Valley of the Gods Review
Playing the Valley of the Gods Slot, Yggdrasil‘s Egyptian themed game is wondrous. You’ll find scarabs, Anubis and a music score that wouldn’t be out of place in The Mummy franchise. This five-reel, 45 pay line slot is filled with thrills and excitement. What treasures will be unearthed in our Valley of the Gods Review? Let’s find out.
Theme and Symbols
While Yggdrasil will win no innovation awards by opting for an Egyptian theme, they do use it to their advantage. An Egyptian theme is rich in symbolism with history, treasure and mythology all bundled up together. By picking a familiar theme, Yggdrasil has been able to focus on the true star of the show – their payouts, which are generous and includes a maximum win of 580,000 coins.
Play Valley of the Gods at the Best Casinos
Sound and Vision
We tested the Valley of the Gods game using a free version, although we understand there is no difference between this and the Valley of the Gods Real Money game. There are 10 main symbols in the base game. These include six golden Egyptian lower symbols (reed, ankh, cat, serpent, eye of Horus and ibis) and four higher symbols (Ra, Osiris, Anubis and Tutankhamun).
Scarab beetles also play a part in the game. Collect them and you’ll be awarded extra features.
Adding to the Egyptian theme is a soundtrack that is straight out of the African country itself. Sound effects add to the rich tapestry woven by the senses. We hear scarab beetles scuttle, heavy stone tablets slide back into place and magic flourish during gameplay.
How to play Valley of the Gods
Like most online casino games nowadays, the Valley of the Gods Slot can be played via mobile or online. The graphics and layout are kept simple for this reason. At the start of the game, a cut scene plays. We’re transported to the foot of a pyramid in our search for riches. Golden scarab beetles burrow up from the sand before scurrying up a golden statue. Not bad for an Online Slot in Canada!
The Base Game
Once the Valley of the Gods Online game starts you’ll find a familiar layout. The slot features 5 reels with 5 symbols on each reel. In the base game, the outer corners of the reels are covered with golden scarab beetle symbols. There are 12 of these in total, three in each corner of the reels. You’ll need to remove these to open up the full 25 symbol potential of the reels and access the multiplier bonus round.
Spinning a winning combination using the remaining 13 reel positions removes some scarabs. The number of scarabs removed depends on the number of winning symbols present on the reels. So, for example, you spin three reeds across a winning pay line. There are, however, six reed symbols on the visible reels. This means that six scarabs will be removed.
On your next spin, one of two things will happen. Either you’ll have another winning combination across the now 19 reel positions or you won’t. If you do, the number of winning symbols across those reel positions will determine the number of scarabs removed from the outer edge of the reels. If you DON’T have a winning combination all scarabs are returned to the reels and the game resets. Removing all of the scarabs triggers the multiplier bonus.
Valley of the Gods RTP
It’s time to get technical in our Valley of the Gods Review. Don’t panic, though, we’ll keep the maths simple. RTP represents an approximate percentage of money returned to a player once they’ve played for a set time. The higher the RTP figure, the more money may be returned to the player. We tend to view anything above 96% as an RTP to attain for. As noted, the RTP of Valley of the Gods tops this figure, hitting 96.2% on average.
While this isn’t the highest RTP we’ve seen from an Online Slots game (NetEnt’s Twin Spin hits 96.6% for example), it is still a good figure and represents a decent chance of success.
Valley of the Gods Volatility
Players that opt for Valley of the Gods are unlikely to do so for an RTP figure alone. This is a game with medium volatility, meaning wins come regularly and can vary in size.
While playing the game for this review we found many occasions where the multiplier bonus hit, and after half-an-hour of playing, we had doubled our funds. While we can’t guarantee this will happen to you, our brief research is an indication that the game may be generous if time allows. Of course, we played for free.
When you’re playing a Valley of the Gods Real Money game logic like this may go out of the window. It is important to always wager with money you can afford to lose, in case the reels are not in your favour.
Bonus features, Wilds and Free Spins
We do love a bonus feature, and the Valley of the Gods multiplier bonus uses a unique game mechanic that utilises ‘blockers’. These are the 12 scarab symbols on the outer corners of the reels that can only be removed by spinning a winning combination. By using this mechanic, Yggdrasil opens up the potential for combo-wins of up to 3125x the initial bet value over 5 respins.
The real fun starts once the scarab beetles are removed. You’ll notice during gameplay that there are two statues, one at either side of the reels. These two statues have five scarab-shaped spaces on them. Once the 12 gold scarabs are removed the reels continue to spin in the respin bonus round. Like normal gameplay, the idea is to spin winning combinations. Each time a winning combination is spun, another respin occurs (up to 5 respins).
Scarabs, Scarabs Everywhere
During these respins you may receive blue scarabs or red scarabs. These fill up the two statues on either side of the reels. Blue scarabs fill up the multiplier statue. Multipliers start at 2x win value and increase by 1x each time the left-hand statue is filled up.
Red scarabs give you additional lives each time the 5 spaces are filled on the statue on the right. These lives are used to continue respins. If you spin a reel combination that doesn’t win, you lose a life. Bonus gameplay continues until all lives have run out.
Valley of the Gods Strategies
Online Slots are mathematical marvels operated by a Random Number Generator. They can’t be tricked, but that doesn’t mean you can’t gain a little leeway over the system. Here are a couple of things you should consider before playing online casino games to help you make the most of your bankroll.
Play The Numbers Game
The RTP of Online Slots Canada residents can enjoy is calculated using an average number of spins. That means those who play more or less than the average are likely to have a different RTP percentage. This is where the law of averages comes into play. The law of averages works on the premise that if you do something enough times, the results for and against a specific scenario occurring will average out. So by using this principle, if we play enough, we’ll get somewhere near the RTP suggested by Yggdrasil.
One way of using the law of averages to our advantage is to extend our gameplay. Any deviations in the results have more chance of evening out if we play longer, so we need to increase the number of spins we have in the game. The Valley of the Gods is quite handy in that it adds regular respins into the mix, extending the time it takes to spend your bankroll when compared to games that don’t offer this in-game feature.
Extend your gameplay
You can extend gameplay in a couple of other ways. You can decrease your coin value OR you can increase your bankroll.
The first is self-explanatory. If you have a $20 budget, for example, and you can pay 0.10 coins a spin or 1.00 coins a spin, your money will last longer in the first instance than the second, providing you win at the same rate.
Bankrolls can be increased in a couple of ways. Either by adding extra funds to your budget yourself or by using promotions when you register at a casino site. While the latter has no additional cost to you, there will be terms and conditions attached to the bonus funds which may change how you play your game session. Please check out the small print before utilising any slot promotions.
Valley of the Gods Review – Our Thoughts
With a theme that transports us directly to Egypt and a bonus scheme that takes advantage of a unique game mechanic, the Valley of the Gods Online Slot is a game that’s going places.
We are particularly fond of the music, which while atmospheric doesn’t detract from gameplay. The additional sound effects of scurrying beetles is a nice touch.
But as always with Yggdrasil games, it is the unique game experience which makes Valley of the Gods such a pleasure to play. Bonuses are exciting and hit often, giving players a real sense that a big jackpot is just around the corner. Our Valley of the Gods Review team gives the game a big thumbs up.
