Theme, Design, and Audio
While Pragmatic Play's prolific portfolio caters to all sorts of themes and designs, Zeus vs. Hades offers something refreshing. Instead of one, we get to see two different thematic locations: ethereal Olympus and the fiery underworld.
Before coming across the 5x5 reels, the game starts with a pick option, where you have to choose between the locations you want to play. The visuals are superbly executed in both the games, with graphical texture commonly associated with Pragmatic Play slots.
The soundscapes for each setting are meticulously composed. Olympus presents a piece of tranquil and rhythmic background music, while Hades's soundtrack is intense and fast-paced. Despite the contrasting styles, both soundtracks exude a sense of grandeur, perfectly complementing the formidable Greek-themed slot experience.
Symbols and Payouts
The paytable, offering two profiles, accommodates both themes. However, this does not impact the payout potential: they remain consistent across both versions. 10 to A symbols offer no more than 1x the stake upon landing five matching ones across a payline. High-pay symbols constitute symbols about their respective themes, offering 5x to 20x the stake for five identical symbols.
Wild symbols also come with payout values of up to 20x the stake, and they substitute for other paying symbols. We also get to encounter two variations of scatter symbols, which can take you into the free games bonus feature.
RTP, Volatility, and Paylines
Zeus vs Hades: Gods of War RTP of 96.07% is fractionally above the industry average, although not amongst the best we have seen from Pragmatic Play. But then again, let’s consider that the game's payout potential is way higher than most of the company's slots.
The slot's most unique factor is the option to pick between two volatility levels: high and very high. Either way, the slot is highly volatile, so one shouldn't expect frequent wins from it. Slots running on high variance are usually better equipped to dish out big wins in a shorter span.
The game runs on 15 fixed pay lines. All wins get multiplied by the amount you have wagered per line. If a payline gets multiple winnings, the highest of them is paid out.
Features and Bonuses
The highlight of Zeus vs Hades is expanding multipliers, which you can get during the base game and free spins.
Expanding Wilds
If a wild symbol hits in the base game or during free spins, it expands vertically to cover the entire reel, given the expansion would result in a win. The expanding wild also comes with a multiplier, which only applies to the winline it is a part of. Possible multiplier values are between x2 and x100. If more than one multiplier is part of a winning combination, their values are added first and then multiplied by the win amount.
Free Spins
Scatter symbols only appear on the first, third, and fifth reels (from left to right). Hitting 3 scatters in the same spin triggers the bonus feature with 10 free spins. If a wild symbol lands during free spins, it expands to cover the reel fully and remains sticky throughout. Multipliers with values the same as the base game also remain applicable during free spins. The feature cannot be retriggered.
Bonus Buy
The buy bonus feature offers two purchase options. The first one costs 75x the stake, offering 10 free spins. On the other hand, the very highly volatile Super Free Spins also offers 10 free spins but with one guaranteed expanding wild symbol. It costs a whopping 300x the stake. Note that the bonus buy feature is unavailable in some jurisdictions.
About the Game Provider
Pragmatic Play is one of the most prolific igaming brands with a constantly evolving gaming portfolio. Although the game provider is widely renowned for online slots, it has opened other verticals such as bingo and sportsbook. The company has won several awards over the years, some as a game provider and others for its high-quality slots. You can easily find top Pragmatic Play titles in most online and crypto casinos around the globe. The company is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission and the Malta Gaming Authority, which further adds to the credibility of the game provider as a brand.