Swords Of Ares

For punters that have played the incredibly popular Gates of Olympus, this slot may have a familiar feel. Swords Of Ares is set in ancient Greece, with Ares himself appearing on the far-right side of the board. One standout feature of this game is perhaps the collect feature, a mini bonus mode within the game that can be triggered with any matching combination. Swords Of Ares also features a pays anywhere mechanic, meaning that a total of 8 or more of the same symbols will award a matching combination.

This slot was released by the same provider that created Gates of Olympus, which of course, is Pragmatic Play. In fact, the two games do look incredibly similar. However, there are many key differences when it comes to the features of each. Regardless of the similarities in appearance, it's clear that Pragmatic put a lot of effort into each of their releases, with titles such as Fruit Party, Sweet Bonanza, and The Dog House Megaways all making it to the top of online casino catalogues!

The standard symbols within Swords Of Ares consist of different gems, with amethysts, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds all being present. Next is a sword, a shield, a cart, and a helmet which can award players with 5x, 7.5x, 10x, and 20x, in that order, if 12 or more feature on any of the reels. 

When it comes to special symbols, there is a scatter icon and a bomb symbol, which can come in 4 slightly different variations. More about these symbols can be found below, as they are both linked to the bonus mode within Swords Of Ares.

As touched on earlier, there is a collection mechanic that can be activated with any matching combination. This bonus is based on the total number of symbols that match during a spin, with the potential multiplier increasing at certain thresholds. In the base game, there are three different multipliers that can be unlocked if 20, 50, or 100 symbols match during the same spin.  

If 20 symbols match, the multiplier will either be 2x, 3x or 4x. For 50 icons, this multiplier can be 5x, 6x, 7x, or 8x and for 100 matching symbols, multipliers can be 9x, 10x, 11x, 12x, 13x, 14x, or 15x. The potential values will be shown on the top of the board and will change for every spin.

The main bonus will award players with 15 free spins when four or more scatters appear in any position. Free spins play in a similar way to the base game, but with two key differences. The first is the addition of bomb symbols, which will activate whenever there is no matching combination on the board. Ares will strike each symbol, before the remove symbols in either a cross, X, vertical, or horizontal pattern, depending on the type of bomb that drops.

Difference number two is the size of the possible win multiplier. This can increase when 15, 27, 39, 55, 85, and 235 icons are matched. For each of these numbers, the maximum sits at 4x, 8x, 15x, 25x, and 50x respectively, with the multiplier for 235 symbols always being fixed at 500x. Again, these work in the same way as the base game, with each potential win for that spin being multiplied.

There's no doubt that Swords Of Ares is based exclusively on the popular Gates Of Olympus slot. However, the base game and bonus play in different ways. In this game, potential win multipliers can be increased when more symbols match. Additionally, the cascade feature from the original slot remains in place for this variation!