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23 July 2024 
Hercules 10K Ways Slot Review 2024
Greatest of all Greek heroes and son of the almighty Zeus, Hercules is one of Greek mythology’s most celebrated creations. Bravery personified, he is the ultimate symbol of masculinity who, legend has it, successfully fended off a cast of Underworld-dwelling monsters during his imagined existence.
Some of those fearsome creatures are on show in Hercules 10K Ways from Yggdrasil partner ReelPlay, which offers – you guessed it – win ways clocking in at 10,000.
Hercules’ legacy endures to this day. When referenced, it is often metaphorically to signify a superhuman mission, Godlike strength, or Adonislike muscular composition.
It makes you wonder, which male around today could realistically play Hercules on the big screen?
Brad Pitt? Lacks the brawn. David Beckham? See above. And can’t act. How about Jason Mamoa? Lose the overflowing locks and he may have a sniff.
Anyway, the Hercules depicted inside ReelPlay’s slot interpretation resembles none of that famous trio but is portrayed with bulging biceps, an angular jawline, ravishing good looks, and a Roman-esque tiara. Not your most typical representation of the Greek demigod, perhaps, but not a bad one either.
So, is Hercules 10K Ways as mighty as the demigod it honors? Time to wind back the clock and find out.
Hercules 10K Ways Base Game and Features
Players are whisked to a rich, almost ethereal golden realm dotted with Greco-Roman structures and towering mountains to kick off this mythological adventure across 6 reels and 4 rows, complemented by an additional row holding 4 symbols sat atop the reels, a la Megaways.
Megaways this is not, however. The title should make that pretty clear. Peeling below the outer wrapper reveals a medium/high volatile engine producing up to 10,000 ways and payouts as high as 6,108x the bet. Numbers that are not quite of Herculean proportions, sure.
Nonetheless, Hercules 10K Ways presents an inviting atmosphere with a hold-and-win bonus round as its main event. It’s here where Hercules gets to flex his muscles to best effect. More about that further on.
Low-paying symbols are represented by playing card ranks from 9-A, followed by four scary-looking beasts offering wins up to 100x for combinations of six. Who else but Hercules acts as the Wild, able to land on the top reel only where he substitutes for all symbols bar the Golden Apple.
Hercules 10K Ways’ base game is relatively light on features, relying on Cascades to provide the bulk of the thrills. Cascades do nothing out of the ordinary – removing symbols in each winning way and replacing them with new symbols dropping in from on high. Rinse and repeat until no new wins form upon each cascade.
Hercules 10K Ways Battle Spins
While the base game is arguably a little sedate for a mythological thriller, the pace picks up significantly during the centerpiece bonus round.
Triggered when at least 5 Golden Apples show up during a spin, Hercules Battle Spins see each corresponding Apple award a prize worth up to 100x the stake, while our hero is granted 1 additional life for each Apple, maxing out at 10.
More about those ferocious beasts alluded to earlier. Each one has a chance to face off against Hercules in the order of Boar, Hydra, Cerberus, then Lion, equipped with 3, 4, 5, or 6, lives respectively.
Should Hercules prevail against his first opponent, the Boar, then Hydra steps up. Win again, and Hercules is then confronted with the second in line, the Lion. The process repeats for each beast Hercules is able to slay.
Battle rounds each kick off with 3 refilling lives in classic hold-and-win fashion, with only Hercules, monster, or blank symbols able to land. Hercules and monster symbols are sticky throughout the duration of the feature.
Once the current battle round has concluded by either filling the entire screen or running out of spins, all symbols in view are processed from left to right, top-to-bottom. Monsters remove 1 Hercules life point, while Hercules performs likewise in the opposing direction, unlocking the monster’s prize.
The bonus round concludes if Hercules’ Life points get down to zero before all symbols are processed, but if a monster’s life reaches 0 before all symbols are processed, any remaining Hercules symbol on the grid transforms into a Golden Apple, granting Hercules extra life points in addition to awarding its respective prize.
You bank either a Mini, Minor, Major, or Grand Victory Prize worth between 10x and 2,500x your bet for vanquishing the final monster, the Lion, thereby ending the feature, while any landed Hercules symbols or Golden Apples fetch prizes worth up to 100x, or one of the abovementioned rewards.
Hercules 10K Ways: Our Verdict
Phew!
That bonus round took a fair amount of digesting after the relatively pedestrian non-event of the base game lulled us into a false sense of security. Seriously, if Cascades aren’t on hand for second chances at wins, there’s really an awful lot to get excited about, despite the large number of winways. That’s if you’re not inspired by mythological backdrops blanketed in a pretty golden sheen.
Onto the bonus round, then, which picks up most of Hercules 10K Ways’ slack. Fans of highly explosive hold-and-win features made famous by the Money Train franchise will be disappointed to discover this game leans the other way, absent of myriad modifiers or a thrilling multiplier chase.
What players do get is a rather unique interpretation of the feature with a quartet of fierce animals adding ferocity to proceedings while tying the overall theme together, so kudos to ReelPlay for venturing off-piste and trying something different with Hercules 10K Ways.
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