Temple of Medusa: Slot Overview
Of the three gorgons in Greek mythology, the one you are
most likely to run into ♣ in the iGaming world is, of course, the snake-haired, stony
gazed Medusa. The other two, Stheno and Euryale, barely get ♣ a mention at all. Perhaps
because their names are trickier to pronounce, or because they were immortals and
Medusa was ♣ not. Ironic really, because it was Medusa's death at the hands of Perseus
which sealed her immortality in other ways, ♣ while her two sisters have faded into
relative obscurity. Don't expect any historical revisionism from developer All41
Studios, though their ♣ slot Temple of Medusa focuses solely on the most famous
gorgon.
Temple of Medusa shares many similarities to the NextGen classic ♣ Medusa,
released in 2012. For one, the grid layout is the same where the gaming takes place on
a 5-reel, ♣ 3-row game area offering 25 ways to win. Visually, the two games are similar
as well, featuring plenty of columns, ♣ temples, and classical iconography, though all
are common in most Ancient Greek-themed slots. Above the reels, the game displays its
♣ winning potential, which will tell many players all they need to know whether Temple of
Medusa is right for them. ♣ We'll do the big reveal shortly.
Until then, let's cover some
technical information. First of all, Temple of Medusa is playable ♣ on any device and
provides a range of stakes from 10 p/c toR$/€100 per spin. Hit frequency is 31.10%,
meaning ♣ a win turns up every three spins or so. The 96.4% RTP configuration, meanwhile,
should find universal acceptance, though the ♣ high volatile/low potential combination
will be less exciting for gamblers who consider these two elements mismatched.
Checking
out the paytable, we ♣ find a bunch of in-theme symbols. Stony, Greek-fonted 10-A royals
make up the lower value bunch, while premiums offer up ♣ swords, winged sandals, helmets,
the flying boar Chrysaor (Medusa and Poseidon's offspring), and faithful Pegasus. At
least 3 symbols are ♣ required to form winning combinations, with premium symbol wins of
5 symbols in length being worth a reward of 5 ♣ to 15 times the stake.
Temple of Medusa:
Slot Features
Medusa famously turned people into stone just by looking into their eyes,
♣ and in Temple of Medusa, she can turn regular symbols wild. As well as symbol
transformations, players also benefit from ♣ a triggered round of free spins.
The first
thing to know is that there are several wild types. One is a ♣ regular wild symbol,
appearing on any reel replacing pay symbols to complete a winning combination.
Combinations made up of wild ♣ symbols are actually the most valuable in the game, worth
up to 25 times the stake for 5 of a ♣ kind.
Second key point is the Medusa Wild which
appears only on the middle three reels. When she lands, neighbouring symbols ♣ may be
turned wild according to certain patterns. The patterns could be in one direction
(horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), two ♣ directions, or all directions.
Obviously, the more directions, the more wild transformations may occur.
The main event
in Temple of Medusa ♣ is its free spins round. Scatters appear only on the middle reels -
3 in view award 2x the bet ♣ plus entry to the bonus game. Before the bonus begins,
players choose one of 4 options they'd like to try ♣ their luck with. The first 3 are 15,
10, or 5 free spins with wilds that spread in 1, 2, ♣ or 3 directions. The 4th option is
a lucky dip, where the game awards a random number of free spins ♣ and directions from
the above options. This could be 15 spins with 3 directions, for example. Scatters
remain in the ♣ game during free spins so the round can be retriggered.
Finally, there is
a chance to trigger the Lucky Prize during ♣ the base game which awards 5,000 times your
bet.
Temple of Medusa: Slot Verdict
When the testing session was over, there was
♣ nothing about Temple of Medusa to prompt a repeat viewing. It doesn't even do anything
so badly you want to ♣ re-experience the cringe. This is ultra-light gaming, with a few
interesting tricks that ultimately fail to accomplish anything of note. ♣ Oddly, Temple
of Medusa is highly volatile too, making the meagre potential on offer extra
conspicuous. Perhaps if symbol values ♣ were higher, or wilds were sticky, or something,
anything, to lift the game beyond a sleepy, repetitive, low value, cruise ♣ mode.
If
you've ever pined for a watered-down version of NextGen's Medusa slot, All41 has
stepped up to deliver. Temple of ♣ Medusa might not be a complete imitation, which is too
bad because the game might have been more exciting to ♣ play if it was. The absence of
respins or multipliers from NextGen's Medusa slots are sorely missing and greatly
impacts ♣ the fun factor, not to mention the amount of cash up for grabs.
As for
potential, it's hard to see how ♣ it is possible to land anything of significance without
factoring in the fabled Lucky Prize 5,000x win. Without the Lucky ♣ Prize, however, your
best opportunity for larger returns is landing more than one Medusa symbol (if
possible) to turn the ♣ entire grid wild for a payout worth 625 times your stake.
In
other words, don't expect too much in the way ♣ of rewards when taking on this Medusa.
Then again, why would you want to? Temple of Medusa takes far more ♣ away from the
original experience than it adds back, and what's leftover feels woefully
underpowered.
