Arc Lord

Arc Lord: Slot Overview

The Olympian gods make for popular subject matter in the online slot business and have been recreated on players' screens numerous times. They don't seem to be stopping any time soon, either, and Hacksaw Gaming partners Backseat Gaming has taken up the mantle to design a game around the chief of the pantheon, Zeus. The slot is Arc Lord, where the meaning of 'arc' in this instance is a visible electrical discharge between two conductors (who says slots can't be educational?), which fits since Zeus was the god of lightning, as well as other things.

Given the popularity and widespread use of the subject matter, Arc Lord's appearance didn't come across as a visually shocking example of the genre. Admittedly, it does have a clean, pleasant, cartoonish look, though the skin is about okay rather than commanding. Columned buildings in an ancient Greek style sit on either side of a screen that makes use of the cooler side of the colour range, such as blues and greys. Pay symbols are pretty generic, though the wild reel effect adds life to what is otherwise a slightly sterile recreation of one of Europe's foundational civilisations.

Arc Lord's gaming area is a 5x5 matrix with 19 paylines running across it. A tumble mechanic removes winning symbols and refills the empty spaces by dropping new and existing symbols downwards, repeating as long as new wins appear. Gamblers are able to stake $/€0.10 to $/€40 on each spin, with four options available at the feature buy section. Backseat Gaming has given the slot a medium-high volatile math model, which squeezes out an RTP of 96.26%, though it can vary slightly if/when using the optional Wheel of Fortune.

The pay symbols are 10-A lows, then books, rings, hourglasses, and crowns as the high pays. A winning line of 5 matching royals pays 1x-1.5x the stake, increasing to 3x-10x for a line of 5 matching premium symbols. Zeus symbols and wild reels substitute all regular paying symbols. Landing five wilds in a win pays 50x the stake.

Arc Lord: Slot Features

Arc Lord keeps it pretty simple when it comes to features, dropping wild reel spawning Zeus symbols, a global multiplier, bonus rounds that mostly follow the main game, and feature buys.

Zeus Wild Reel

When the Zeus symbol lands, it triggers and spawns 1 to 5 wild reels on the grid. After it activates, the Zeus symbol acts as a wild. The Zeus symbols can land in all game phases, and a maximum of one unactivated Zeus symbol can land per time.

Global Multiplier

The global multiplier starts at x1 and increases by +1 on each tumble win. The global multiplier multiplies all wins, and in the base game, it resets at the start of every spin.

Wheel of Fortune

When either bonus game triggers, players have the chance to gamble for extra spins or a higher global multiplier. It is possible to gamble up to 3 times or collect the current award before a gamble. Unsuccessful gambles lose all free spins.

Thunderstrike Bonus Game

10 Thunderstrike free spins and x1 starting global multiplier are awarded when 3 scatters land in the main game. It follows the main game mechanics, except that the global multiplier does not reset until the round ends.

Lord of Lightning Bonus Game

15 free spins and a starting global multiplier of x5 are awarded when landing 4 scatters in the main game. Otherwise, Lord of Lightning follows the same rules as Thunderstrike.

Feature Buys

BonusHunt FeatureSpins make each spin 3 times more likely to trigger a bonus round for 2x the bet, or Thunder FeatureSpins costing 50x guarantee a Zeus symbol. Thunderstrike costs 100x to buy, or Lord of Lightning can be bought for 250x the stake.

Arc Lord: Slot Verdict

Arc Lord was an enjoyable game overall, but also a rather safe one as well. Everything it does is fine, but little here stands out in any major way, so it may not have the goods to really make its presence felt in the saturated Greek myth sector of the market. One of the most striking, or perhaps ironically, least striking, aspects of Arc Lord is its appearance, which is again fine, but is lacking in strong personality, and whilst no one is expecting a visual novel that pushes the boundaries of narration, there is little to no storytelling, which might have solidified the experience.

No matter, around here the gameplay does the talking, and in that regard Arc Lord is a slot of few words. What it has to say is short and to the point, yet theoretically rather potent. Arc Lord relies on two dependable slot pillars, which are full reel wilds and a rising global multiplier, to supply it's thrills. Numerically, 5 wild reels on their own would be worth a tempting 950x before a multiplier has even been applied to them. So while Arc Lord might at times seem like a light shower bathed in corporate lobby-friendly colours rather than a wild thunderstorm, it can actually get rather hectic when its two main components come together.

Should they cook up a real storm, then Arc Lord can produce wins up to a 25,000x the bet cap. And so, while Arc Lord might be missing the thematically thunderous energy one might expect from a Greek god game or lack the gravitas of a really commanding Zeus slot, it can make up for the shortfall with electrifying blasts of globally multiplied wild reel action.