Gates of Hades: Slot Overview

Once a studio lands a major online slot success, it’s common to see them—or rivals eager to cash in—try to recreate the same magic. Very few titles have made a bigger splash than Pragmatic Play’s 2021 mega hit Gate of Olympus, a scatter pays slot that has clearly sparked plenty of ideas, along with a fair share of reskins. While this isn’t a reskin, it’s hard not to see Gates of Olympus as the inspiration (for better or worse) behind Gates of Hades, which not only has a familiar name but also brings along some recognisable mechanics. That said, it’s not a straight copy, since wins are formed via a cluster pays system rather than scatter pays, and multiplier values are delivered through wild symbols.

As the god of the dead and ruler of the underworld, Hades is typically portrayed in slots amid blazing, rocky scenery—the total opposite of Olympus’ bright, cloud-filled heights. In Gates of Hades, Hades stands off to the side with a flaming mane of hair, gripping his staff and laughing ominously as lightning cracks over a haunting landscape. The presentation is moody and atmospheric, even if it resembles other Pragmatic Play slots that have featured Hades.

In Gates of Hades, wins happen when clusters of 5 or more matching symbols land connected vertically or horizontally. The tumble feature then clears winning symbols, with new ones dropping in from above to create another opportunity to win from the same spin. The RTP of the game when betting 20 c to $/€240 per spin is 96.52% at the highest configuration, and volatility is high.

The pay symbols include five gemstones in blue, green, orange, purple, and red, alongside a cup, a ring, and a crown. They pay 0.05x to 1.5x the bet for a 5 OAK cluster, rising for clusters of 15+ to 5x to 150x the bet.

Gates of Hades: Slot Features

Gates of Hades focuses on wild multipliers that can show up in both the base game and free spins, and there’s also an option to buy the bonus round for anyone who wants to skip the wait.

Wild Multiplier

Wild symbols may come with multipliers of x1 to x100. In the base game, across spins and tumbles, any multiplier that appears is collected by a meter positioned above the reel where the wild landed. Each winning cluster is multiplied by the total of all multipliers sitting above the reels that contain winning symbols involved in that cluster. Once a tumble sequence ends in the base game, the multipliers are cleared from the reel tops.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6+ scatters activates the free spins feature and awards 10, 12, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. When 6 or more scatters trigger the feature, players receive the super free spins rule, meaning the minimum multiplier on wild symbols becomes x10. Throughout the feature, collected multipliers remain in place and won’t be cleared until the round fully finishes. Also, multiplier values can reach x1 to x500 during free spins. Lastly, players are awarded 5, 7, 10, or 12 additional free spins when 3, 4, 5, or 6+ scatters land.

Feature Buy

Players can start the free spins feature directly from the base game using the buy option. Spending 100x the bet activates regular free spins, while 500x purchases super free spins. Either way, the feature is initiated by 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters.

Gates of Hades: Slot Verdict

Unexpectedly, Gates of Hades isn’t simply a Gates of Olympus clone that swaps Zeus for the underworld god. That becomes obvious quickly too—just from the first look at the larger grid, the row of wolves across the top of the reels, and, naturally, by checking the rules. It’s surprising because Gates of Olympus has been a huge Pragmatic Play success and has led to numerous reskins and imitators, including something like Hades Inferno 1000. Alongside their interest in Zeus and Olympus, Pragmatic Play has also returned to Hades and the underworld before—and with strong results—shown by the blend of both gods in Zeus vs Hades Gods of War, which won Game of the Year at the 2023 Bigwinboard Awards.

Even so, the two games are clearly related, with Gates of Hades feeling like a nearby offshoot on the Gates of Olympus family tree. As noted earlier, scatter wins are swapped out for cluster wins, likely in part to accommodate wild symbols and change the rhythm of play. Is that an improvement? That really comes down to taste. Where Gates of Hades clearly pulls ahead is potential, since its 10,000x the bet win cap is twice what Gates of Olympus offers. Beyond that, they’re quite similar: you’re hunting cascading wins enhanced by multipliers that don’t reset during the bonus. If that’s the style you want—just with a different Greek god and a different way of paying—then Gates of Hades is worth a spin.