Le Zeus

As if it wasn’t a bold enough move, masquerading around as the King of rock and roll in the recent “Le King“, Hacksaw Gaming’s most notorious raccoon is back once again, this time choosing to up the ante as he goes in search of a higher power, moonlighting as one of the world’s most ominous beings in “Le Zeus“; a 6 reel 5 row addition to the infamous series, which sees a fresh shake up of features pave way to thunderous potential!

The “Le” saga has been a fruitful one, for sure, that has seen a healthy variation of pay way models, reveal features, Hold ‘n’ Spin mechanics and Jackpot awards as each adventure progresses, and even though Hacksaw has dabbled with the God of sky and thunder previously with the 2024 release of “Ze Zeus“, don’t be fooled into thinking this latest escapade is simply run-of-the-mill…

Le Zeus Base Game Play

The game grid perches itself high upon Mount Olympus, with grand, golden stone statues standing proud, as columns and monuments litter the cloud-washed realm.

Smokey…ermm…Zeus, rather, takes his place to the right of the reels, dressed in those traditional robes with a golden wreath around his head, whilst clutching onto that famous lightning bolt for added measure…honestly if it wasn’t for that mustache, the resemblance would be uncanny!

Jackpot prizes and cluster pays take a much-needed back seat for this latest mythological melee, making way for more traditional pay lines, and although those much-loved Mystery Reveal symbols make a warranted return, the inclusion of Mystery Reels is certain to add a new element of dynamics into play.

With 3 Free Spins bonus rounds to aim for, including that all-important “Hidden Epic” round, volatility comes in at medium, alongside a 96.26% RTP and max win potential capped at a very healthy 20,000x bet.

As the skies begin to rumble, let’s head straight into the action, as we check out all of those rules and features in a little more detail…

Le Zeus Offers Players 19 Fixed Paylines

Le Zeus Base Game and Features

Win spins are formed by combining 3 or more matching symbols from left to right, across adjacent reels, over any of the game’s 19 fixed paylines.

10 regular paying symbols are included, consisting of 4 low-paying Greek letters paying up to 3x bet for 6 matching symbols, and high-paying pipe, pillar, swords, masks, wings and hemet, paying between 5x to 100x bet for 6 matching symbols across.

Wild symbols are also active in all game modes, substituting for any regular paying symbol, and worth 200x bet for a line of 6 matching.

Land Mystery Symbols to Reveal High-Paying Symbols, Wilds or Mystery Reels

Mystery Reveal

During base game play, Mystery symbols can land vertically adjacent on reels 2 to 5, able to reveal either high-paying symbols, Wilds or Mystery Reels.

Should Mystery symbols reveal high-paying symbols or Wilds that are involved in a winning combination, a respin activates, where all revealed symbols revert back to Mystery symbols and hold in place throughout the respin.

Once the respin has occurred, all Mystery symbols reveal new symbols and any fresh wins are awarded.

This process continues until no new wins are awarded through Mystery symbols, or a Mystery Reel is revealed.

Mystery Reels are formed when one or more Mystery symbols land on the same reel, triggering a spin of those respective symbols.

The Mystery Reel spin shall see the positions reveal either Coin symbols, Diamond symbols, Clover symbols, or Pots of Gold symbols.

Coins and Diamonds act as Cash Prizes, with Bronze, Silver and Gold Coins able to reveal values of between 0.2x-4x, 5x-20x, and 25x-100x, respectively, and Diamonds between 150x-500x bet.

Once all Coins and Diamonds are revealed, Clover symbols then activate, with Green or Gold Clovers acting in different ways.

Green Clovers multiply all Coins or existing Pots of Gold, directly adjacent, by between x2 to x20.

Gold Clovers multiply all Coins or existing Pots or Gold, within the active game grid, by between x2 to x20.

Pot of Gold symbols activate after Clover symbols, collecting the value of all Coins, Diamonds and other existing Pots of Gold and storing their total value.

Once collections have been made, all other symbols within the Mystery Reels, other than existing Pots of Gold, spin again to reveal new symbols, repeating the process above.

At the end of the reveal and activation phases, all values within the Mystery Reels are totaled together and paid out as a win, against the current bet level.

Mystery Reels Reveal Cash Prizes, Multipliers and Collectors for Enhanced Wins

Le Zeus Free Spins

3 Free Spins bonus rounds are included, Bolt & Run, Myth-Taken Identity and Gods Just Wanna Have Fun, each triggered by landing 3, 4 or 5 scatters, respectively, during the same game round.

Bolt & Run

Keeping to the same rules and mechanics as base game mode, Bolt & Run guarantees that all Mystery symbols that land throughout the round become sticky.

Additionally, the minimum Coin value revealed during the bonus is 1x.

Myth-Taken Identity

Playing to the same rules and mechanics as base game mode, additionally, a Mystery Meter is displayed outside of the game grid.

Each time a Mystery symbol lands on the reels, the Mystery Meter increases by one step, with 25 Mystery symbols required to completely fill the meter.

Filling the meter awards a reward spin, where every position within the grid is covered my a Mystery Reel, activating the reveal phase.

The first reward spin sees all types of Coins active in play, with each subsequent Mystery Meter fill, thereafter, removing the next lowest-paying Coin symbol from the game.

The minimum Coin value revealed during the round is 1x, and after each reward spin, the meter resets, ready to be filled again.

Gods Just Wanna Have Fun

The “Hidden Epic” bonus round, this feature plays to the same rules and mechanics as Bolt & Run.

Additionally, reels 2 to 5 are completely filled with Mystery symbols from the beginning of the round, and low-paying symbols become inactive.

The minimum Coin value revealed throughout the feature is 5x.

Trigger Bolt & Run Free Spins for Sticky Mystery Symbols Throughout the Round

Bonus Buy and FeatureSpins

4 purchasable options make up the Feature Buy menu in Le Zeus, which players may opt to utilise to enhance play further…

• BonusHunt FeatureSpins – at the cost of 3x bet, each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game – (96.1% RTP)
• Le God Mode FeatureSpins – at the cost of 50x bet, a spin guarantees that at least 6 Mystery symbols land – (96.26% RTP)
• Bolt & Run – at the cost of 100x bet – (96.33% RTP)
• Myth-Taken Identity – at the cost of 300x bet – (96.25% RTP)

Fill the Mystery Meter in Myth-Taken Identity Free Spins for Full Screen Mystery Reels and Symbol Removals

First Impression

Although dear old Smokey still might not be fooling many out there with his latest loincloth get-up, Le Zeus continues to prove, without doubt, that the series appears to show no end just yet, with an air of familiarity mixed in alongside an array of fresh inclusions and features.

Heading back to paylines, there is certainly a feel of Le Pharaoh drifting across the cloud-filled kingdom this time around, however with the adaptation of physical Mystery symbols, rather than more typical winning combination zones and highlighted positions, the game takes up its own identity, offering up respin opportunities and progressive action.

It wouldn’t be a “Le” title without some good old revealing prize symbols, would it, a staple within the series and just as much so here, with Mystery Reels taking the lead role in tradition and symbols finding the form of countless games gone by.

It’s a bold move by Hacksaw, reverting to this new method of reveal activation, and it will be interesting to see how the audience takes to the removal of glistening Rainbow symbols in favour of Mystery Reels, and during testing it certainly proved to take a little time getting used to.

More core differences come along when entering the 3 Free Spins bonus rounds, the biggest shake-up being the removal of retrigger opportunities, which came as a real head-scratcher, especially with the 4 scatter bonus being a meter-filling mechanic, where spins are always key.

Bolt & Run progresses base game play neatly with the activation of sticky Mystery symbols, shedding light on extra respin and Mystery Reel potential, somewhat of an obvious adaptation but can still prove fruitful, no less.

Myth-Taken Identity comes along with plenty of exciting chances to truly strike gold, with each fill of the Mystery Meter triggering a full screen of Mystery Reels during a reward spin.

Each fill of the meter removes the next lowest Coin symbol from play, in essence, allowing for a Diamond-only reveal feature and a certain chance of reaching the game’s max win potential of 20,000x bet.

Unfortunately however, the lack of any kind of retrigger allowance is enough to leave you feeling more than despondent, at times, especially since it takes 25 Mystery symbols to fill the meter once with only 8 spins in the bank.

Surely a couple of extra spins as a reward for filling the meter wouldn’t have gone a-miss, but we are where we are…

The Hidden Epic Bonus round, once again, paves way for bolt-striking glory, and those lucky enough to sample it shouldn’t be left disappointed, with reels 2 to 5 covered in Mystery symbols from the off and only high-paying symbols active throughout.

Although some in-game adaptations may have taken Smokey’s latest adventure a little further from the beaten track than those that came before, Le Zeus continues to offer up all of that revealing magic found within the series.

If certain risks aren’t taken sometimes, why prolong things further by only giving players the same thing on a different plate?

Hats off to Hacksaw for trying something a little new and, as a result, have breathed a little fresh life into our fabled raccoon.

The big question now is, after taking on such Godly persona, where on Earth can Smokey find himself next?…We’re certain we won’t have to wait too long to find out…

The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.