Hammer of Gods

Hammer of Gods: Slot Overview

Many, if not all, developers end up in the bountiful Scandinavia lands for some Viking-themed action eventually, and now it is the time of Armenian studio Peter & Sons to have a turn. Once again they have done so in a characteristically unique way, using plenty of quirky characters to fill a vista designed in their virtually trademarked cartoon style. They've also brought a bunch of intriguing features together to produce impressive big win numbers, such as a Way Multiplier, a wild collect and release mechanism, plus free spins.

There are several unusual things about Hammer of Gods, and one of them is the setting. High up in the mountains of Durmir, a Viking Longship has been beached, so it sits on the grass amidst daisies, pines, and stone henges. Quite how the boat got there is anyone's guess, but it's overflowing with gold coins, so that thing's not going anywhere. Another one of Hammer of Gods' oddities is its grid, laid out using 6-reels and 3-rows. This set-up produces 729 ways to win, which occurs when 3-6 matching symbols land across them.

Playable on any device, Hammer of Gods allows stakes from 10 p/c to £/€20 per spin to be set. Mathematically speaking, some big numbers come out of the game engine, which runs highly volatile. The return value is pretty much right on average at 96.06%, though the same cannot be said about the impressive 51,000x potential, recorded during one billion simulated spins.

In total, 11 pay symbols pop up on the paytable, all having a classic Peter & Sons look about them. The first half, maybe not so much, as they are just standard 9-A card royals, while the five high pays are no doubt Norse Gods of various descriptions, though it's a little tricky to confidently identify them. What looks like one-eyed Odin is the top premium, worth 20x the bet for a six of a kind win, dropping to 3-5x for the remaining high-value tiles. A hammer has been used to represent the wild symbol, of which there are two. One, the blue one, is a standard wild that substitutes for all other pay symbols. The other is a special wild, linking into the game's various features.

Hammer of Gods: Slot Features

The end goal in Hammer of Gods is to trigger free spins, but along the way, players get a Way Multiplier, plus a wild collect and release feature.

The Way Multiplier operates in a similar way to Nolimit City's xWays feature. They are used in the base and bonus games, appearing as a small icon displaying a multiplier of x2 to x4. When Way Multipliers land, the instances of the symbol they sit on is multiplied by the value they display. Way Multipliers can land on any symbol except the scatter.

As well as the regular wild, special golden wilds also land from time to time. When they do hit, they are collected in the meter located at the top left. Filling the meter with 3 golden wilds triggers a respin in which all 3 collected wilds are added to the game panel. The meter then resets.

The last symbol to look at is the star shield scatter. This one is worth 2, 10, 100, or 500 times the stake when 3, 4, 5, or 6 land, also triggering 15 free spins. During free spins, the rules remain relatively the same as the base game with a couple of alterations. One is that Way Multipliers always split symbols into the full 4 ways. Also, at least 1 wild is guaranteed per spin - but it won't always be a special wild. There is one final point on the wild collect and release feature. If there are any wilds in the meter after depleting the awarded number of free spins, the bonus round will actually continue indefinitely until the meter is filled and the feature can be activated.

Hammer of Gods: Slot Verdict

Horned hats off to Peter & Sons for producing another highly playable slot done in the studio's individual style. Cynics might hit out by saying their games are looking a bit samey, yet the standard is high, they look like nothing else out there, and the stats are solid. Hammer of Gods fits this description and has plenty to offer players who like a highly volatile slot with potential rewards to match the risk.

While Peter & Sons are to be commended for consistently crafty high-quality slots, they are yet to have their massive breakthrough moment, and it doesn't quite feel like Hammer of Gods will be the one. We aren't taking anything away from the game; it's just that you can see the potential at the studio for something even better. How they could do so is hard to say. They've nailed their look, so perhaps it's because they chose an off the shelf theme, though they've handled the Viking subject matter nicely.

Or is it something to do with the features? For one, Way Multipliers aren't as satisfying as what Nolimit City does with xWays. Using simple numbers to represent extra symbols doesn't have the same impact of actually splitting symbols up and cramming them onto the reels. ELK used a similar concept exceptionally well in Nitropolis too. Maybe it's because the characters in Peter & Sons games look so nice, they lack a bit of edge. There is no doubt the results can be quite extraordinary, though. Backing up their unique visuals, tempting potential often lies, and so it is in Hammer of Gods, which recorded a win of 51,000 times the stake during the studio's simulations.

We might have gone overboard with the nit-picking above because, at the end of the day, Hammer of Gods is another solid performer from the P&S team. Players after a high performing slot will find plenty to enjoy about it. We might still be waiting for a Peter & Sons' world-beater, but we're happy enough to play games like Hammer of Gods in the meantime.