Ancient Fortunes: Zeus – Slot Review

Ancient Fortunes: Zeus is a video slot from Triple Edge Studios developed for Microgaming with 5 reels and 10 paylines. Released in April 2019, you can play this game at online casinos such as Unibet, Twin Casino or PlayOjo.

Theme and basic information

Ancient Fortunes: Zeus gives us the gods of ancient Greece as the theme. Indeed, it looks as if we’re on Mount Olympus as we’re looking around at magnificent temples surrounded by clouds and golden light. Lightning strikes in the distance every once in a while, and the background soundtrack is orchestral and quite fierce.

Whilst the graphics look a little dated, you will soon realise that this look is on purpose and fits in well with the theme. The graphics are actually a lot more detailed and sophisticated than a first glance might indicate.

On the reels, we find the mighty gods of Poseidon, Ares, Dionysus and Hermes alongside Zeus, who poses as the wild symbols. Ares is the most valuable symbol, paying out 62.5x our stake for 5 on a payline. Poseidon follows far behind with only 30x our stake for such a win. Dionysus and Hermes pay out 25x and 15x our stake, respectively, for 5 on a payline. The remaining symbols show us vultures, panther, kraken and snakes as stone reliefs.

Whilst this game has only 10 paylines, the wins are actually paid out from left to right and right to left for three matching symbols or more.

You can play this game from 0.10 to 70.00.

Increasing multipliers and cascading wins

Ancient Fortunes: Zeus comes with cascading wins, although Triple Edge calls them rolling reels. Whatever you want to call it, the principle is a well-known one: You get a win, the symbols making up that winning combination explode off the reels and make room to allow for more symbols and hopefully more wins. This is a beloved feature, especially since it comes with multipliers here.

The multipliers climb from 1x to 2x to 3x to 7x in the base game. And since the slot pays both ways, the chances at climbing to 2x or 3x are definitely there. Surprisingly, and quite deceptively, however, you will hardly ever get to 7x.

Higher multipliers in the free spins

Three golden lightning symbols will activate the free spins in this slot. Collect four scatters and you’ll get 15 free spins and five scatters will give you 20 free spins. Whilst the mechanics are the same as in the base game, the multiplier now climbs to an initial 3x. Further cascading wins would award a 7x, then a 11x and finally a 21x multiplier.

At least two further scatters are required to get more free spins. Apparently, you can get up to 70 free spins in total.

Conclusion: A well-crafted slot that doesn’t pay as easily as you might think

The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) for Ancient Fortunes: Zeus is 96.02%, which is a very average value. The slot has a medium variance, which means big wins are rare, but you can fairly regularly win decent money here. That’s thanks to those ever-increasing multipliers, though the slot doesn’t pay are generously as you might think.

Yes, it pays both ways and yes, the multiplier can grow nicely in the free spins, but ultimately, you don’t manage to get the consecutive wins that you might hope for.

Still, Ancient Fortunes is quite enjoyable to play. It’s simpler than you might think, well-crafted and manages to win you enough to keep going. Whether or not you get the free spins reasonably early will greatly influence just how much you’ll end up liking this game or not.