Name: Gates Of Hades
Item: Gates Of Hades
Rating: 7.3
Author: Chris Howlett

Casino Bonuses

Provider	Pragmatic Play
Reels	6
Rows	5
Paylines	Scatter Pays
Bonus Rounds	1
Bet Range	0.20 - 125
Volatility	High
Max Win	5,000x
Bonus Buy	Yes
RTP	95.50%
Our Rating	7.3

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Game Overview

According to legend, Hades had the somewhat unusual honour of being crowned the god of the dead. With that in mind, it seems fitting that he is still a regular feature of popular culture thousands of years after his purported death. Then again, considering that many gods are said to be immortal, it seems all the more unusual that the god of the dead is, well… dead. Alas, that’s more than enough musing for one day, I think – we’re supposed to be here to discuss Pragmatic Play’s new Gates of Hades online slot, after all! Let’s start with the all-important statistics – this is a scatter-pay machine, meaning there are no paylines or payways to worry about, but you do face a maximum jackpot cap of 5,000x and an RTP of 95.50%.

The feature set offered up in Gates of Hades feels awfully familiar, starting with the four coloured multiplier symbols that can potentially super-size your win by as much as 500x its initial value. Four or more scatter symbols will award 15 free spins, during which these multipliers will accumulate between rounds for even greater odds of hitting the jackpot. If your bankroll permits, I’d definitely recommend enabling the ante bet facility – this increases the cost of each spin by 25%, but in return, you will double your chances of triggering a bonus round. If you’re too impatient even for that, a bonus buy facility is available at the cost of 100x the normal price per spin.

Most modern portrayals of Hades picture him as evil, but he is generally depicted far more altruistically whenever he is mentioned in mythological texts. I mean, he’s offering up to 5,000x your total stake in our free demo slot of Gates of Hades – how bad could he be?

Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols

Gates of Hades slot paytable

I didn’t need to try very hard to establish why the features of Gates of Hades felt so familiar – this is essentially a clone of Pragmatic Play’s earlier Gates of Olympus online slot. Funnily enough, that game wasn’t entirely original either – it was nearly a direct clone itself, this time of the developer’s hugely popular Starlight Princess game. The crazy thing is, Pragmatic Play is not the only developer building a series of cloned slots based around the children of Cronus and Rhea – iSoftBet already has three Megaways games out there, one for each of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. However, I have to say that given the menacing reputation commonly attributed to Hades nowadays, iSoftBet’s game probably almost certainly has the edge over this one – visually, at least.

Of course, visuals aren’t everything, and a good paytable can often be more than enough to ensure the popularity of a new online slot. In this case, the highest-paying symbol is a Golden Mask with a payout of 50x the total bet for 12 or more matching symbols anywhere on the reels. In second place, the Sand/Egg Timer will get you 25x your stake back for a 12+ symbol combination, closely followed by a Jewelled Bracelet at 15x. The final high-paying spot goes to a rather dangerous-looking Spiked Goblet worth 12x the bet whenever 12 or more land in view. As for the low pays, there are five gemstones with equally spaced payouts ranging between 2x for the Blues up to 5x for the Reds.

There are no surprises as far as the bet selection mechanism is concerned – the minimum/maximum permitted wagers are set at €0.20 and €100.00 per spin, respectively, increasing to €0.25 and €125.00 if the ante bet option is enabled.

Base Game & Modifiers

Gates of Hades slot base game

This machine uses a familiar setup for a scatter-pay online slot, starting with its 6×5 playfield with a total of 30 symbol positions. Unlike traditional video slots, scatter-pay games do not use paylines or payways to determine when a player is awarded a win. Instead, prizes are paid simply for hitting eight or more matching symbols anywhere on the reels.

Gates of Hades also includes a tumble feature, meaning winning symbols are immediately removed from the playfield after landing. When this occurs, new symbols will fall into view from the top of the screen, potentially creating further winning combinations.

Multiplier Symbols

Keep an eye out for the green, blue, purple, and red gemstone symbols that are present on all six reels. These special symbols offer multipliers between 2x and 500x each; should more than one multiplier symbol land simultaneously, their values will be added together before being applied to your winnings.

Ante Bet

I usually recommend using ante bet options as long as it does not reduce the game’s RTP, which is the case here. The ante bet facility increases your stake by 25%, but in return, you will receive a 100% boost in your chances of triggering a bonus round. Because the RTP does not change when activating this feature, the result is that you are guaranteed to play more bonus rounds than you would without it.

Gates Of Hades Slot Bonus Features

Gates of Hades slot free spins feature

Scatter symbols are present on all six reels of Gates of Hades, but you’ll only need to hit four of them to trigger yourself a 15 free spin bonus round. If you do manage to hit more than four scatters, you’ll receive an additional cash premium of up to 100x for all six symbols.

Free Spins

Like most online slots, the free spins feature of Gates of Hades is where things become truly exciting! In this mode, all multiplier symbols that land on the reels will have their values stored and added together for the remainder of the bonus round.

Should you be lucky enough to hit three or more scatters whilst this feature is in play, your remaining spin counter will be boosted with five additional free spins. A couple of re-triggers can make all the difference when it comes to building a large multiplier, so you’ll be extremely happy to see this happen whenever you are spinning this machine!

Bonus Buy

As the bonus round is the most exciting aspect of this game, it’s unsurprising that Pragmatic Play has included a bonus buy facility. Unfortunately, this option is only available in certain jurisdictions, but if you are lucky enough to use it, it will cost you 100x the normal price per spin.

Pros

Scatter-pay gameplay is fast-paced and easy to understand.
Multiplier symbols make it possible to hit enormous wins – even in the base game.
The bonus round is particularly exciting, and it always feels like you are close to hitting a huge jackpot!

Cons

Low maximum win cap of just 5,000x the total stake, which seems ridiculous when the game includes 500x multiplier symbols.
The reels used in the bonus round are less generous than those used during the base game.

Gates of Hades Slot Review Final Thoughts

This game utilises a tried and tested ‘engine’ for an online slot, which has proven extremely popular in previous games. Unfortunately, Pragmatic Play has not added anything new to distinguish Gates of Hades from those earlier releases – as such; you may well have already seen all this several times before.

7.3

Good

Author Bio

Article by Chris Howlett

11 Years Slots Playing Experience

About Chris Howlett

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