13th Trial Hercules Abyssways: Slot Overview
Hercules, the strong man of Greek mythology, famously had 12 exceptionally difficult labours to perform as an act of penance for tragically killing his wife and children. Though, in his defence, he committed the terrible deed after being driven mad by Hera, who didn’t like the fact that Hercules was a result of Zeus’ infidelity. What we’re about to ponder today is a possible 13th labour, which software provider Play’n GO hints at in 13th Trial Hercules Abyssways, an online slot that follows in the mighty footsteps of the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca-themed slot Scourge of Rome.
Don’t want to be presumptuous, but at a guess, it would seem 13th Trial Hercules Abyssways is played at or near Mt Olympus, the place where the Olympian gods lived in spectacular palaces of gold and marble. The physical Mt Olympus sits on the border of Macedonia and Thessaly and is the highest mountain in Greece. Climb it, and unfortunately, you won’t be greeted with the sort of sight Play’n GO has drawn for 13th Trial Hercules Abyssways, where waterfalls cascade, and majestic buildings perch on peaks, contributing to an overall celestial atmosphere which sounds almost as good as it looks.
The trial takes place on a 6×4 gaming area that uses a ways to win system to evaluate winning combinations, and there are 4,096 of them. Reels can expand during free spins, so up to 46,656 ways to win are technically possible in that phase. Slightly less volatile than Scourge, 13th Trial Hercules Abyssways has been rated 7 out of 10, or medium-high volatile, and like a lot of slots Play’n GO makes, five RTP configurations are available, where 96.2% is the preferred return. Stake choice is a standard 10c to $/€100 per paid game round.
Pointy Greek 10-A card ranks pay 1x-1.4x the bet when 6 matching royals land in a winning line. Above them on the paytable are helms, vases, grapes, Zeus statues, Hera statues, as well as Hercules, awarding 4x-12x the bet for 6 OAK. Wilds, the 1×1 and the expanded wild, substitute for any regular paying symbol, but they only appear in the base game.
13th Trial Hercules Abyssways: Slot Features
The Will of Zeus feature is available in the base game, while in free spins, when they organically trigger, a reel expansion/contraction feature called Hera’s Wrath – Abyssways, plus a Pegasus modifier, is present.
Will of Zeus
The wild can land anywhere except the leftmost reel, and when two or more wilds hit, the Will of Zeus features triggers. For this feature, each wild that is part of a win has a chance of transforming into a full reel expanding wild. The probability is influenced by the total number of wilds that have appeared on the grid – when there are two wilds, each has a 50% chance, three wilds have a 33% chance each, and for four wilds, each has a 25% chance.
Free Spins
Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters awards 10, 15, 20, or 25 free spins, respectively. During free spins, Hercules symbols are sticky. Moreover, they pay even if there are reel gaps between them, and Hercules combinations can start from any reel. At the start of each free spin, a random number of symbols at the bottom of the reels become burned, then at the end of each free spin, all burned symbols fall from the grid, reducing the reel size. Between each free spin, a new full row of symbols is added to the top of the grid, increasing the reels’ size.
Pegasus symbols may appear during free spins. When a Pegasus symbol lands, all Hercules symbols move one step upward before the burned positions fall. If there are fewer than 3 Hercules symbols in view, Pegasus will top the number of them up to 3. Each scatter landing in the round awards +1 free spin up to a maximum of 50 free spins.
13th Trial Hercules Abyssways Slot Verdict
Stating that 13th Trial Hercules Abyssways follows in the footsteps of Scourge of Rome was no exaggeration. The two slots share almost the exact same gameplay and features, with all the pros and cons that entails. As before, the base game is okay, drags a bit, but may benefit from Will of Zeus modifying wild symbols to make them more exciting and potentially fruitful. Theoretically, up to 4 expanding wilds can land on a 4,096 payline grid, so who knows, it could turn out alright. Also, like Scourge of Rome, the presentation is of a high standard, though Greek mythology, while a fascinating topic, is a lot more common and therefore less exciting to explore in a slot than the Carthaginian invasion of Italy.
Onto free spins, and the feature’s particular rules might make the round a real roller coaster of emotions. From fist pumping joy if it all pans out to hair pulling frustration as reels are decimated by Abyssways burning symbols off the board. Hercules symbols are sticky in free spins, but they do move downwards as rows are added to the top and symbols are removed when they’re set on fire. When Hercules symbols burn, they also fall off the bottom of the reels, which means they might not be as sticky as some players would have preferred. Getting a lot of Hercules symbols on the reels might be a trial of its own, and it’s too bad that wilds do not even land in free spins at all, cutting the Will of Zeus and expanding full reel wilds out of the bonus picture altogether.
If you thought Scourge of Rome had a questionable max win, then 13th Trial Hercules Abyssways’ astounding 60,000x will have dubious (or realistic) players sceptically shaking their heads. If nothing else, it’s a monster figure for willing gamblers to aim their sights on as they labour through the ups and downs 13th Trial Hercules Abyssways can pour on, though the action hasn’t evolved much, if anything, from its predecessor.
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