Hammer of Vulcan

Hammer of Vulcan: Overview

Developer Quickspin takes on a big theme in an equally big game pouring forth all kinds of impressive numbers in Hammer of Vulcan. For the first time ever, Quickspin has also decided to incorporate a bonus buy option into one of their creations, making Hammer of Vulcan a fitting match for this type of feature's debut. Quickspin has super-sized nearly all aspects of the game, especially potential. The studio leaves players with a parting question – 'are you perhaps worthy of such a treasure?' There's only one way to find out.

Sorry Trekkies, Hammer of Vulcan isn't set on Spock's home planet. Quickspin has used the Roman mythological version instead. This is a realm they have been entering into more recently, broadly speaking, in slots like Nero's Fortune and Artemis vs Medusa. Vulcan was the Roman god of fire, with volcanos often depicted over his forge crafting all manner of divine items.

Quickspin has done a great job of projecting his superiority over us mere mortals. Players view the game as if down at the level of his sandals, looking up at the towering chap. This angle produces a tilted view of the 6x4, 4,096 win-all-ways grid which takes a few moments to adjust to, plonked on top of a giant anvil. The game is located in the bowls of Mt Etna on Sicily, and a fitting atmosphere quickly settles in, accentuated by the creepy plodding soundtrack. Maybe not quite as well as Yggdrasil's Hades Gigablox does, which is a comparable slot, but there’s a thick heavy vibe regardless.

Players can join in the molten steel bashing on any device, from 10 p/c to $/€100 per spin. You might need tongs to hold the math model which runs on a red hot volatility rating of 5/5. The ride is a bumpy one, as fickle as mythological deities are portrayed, one-minute rewarding favourites, punishing them the next on a whim. RTP evens things on in the long run with a slightly below-average rating of 95.81%.

The paytable begins by using 10-A royals, completed by tongs, shields, helmets, swords, chalices, and gold golems. Six of a kind premiums dole out wins of 4,5 to 12 times the stake. Standard wilds have the same value as the gold golem and substitute for any of the pay symbols. There is one other wild, the Hammer Wild, detailed below.

Hammer of Vulcan: Features

Vulcan stamps his presence all over the features of which there are four – Hammer Strikes, Light the Forge!, Strike Again!, and a buy option.

Whenever a Hammer Wild lands, Vulcan slams the reels as part of the Hammer Strike feature. This process turns all symbols below the Hammer Wild on the same reel into regular wilds. Hammer Wilds appear on any reels, and these wild stacks help lead to larger wins, particularly during free spins. The guy might look intimidating, but when he whips his hammer out it's generally a good sign.

Keep an eye on those volcano scatter symbols which trigger the Light the Forge! bonus game. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters on any reel award 10, 12, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. When 1-4 volcano scatters land in the feature, they add +1-6 spins to the remaining amount.

The main benefit of free spins is that a win multiplier enters play, starting on x1. Each Vulcan Wild appearing on the reels triggers the Hammer Strike as mentioned above while increasing the multiplier by +1. There is no limit on how many extra free spins can be won, or to how high the win multiplier can go.

In a touch of divine generosity, if there is no win on the final free spin, the Strike Again! feature kicks in. This handy mechanic will keep awarding one more spin until a win eventually lands.

In a first for Quickspin, players can leapfrog the base game by hitting the Bonus Buy button - where available, of course. For a reasonable one-time fee of 80 times the total bet, 3 to 6 scatters are guaranteed to land on the next spin. The ensuing batch of free spins is played in the same manner described above.

Hammer of Vulcan: Verdict

Hammer of Vulcan is a hard as nails game from Quickspin and one for players up for a challenge. If you had to pick one word to sum it up, you could do worse than 'brutal'. Vicious, heartless, and merciless could also be contenders though. When using the word brutal in a good sense, the audio/visual effects get right up in your face – in an entertaining way. The relentless pace of the game, with its lurking heavy metal backing track and epic sounds of reels landing or Hammer Strikes is punishing. But not as punishing as this thing's math model can be. Like Chinese water torture, except instead of beads of water bouncing off your dome, it's a two-handed hammer, wielded by a god. It can be devastating.

Yet rewards are there. Not only does the ripped Vulcan get a massively volatile game, he also pays handsomely for those lucky enough to crack it. During simulated spins, Quickspin recorded wins as high as 20,347 times the bet. The result is one of the most lethal slots in the Quickspin catalogue. As well as big wins, the game also does its best blacksmith impression by beating the unwary into all sorts of shapes on its anvil. It makes the bonus buy feature an extremely attractive proposal when faced with the relentless base game march of doom.

Players, step into this forge with care, it has no qualms swatting mortals like gnats. On the flipside, Hammer of Vulcan should prove ideal for those looking for an insanely volatile challenge matched by insane wins.