Champions of Olympus: Slot Overview

Get ready for some sword-and-sandals entertainment from Games Global partner Gold Coin Studios in the online slot Champions of Olympus. Anyone into mythology, Greek history, or online slots will already know Olympus. Mt Olympus was said to be the home of the Ancient Greek gods, with Zeus—the top dog—ruling from his throne. It’s a setting that turns up regularly in slot gaming, so it’s worth holding off on any verdict until we see what Champions of Olympus can (or can’t) deliver.

Early impressions were better than expected. Up to now, Gold Coin Studios’ titles haven’t exactly impressed us, but Champions of Olympus gets off to a strong start. Visually, it’s appealing, and the Ancient Greek landscape the studio has created feels like a genuinely inviting place to farm the land, grow food, build a home, raise a family, and enjoy the simple life. The whole scene carries a mystical, mythic glow that fans of -inspired games should appreciate. While the base game sits in this rustic paradise, Champions of Olympus shifts “upstairs” to a more heavenly setting for its Link&Win bonus round—another good-looking location.

Designed for play on any device, Champions of Olympus accepts stakes from 20 p/c to 20$/€ per paid round. Pressing spin drops 25 symbols onto a 5×5 aligned game board, producing standard wins when 3 or more matching symbols appear anywhere in a horizontal or vertical line. Winning clusters are cleared via the Rolling Reels feature, allowing fresh symbols to fall in from above. If another win forms, Rolling Reels activates again. A highly volatile game, Champions of Olympus comes in four RTP versions, with the highest set at 96.07%; at that setting, a hit rate of 52.31% suggests—at least in theory—more winning spins than losing ones.

A strong hit rate doesn’t automatically mean huge payouts, and in this game a three-of-a-kind win returns 0.1x to 0.5x the bet, while a 5 symbol line pays 1x to 5x the bet. On the paytable, Champions of Olympus uses four assorted shapes as low symbols, plus four character/picture symbols as the higher-value options. Wild symbols sit at the top, paying 25x the bet for a five wild line win. Wilds also substitute for any paying symbol, and every wild on the screen boosts the Multiplier Trail value for the next roll. The trail is shown clearly beside the reels so you can always see the current amount.

Champions of Olympus: Slot Features

Working alongside the standard wild is the Zeus Lightning Wild symbol. If Zeus Lightning Wilds appear in winning combinations, they award up to 4 extra wilds on the reels on the next roll. These added wilds can stack on the same position, and when they do, a multiplier is applied to that wild. Multiplied Zeus Lightning Wilds award Multiplier Wilds. Also connected, though more loosely, is the Power of Zeus feature. When it triggers at random in the base game, 3 to 6 random low symbols are transformed into wilds.

Link&Win

Whenever Zeus Lightning Wilds take part in a winning combination, they are collected. Once 8 or more have been collected this way, the Link&Win feature is activated. Wild collections are stored separately for each bet level.

When the feature begins, players receive 3 random Link&Win symbols worth 1-3 times the bet, along with 3 respins. Link&Win symbols are held on the reels, and any new ones that land reset the respin count back to 3. The feature ends when there are no respins remaining or when every position on the grid is filled. Special symbols also become available once specific totals of Link&Win symbols have been collected. These are:

• Cyclops – collect 13 Link&Win symbols to unlock. Awards 1x-4x and adds double the value of a random Link&Win symbol to itself. Then, it adds its value to a random Link&Win symbol.
• Lion – collect 16 Link&Win symbols to unlock. Awards 2x-4x and adds its value to 2-4 random Link&Win symbols.
• Bull – collect 19 Link&Win symbols to unlock. Awards 2x-4x and adds the value of 2 to 4 random Link&Win symbols to itself.
• Medusa – collect 22 Link&Win symbols to unlock. Awards 2x-4x and adds its value to all surrounding Link&Win symbols.

Zeus symbols may show up on any spin, awarding 5x the bet and adding 5x to 2-5 random Link&Win symbols. Finally, after the Link&Win feature has been triggered naturally once, players also have the option to purchase the bonus round for 70 times the bet.

Champions of Olympus: Slot Verdict

So far, Champions of Olympus is the most enjoyable Gold Coin Studios game we’ve reviewed. The studio didn’t exactly turn heads with early, sleepy releases like Aquatic Treasures, and it hasn’t done much to get pulses racing since. With Champions of Olympus, though, it feels like the team raised its game, producing a slot that’s as pleasant to look at as it is to write about. It doesn’t introduce anything that radically reshapes online gambling, and the theme choice isn’t exactly bursting with originality. Still, the Ancient Greek styling has been given real shine, and the feature set delivers some genuinely fun play.

That theoretically high hit frequency helps keep the base game moving, supported by a Moon Princess-style win mechanic. It isn’t a carbon copy of Moon Princess, however; Gold Coin Studios has taken a different route by using Zeus Lightning Wilds to scatter regular wilds across the grid, rather than automatically placing a wild into a gap before a Roll happens. With a bit of luck, wilds can stack too, creating an added multiplier value on top. The Link&Win feature is also decent and not quite the standard hold ’n win experience it first appears to be. For one thing, special symbols can be unlocked as collecting continues, and for another, it offers a fairly hefty maximum prize of 12,500x the bet.

You can spot echoes of other titles here and there, but overall Champions of Olympus stands on its own. It could have ended up far more generic than it is, so credit to Gold Coin Studios for avoiding a straight copy (even if some imitation remains) and for packaging its ideas in an attractive, polished presentation.