Introduction
Set amongst the deep, against a backdrop that looks like a Greek palace set under the sea, Legend of Hydra is based on the mythological serpentine water monster. According to legend, the Hydra was slain by Hercules as part of his twelve labours.
Legend of Hydra is a six-reel, five-row pokie with a phenomenal 15,625 paylines. The game symbols include gemstones emblazoned with diamonds, clubs, hearts, spades, suns and moons. There are also four characters: the wizard, knight and two warriors. The king and queen are the two highest-value symbols.
As with all titles produced by Playtech, Legend of Hydra is available to be played on a range of devices, including mobile and tablets and the more conventional laptop and desktop computers.
Thanks to the free online pokies features employed by most developers, it is possible to play Legend of Hydra in demo mode for fun currency. This feature gives prospective players the opportunity to take a turn spinning the reels without having to stake real money, giving them insight into the gameplay and how the bonus features work.
Theme, graphics and soundtrack
With an ancient mythological theme, Legend of Hydra is dominated by a four-headed serpentine creature that sits to the left of the reels. Every so often, one of the monsters will spit some wilds onto the reels to keep things interesting.
The graphics feature somewhat muted colours in the background with a pleasing dark blue hue for the reels. The symbols are rendered fairly simply with their animations designed to draw attention to the winning symbols rather than show off the skills of the developer.
Some symbols appear with a fiery background, leaving a pattern of glowing spots on the reels. This helps to sustain attention.
The music is somewhat overshadowed by the grand and epic sound effects that accompany the fiery symbols as they appear on the reels. Similarly, a pleasing jingle plays when wins are awarded, which is extended if and when a larger win is landed.
Legend of Hydra RTP and variance
The long-term average RTP of Legend of Hydra is 96.56 per cent, which is above average for games of this type. This pokie has high variance, meaning that there are potentially very high jackpots on offer, although players will need to show considerable patience waiting for the big wins.
How to play Legend of Hydra
1. A good first step with any online pokie that is new to you is to take a look at the paytable. The paytable details the win amounts payable for each combination of symbols and sets out how bonus features can be entered and some basic game rules. The paytable is accessed by clicking the 'i' button to the bottom-left of the screen.
2. Your bet can be set by clicking the plus or minus buttons that flank the bet amount display at the bottom of the screen.
3. The speed at which the reels spin can be adjusted by clicking the lightning bolt at the bottom of the screen. Clicking the lightning bolt supercharges the reels by entering turbo mode.
4. Legend of Hydra has an autoplay feature that can run up to a pre-determined number of spins. Alternatively, players can select the reels to run until the feature is entered. This control is also at the bottom of the reels.
5. If you are happy with all settings, you can spin the reels manually by clicking the button on the bottom right-hand side of the screen.
6. It is important to play Legend of Hydra responsibly. Set a budget for your play session and ensure you stick to it, no matter how the session has gone. Make sure you stop playing if the game is no longer fun.
Bet sizes and paytable wins
Bet sizes in Legend of Hydra range from 0.10 per spin to a maximum of 200.00 per spin. This game certainly has a level for every player.
Working out the paytable wins is slightly complex in Legend of Hydra; for example, matching six-of-a-kind king or queen symbols pays 28x the coin value. The coin value is calculated by dividing the total bet by 40; therefore, if the stake were 10.00, the return would be 7.00.
As there are 15,625 paylines on Legend of Hydra, these wins will be added together, so larger wins can be achieved.
Legend of Hydra bonus features
Legend of Hydra comes with a range of bonus features:
- Wilds
When you begin playing, the bottom hydra spits random wilds onto the reels during any spin.
- PowerZones
PowerZones appear on certain symbols, which are locked to the reels until they are landed on by another PowerZone symbol. At this point, all symbols connected in the PowerZone match with the trigger symbol, awarding the win and moving the PowerZone meter at the top of the screen onward.
Filling the PowerZone meter provides you with an additional Hydra. This unlocks more bonuses, including extra PowerZones, or multiplying the wins from PowerZones.
- Free spins
Land three or more Hydra scatter symbols on the reels to trigger the free spin bonus. During the free spins, more free spins can be triggered by revealing two or more scatters. Once the free spins are exhausted, a mystery spin turns all remaining PowerZones into a single mystery symbol.
Legend of Hydra review: our verdict
This game has fairly simple graphics, a range of bonuses and a very complicated system for calculating wins. With over 15,000 different paylines in play during every spin, the potential for large wins is very healthy.
FAQs
About the Author
