Chronicles of Olympus II – Hades

Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades: Slot Overview

Games Global partner Alchemy Gaming has extended its Chronicles of Olympus series with a third release titled Chronicles of Olympus II – Hades. This one follows closely to the previous one, Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus, offering a lot of the same features and whatnot, with the exception of a new Diamond X-Up symbol. The rest hasn't changed much, so the aim of the game remains trying to score a multiplier as high as the slot will allow before taking it into free spins, where it can be used to boost wins.

Naturally, since we're dealing with Hades instead of Zeus this time, the visuals have had a switch-up. The quality remains high, though, which is reassuring and like its predecessor, Chronicles of Olympus II – Hades is a handsome release. Greek mythology might be as common as it gets in the slot industry, but Alchemy Gaming goes to show it can still be used to make a strong impression when handled just so. Chronicles of Olympus II – Hades' background is a hot, sparking, rocky realm, while the character symbols are like little works of art in their own right. The music is suitably dramatic, helping create a scene that mythology buffs should be well pleased with.

Little has changed regarding the statistical and mechanical side of Chronicles of Olympus II – Hades. For one, it's played on the same 5-reel, 1,024 ways to win gaming panel that was used in the previous Chronicle of Olympus slot – the first game made do with a 5x3, 243 ways matrix, for the record. As before, Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades is a highly volatile slot, though the default RTP has decreased slightly to 96.05%. Players may wager 20 c to $/€50 per spin and hits on the default RTP model occur at a rate of 25.33%.

Chronicles of Olympus II – Hades uses ways to win, not paylines, so matching symbols landing from the leftmost side of the grid on at least 3 consecutive reels triggers a payout. The value of hitting a 5 symbol low pay 10-A win is 0.8 to 1.2 times the bet, or 1.6 to 4 times the bet for hitting 5 matching high pay character symbols, of which there are 5 kinds. Wilds are present on all reels and are worth 5x the bet for a 5 wild win. Or, wilds may be used to substitute any regular pay symbol, and individual wilds in a winning combination can each add an x2, x3, or x5 win multiplier.

Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades: Slot Features

In its tool kit of extras, Chronicles of Olympus II – Hades has got the X-Up feature, free spins, Upsizer, and a bonus buy.

Scatters

Red scatters appear on all reels in the base game, as well as the leftmost and rightmost reels in free spins. Blue scatters appear on the leftmost and rightmost reels in the base game but not in free spins, while diamond scatters appear on the leftmost and rightmost reels in both phases of the game.

X-Up

Next to the reels is a list of multiplier values on the X-Up Trail, and one of the multipliers will be highlighted as the current one. When 2 red scatters land, players collect 1 X-Up token. Collecting these tokens activates higher multiplier values on the X-Up Trail. Hitting 2 blue scatters in the base game permanently upgrades one X-Up multiplier level, starting from the top of the X-Up Trail. When the X-Up Trail has been entirely turned blue, any 2 blue scatters will finally double the top-level multiplier again to x25. Chronicles of Olympus II – Hades has a new diamond scatter, as well. Hitting 2 diamond scatters in the base game triggers free spins and awards the current highest X-Up multiplier.

Free Spins

Alternatively, hitting 3, 4, or 5 red scatters in the base game awards 8 free spins with the active X-Up multiplier – plus a payout of 2x, 20x, or 100x the bet, respectively. During free spins, landing 2 red scatters awards +2 free spins plus 1 X-Up token. Hitting 2 diamond scatters in the round awards the top-level X-Up multiplier plus 2 additional free spins. Collected X-Up tokens are reset at the completion of free spins, and X-Up tokens cannot be collected when the highest free spins multiplier is active.

Upsizer

When free spins trigger, players can elect to activate a higher free spins multiplier for a calculated cost. Any collected X-Up tokens reduce the cost of upgrading the free spins multiplier.

Buy Bonus

Players may buy the free spins round with an x25 multiplier for the cost of 200 times the bet. When buying free spins, X-Up tokens cannot be collected.

Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades: Slot Verdict

Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades is like one of those business-as-usual slots where the studio has found its groove and is coasting through the sequels. Not to say Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades represents bad coasting. Like the two slots that came before it, the game looks hot, with things like characters and setting having a hefty mythological weight to them. Artwork is an area where Alchemy Gaming is able to shine, and the sounds aren't half bad, either.

Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades' gameplay is slightly dimmed shining, though. Not that there is anything untoward here preventing players from having a fun old time if they're into this sort of slot. It's just the features are basically the same as before, stopping innovation junkies from getting a major fix. The new addition is the diamond scatter and being able to win free spins with the current highest multiplier when 2 of them hit. A question mark hangs over how often this might happen, and since the paytable and game docs leave diamond scatter hit frequency information out, the answer is anyone's guess. Ah, well, diamond scatters are there; it's something.

Like the last game, what's a little strange about Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades is that the first Chronicles of Olympus X-UP game had an x50 multiplier at the top of its trail and no need for blue scatters to level up. That and winning potential here is 5,000x compared to the original slot's 50,000x, though whether this is pipedream or possibility is a debate for another day. In short, Chronicles of Olympus II - Hades has not hugely progressed beyond the Chronicles of Olympus II - Zeus edition, but when putting niggles aside, it is a fully functioning mythology slot.