Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus

Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus: Slot Overview

Released in 2021, Chronicles of Olympus went on to become, in maker Alchemy Gaming's own words, a 'smash hit game', which has now been honoured with a sequel. Titled Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus, the follow-up stays largely true to the original while undergoing an optical upgrade and receiving an interesting new feature aimed at longer-term use. The rest is close to what was available before, though that's not saying too much since a lot of these X UP games have certain traits in common. That's it for the intro, let's see what the ruler of the Greek pantheon's slot has to offer.

The original Chronicles of Olympus release was a good-looking Greek mythology slot, the deities that hit on its reels, for example, were very nicely done. If anything, Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus looks even better. The character symbols are particularly eye-catching, exuding a strong godly presence. The background imagery depicts what is presumably Mt Olympus – if you've played a Greek mythology slot before, you'll no doubt know that's where the Greek gods resided. It's a more natural setting than you usually find in these games, too, without a single classically columned structure in sight. Going off on a tangent for a bit, the Zeus in this game is remarkably ripped, this guy definitely does not skip arm day.

More largely set-up than before, Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus is played on a 5-reel, 4-row gaming grid with a 1,024 ways to win pay system. Matching symbols landing on adjacent reels from the leftmost reel create winning combinations and trigger a payout. Available in several RTP configurations, the default return comes in at 96.08%, and at this level, the math model is highly volatile while cranking out wins at a rate of 24.4%. When picking a bet, the options start as low as 20 c and as high as $/€50 per spin.

First up on the paytable, 10 to A card ranks are the game's low pays, while 5 character symbols are the highs, including Pegasus, what looks like Poseidon, two female characters, and Zeus as the top symbol. Hitting 5-of-a-kind wins pay 0.8 to 1.2 times the bet for the royals and 1.6 to 4 times the bet for the picture symbols. A circular object with a 'W' on it is the wild, which lands on all reels and pays 5x the bet for a 5 wild win. When substituting for other pay symbols, each wild can add an x2, x3, or x5 win multiplier.

Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus: Slot Features

In some ways, the changes in Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus are slight, in some ways, they're quite significant, with a focus on loyal repeat players, as you will see.

X UP Feature

Landing 2 Red scatters awards an X UP token. Collected X UP tokens increase the multipliers on the meter for when free spins trigger. Landing 2 Blue scatters permanently upgrades one multiplier level starting from the top of the X UP Trail and working down. When the X UP Trial has turned blue, any 2 Blue scatters will finally increase the top-level multiplier to x25. Red scatters appear on all reels in the base game and reels 1 and 5 in free spins. Blue scatters are present on reels 1 and 5 in the base game but not in free spins.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 Red scatters triggers 8 free spins at the current achieved multiplier level, plus a payout of 2x, 5x, or 100x the bet, respectively. During free spins, landing 2 Red scatters awards +2 free spins plus an X UP token. Collected X UP tokens reset on the completion of free spins, and X UP tokens are not collected if the current multiplier is the top one.

Upsizer

When free spins trigger, players are given the chance to activate a higher free spins multiplier for a calculated cost. Collected X UP tokens reduce the cost of the available free spins multipliers.

Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus: Slot Verdict

One of Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus' main focal point is the introduction of the Blue scatter symbol. The word 'permanent' is used when describing the multiplier level upgrade abilities, and permanently here means the upgraded trail multipliers a player achieves by landing Blue scatter symbols are synced to their account each time they open the game. A rather handy touch for loyal Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus players, like a store discount card which gives you savings each and every time you shop. Sorry if that sounded like a commercial break. The question is whether there is a reason to choose the original Chronicles of Olympus slot now due to the reward system available in the sequel. The answer actually contains a few ambiguities.

One reason for possibly choosing Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus is that anyone with a soft spot for gods, goddesses, or mythology is treated to a fine-looking game. The rest of the features are basically the same, though, meaning a dependable blend of ways, multiplier wilds, multiplier level-ups, free spins, and the Upsizer as a cherry on top. Winning potential has nose-dived, though, an interesting move when making a sequel, from the original's top prize of 50,000x the bet to Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus' 5,000x the bet. Disappointing or more realistic – it's up to players to decide - though we've seen little proof of the original being capable of producing anything close to the advertised max win. If it is, the odds must be astronomical.

So there are some downs, some ups, resulting in one or two reservations. For one, Chronicles of Olympus part one already has an x50 multiplier at the top of its X UP Trail, no matter how long someone has been playing the game. There is literally no need to plug away at it. From the very first spin, a bigger multiplier is available in the previous game, which is kind of odd, though this one does provide a lot more ways to win as a counterbalance. Add everything up, and Chronicles of Olympus II – Zeus provided an overall ok experience, and the persistent multiplier idea is promising, but it felt more like mathematical shuffling around rather than a clear-cut advancement over the original.