Gates of Olympus Slot Review

Theme and Storyline

If you loved the stories of Greek Mythology as a kid, we’re sure you’ll love all the symbols inspired by the theme, as well as some background illustrations like the temple of Zeus. Naturally, the God of Thunder is always watching over you and you’ll need his help to land those mighty multipliers we already talked about a while ago.

Our SlotsPeak team was curious to find out what else sets this game apart, and we were won over by the chorus and sound effects in the background. It’s truly stuff worthy of Greek gods, and we appreciate the provider’s extra attention to detail. 

All those small details including the soundtrack add up to your experience as you play Gates of Olympus slot machine, including some intense moments and noises when scatter symbols land. We’ve got a lot to unpack with this one regarding the look and feel, so our experts tested the visuals and animations to see if they are on par with the industry’s finest slots.

Graphics, Sounds, and Animations

Pragmatic Play slot veterans will know what they’re looking at when they load this game, and our experts were more than pleased by the visuals. We expected nothing less from the provider that already brought us some all-time classics, since the symbols are appealing to look at, and in our opinion, they are designed as a fighting nod to the game’s theme.

If you thought that Zeus would only be sitting beside the grid, you’d be wrong, as he also appears as the scatter symbol. Other symbols worth mentioning include all the premiums that you’ll be looking to land in stacks, such as chalices, rings, crowns, and hourglasses. 

We found it fitting to lead you through the visuals and mechanics in this Gates of Olympus slot review since it really gives you insight into the gameplay. The soundtrack intensifies according to the happenings on the grid, so you’ll hear a loud, thunderbolt rumble in the background as you enter the free spins bonus.

Gameplay and Features

The gameplay mechanics of this online slot were revolutionary at the time of its release, but following its success, we now have a few more similar games from Pragmatic Play like Starlight Princess. If you’ve played the Sweet Bonanza slot before, the tumbling mechanics are fairly similar – you need at least eight matching symbols anywhere across the grid to start the cascades.

Once you’ve got a hit, the winning symbols are calculated and then disappear, leaving more room for new symbols to drop and take their place. The tumbling goes on and on for as long as there are eight or more matching symbols on the grid. This is where things get heated up – you’ll need to keep an eye out for Zeus and his lightning bolts since he might randomly zap your winnings and award a multiplier.

Overall, the multipliers go from x2 to x500, although the new version of the game dubbed «Gates of Olympus 1000» comes with an extravagant, x1,000 multiplier. So, instead of following an active pay line win, you’ll be mesmerized by all the tumbling action across the reels, waiting for Zeus to raise his hand and place a multiplier on the grid and electrify your wins (pun intended). 

One fairly unique thing about this slot is that there are no wilds, but that’s not such a bad thing considering the game’s tumbling mechanics, leaving more room for symbol connections. Either way, the bonus round is where things get interesting, and we’ll catch up with that in a bit.

Bonus Rounds and Free Spins

We can’t talk about the game’s features without taking the time to walk you through the free spins bonus round. To trigger it, you’ll need to land four Zeus scatter symbols anywhere on the reels, and tumbling mechanics certainly help you with that. With each new drop, your chances of getting the bonus increase.

Plus, you can raise your bet size by 20% to get a higher chance of landing the bonus, but the best thing is – it can even be purchased. Pragmatic Play is arguably the mastermind behind the bonus buy antics that most players nowadays use as a strategy, so you can pay x100 of your bet to buy your way into the bonus round.

The provider even allows you to play the Gates of Olympus slot demo game and use the bonus buy feature to put it to the test before playing with real money. Either way, entering the bonus gives you 15 bonus spins, but this time, you get a little twist. All of the multipliers that land on the grid are saved and added up to the overall bonus multiplier that you’ll see on the left side of the grid.

Naturally, for a multiplier to be added, it needs to land on a winning spin, otherwise, it won’t be added. There are two ways of collecting multipliers in the bonus round, as you can either do it when they naturally land on the grid or when Zeus forces them by zapping his lightning. 

Another neat detail is that you can re-trigger the bonus round by landing three scatters on the same bonus spin. This way, you get five more spins and your multiplier is saved for those, giving you a route towards a great win.

Betting and Payouts

Since this title doesn’t have any pay lines and works on tumble-based mechanics instead, the betting range is not determined by the number of lines or anything similar. Instead, you’ve got fixed betting choices that you can pick, often ranging from $0.1 to $200 per spin, but that also depends on the casino.

We’ve played both the free Gates of Olympus slot game and the real money version to verify this, but then again, it’s always better to check before you play. As for the payouts, they aren’t exactly in the online slot jackpot range, but considering the staggering multiplier potential, it’s somewhat to be expected.

Here’s the payout chart if you wish to take a closer look at base game payouts without an active multiplier:

• Blue diamonds – x0.25 for eight symbols to x2 for 12 or more symbols
• Green diamonds – x0.4 for eight symbols to x4 for 12 or more symbols
• Yellow diamonds – x0.5 for eight symbols to x5 for 12 or more symbols
• Purple diamonds – x0.8 for eight symbols to x8 for 12 or more symbols
• Red diamonds – x1 for eight symbols to x10 for 12 or more symbols
• Chalices – x1.5 for eight symbols to x12 for 12 or more symbols
• Rings – x2 for eight symbols to x15 for 12 or more symbols
• Hourglass – x2.5 for eight symbols to x25 for 12 or more symbols
• Crowns – x10 for eight symbols to x50 for 12 or more symbols

You also get a fixed payout for landing three, four, or five scatter symbols, giving you x3, x5, and x100 of your bet, respectively. 

RTP and Variance

The Gates of Olympus slot RTP is 96.50%, and it remains unchanged whatever you do, from the base game to the bonus round, and even in the bonus-buy entry. Of course, that also goes for the ante bet (the one you can place to increase a chance of hitting a bonus), but in that case, simply more scatter symbols are added to the reels.

As for the game’s volatility, Pragmatic Play designated it as very high, and in our experience playing the Gates of Olympus slot online, we can safely confirm it. Truth be told, the maximum win isn’t as rewarding as what you’d expect from some other Pragmatic Play games, but it still goes hand in hand with the volatility and the return rate.

Because of the high variance, you can expect less frequent «lower» wins, and quite significant big hits when the time comes for the game to pay up. In our opinion, it’s a perfect ratio for this type of game, as you never know what the multiplier brings you.

Jackpots and Limits

If you’re a fan of jackpot slots, we’ll sadly have to break it for you by saying that this one is not one of the crowd’s favorites in that regard. It simply lacks any jackpot or progressive potential, but the x5,000 maximum win surely beats some fixed jackpot prizes that you can win on other video slot games.

However, the thing about the game’s max win is that it’s only possible through the bonus round, and it usually comes with a lot of multipliers higher than x100 adding up. It’s simply how the game was designed, and you can even predict the big win when those huge x100, x200, and x500 multipliers hit the grid.

The bad thing is that even if your multiplier accumulates quickly during the bonus, which would theoretically lead to even bigger wins, the bonus is capped at x5,000. So, as you reach this multiplier level, the bonus ends there even if you have more spins in store.

Conclusion 

Well, it’s been a mystical ride through the Gates of Olympus slot review and we hope you’ve learned something valuable by joining us along the way. Overall, we feel like there’s a reason why this game is one of the most popular in the world right now, and it’s been that way ever since it was released.

Truth be told, the game’s variance and a rather limited x5,000 max win could be somewhat of a downside, but there’s plenty you can take on the upside to level things. Since it’s a rather unique game, we suggest that you take on the Gates of Olympus slot demo game first before playing for real money.