechanically, xWays Hoarder 2 builds on the mechanic to make sure players feel at home in the game: xWays and xSplits are still the drivers of the mechanics. We have added an extra reel to the game to make it a 6x3 to be able to collect even more symbols.
We have added a Loot Respin feature to emphasise the hoarding of features more. As well as introducing a stacked xSplit Nudge symbol that will nudge in to fill the whole reel with xSplits before splitting all symbols to the left of it. As in true fashion of a sequel, the potential of the game has been ramped up.”
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Q: What slot games will you be personally working on later this year?
TH: “I have my fingers in a few pies at the same time, I have 4 productions ongoing however none of them has been added to the official roadmap yet.
I am also supporting one of our brand-new game designers with his first game. Not that he needs it to be honest. He is already awesome. The game in question is Duck Hunters, which will be released on the 11th of February (2025).”
Q: Can we expect more sequels in 2025?
TH: “You can most definitely expect a few more slot sequels and follow-ups. 2 of them have already been announced with Tombstone Slaughter which builds on the previous Tombstone games and Mental 2 which was spoiled just prior to the holidays.
I know I am biased but the roadmap for the first half of the year looks extremely strong and we are stoked to share our work with you guys.”