The Rise of Olympus online slot created by the Play’n GO software provider came online in 2018. Its theme uses the popular Greek mythology theme starring Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, as well as other iconic mythical theme-related symbols.
There are also sequels to this slot, which are Rise of Olympus 100 and Rise of Olympus Origins. Each time a video slot has sequels attached to it, this is an indication that it was a popular game at online casinos, and so the software provider creates new versions to keep the trending theme alive.
In this review, we are covering the original release, which you can also play in free-play mode on this page. The reels use the cluster pays mechanic over a 5×5 grid system. Its RTP is 96.5 % on average, and it comes with high-variance gameplay as well as a potential max win of 20,000x your spin bet.
As for the game’s features, there are cascading reels, a wild substitute that also pays as a cluster combo, and there are also a variety of reel modifiers.
Symbols
Symbols use clusters to form combination wins, which on cluster pays slots, we generally call them cluster wins. On this slot, spins will need to create horizontal or vertical rows of alike symbols with 3, 4 or 5 symbols per row. There are 7 regular symbols and wild symbols that all pay, while there are 9 cluster win combinations as per the bullet points below.
Spin Bet Multipliers paid out for 3, 4 and 5 symbol combinations:
- Hades: 0.3x, 1x, or 10x
- Poseidon: 0.3x, 1x, or 10x
- Zeus: 0.3x, 1x, or 10x
- Any 3 Gods combined: 0.2x, 0.5x, or 5x
- Harp: 0.15x, 0.3x, or 3x
- Helmet: 0.15x, 0.3x, or 3x
- Trident: 0.1x, 0.2x, or 2x
- Bolt of Lightning: 0.1x, 0.2x, or 2x
- Pegasus Wild: 1x, 3x, or 20x
Now, these are not are not high paying wins. We’ve seen slots with the top symbol paying 50x or up to 200x. Yet, with the cascading reels feature giving you additional chances to land more wins, the lower payouts compared to some other slots are justified.
How to Read the Paytable
The paytable on the Rise of Olympus online slot will update symbol combinations dynamically. You can change your bet on the demo version from 0.20 per spin up to 100 per spin. If you choose 1.00 per spin, the Hades, for example, will show a payout of 0.30, 1.00 or 10.00 for 3, 4, or 5 symbols.
Game Features
Although most players expect big wins from cluster pay slots during the base game, Rise of Olympus has low-paying symbols. To win big in this slot, you will need to rely on the cascading reels’ generous multipliers. However, the biggest wins will come when you trigger free spins via the cascading reels feature.
Cluster Pays
On paylines or adjacent reels slot games, symbols need to run across adjacent reels. For example, a 3-symbol win would consist of the same symbol on reel 1-2-3. However, cluster pay slots create clusters of wins.
On Rise of Olympus, clusters can land horizontally or vertically in adjacent positions to one another on the grid. To clarify, symbols do not need to land on a specific reel.
Cascading Reels with Wilds and Multipliers
Every cluster win will pay out, then remove the winning symbols. For each cascade, a wild symbol will appear in the middle of the location where the winning symbols were removed. For example, if you land a horizontal 3-symbol cluster win on positions 2-3-4 on row 3, then positions 1 and 4 will become blank, while position 3 will have a wild symbol added.
As there are 2 rows above, the symbols from row 2 will drop into positions 2 and 4. Likewise symbols from row 1 will drop into positions 2-3-4 on row 2. When testing the demo version, we found that the ratio of winning additional clusters is around 50/50.
Cascading Multipliers
Each time you land a new win via the cascading reels, the multiplier increases by x1. We’ve had big wins where the multiplier has reached up to 7x. Once you get to this stage, you will also trigger free spins. The multiplier will remain in place for the free spins game so that you can expect huge wins with combinations of multiple cascades. Plus, free spins will trigger if you land enough winning cascades.
Free Spins
Free spins trigger when you clear the reels of all symbols via cascades. This may seem like a challenge, but as we have played over 1,000 spins on Rise of Olympus, we can tell you that it does happen, and more often than you might think. The average for us was around once every 150 spins.
- Hades: 4 free spins and a recharge with up to 4 re-triggers possible.
- Poseidon: 5 free spins and a recharge with up to 3 re-triggers possible.
- Zeus: 8 free spins and a recharge with up to 2 re-triggers possible.
All the features from the Hand of God feature explained below will trigger on every non-winning free spin, depending on which god you choose for your free spins bonus.
Hand of God
If your spin doesn’t produce any cluster wins, the Hand of God may randomly trigger. One of the three gods, Zeus, Poseidon or Hades, will be standing on the right-hand side of the reels. The god that appears can trigger his unique feature.
- Hades: A set of symbols will transform into another symbol, which usually results in a cluster win.
- Poseidon: He will add one or two wilds to the grid.
- Zeus: He will destroy two sets of symbols picked randomly with bolts of lighting. Symbols will drop into the spaces, which, from our experience, often results in new cluster wins.
The Wrath of Olympus Feature
Every win charges a meter. The bigger the wins, the quicker the meter will fill up. For example, small wins (3-of-a-kind) fill it a little, and big wins (5-of-a-kind) fill it.
Once filled, the Wrath of Olympus feature triggers, giving each God a turn at using his powers described in the Hand of God section above. The god’s turn will end when he produces no more wins, and the next god will take over.
Quite often, the god’s powers result in multiple wins by clearing the reels of symbols, thus resulting in triggering the free spins bonus.
The Wild Symbol
The wild symbol substitutes for any of the regular symbols on the reels by acting as a wildcard symbol. It is also the Rise of Olympus slot game’s highest-paying cluster win combination when landing 5 on the reels.
Our Opinion of the Rise of Olympus Online Slot
From our first impressions, the word that springs to mind is unique. Firstly, the cascading reel feature doesn’t behave in the same way as most other slots using cascades. In comparison, most other cascading reel features replace the winning symbols that disappear from the reels, but on Rise of Olympus, the above symbols tumble down to fill missing spaces.
We have to say that we are not overly impressed with the low-paying symbols when landing clusters of 5. Yet, Play’n GO has more than made up for this by adding more action to the slot via its features. Yes, there are slot games with higher 50x to 100x multipliers for a 5-symbol win, but they generally come with fewer features, which inevitably means less action.
As a result, it depends on whether you prefer action-packed slots or games with fewer features and more straightforward gameplay. In the end, as long the RTP suits you, you can mix up your gameplay between action and standard gameplay.
Alternatives to the Rise of Olympus Online Slot
The two most obvious alternatives to Rise of Olympus are the game’s sequels, RIse of Olympus 100 and Rise of Olympus Origins.
- Rise of Olympus 100: The Rise of Olympus 100 sequel is the same online slot game, but the multipliers can reach up to 100x.
- Rise of Olympus Origins: Rise of Olympus Origins is a revamp of the original explained in this review but with new features added.
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