Historical Slots Dominate This Week’s New Games

It seems that it is the turn of historical slots to take centre stage at online casinos this week. NetEnt and Play’n Go have stolen the show with their new slot games, and as ever, Gamesbelt is here to walk you through the new releases and showcase what is worth picking up. 

We’ll explain what’s hot and what’s not at our recommended online and crypto casinos as we explore the ins and outs of these two new games and look briefly at other notable slots to debut in this genre. Here’s what you need to know, starting with Gladiator Clash:

Prepare for Battle with NetEnt’s Gladiator Clash

Let’s start with NetEnt, which is preparing to go to battle with other historical slots this week. We’ve seen gladiator-themed slots before, and plenty of them. Until this week’s launch of Gladiator Clash, we didn’t think we’d see anything that would knock Playtech’s dated Gladiator Jackpot slot (themed on the 2000 film) off its perch. We were wrong.

Gladiator Clash debuts as a three-reel, three-row and three-line game. In an interesting twist, symbols don’t have payouts attached to them. Instead, the prizes are determined by a special reel located to the left of the main 3×3 reel set. The idea here is that if you land three-of-a-kind combos, you’ll win whatever prize multiplier pops up on the same row of the prize reel.

NetEnt has a history of being creative and innovative when it comes to features. They’ve shown it again with this release. That’s not all you expect to see in the Gladiator Clash slot, though. 

Expect a reel re-spin mechanic that offers random symbols and re-spins, a prize re-spin feature worth up to 50x, random prize increases (known as Prize Up!), and a collection feature (Lion Bonus) that also upgrades your gameplay. You’ll also have the option of purchasing the Lion Bonus outright in selected markets.

Merlin: Realm of Charm Launched by Play’n Go

Play’n Go is also getting in on the historical slot genre with its new slot game release – Merlin: Realm of Charm. Played over a more conventional five-reel and ten-line interface, it offers the usual highly volatile level we’d expect from them, and there is an element of their “book slots” present here.

Keep an eye out for scatter wilds (in the form of the Enchantress), and they can trigger a free spin bonus. As in Play’n Go’s usual book slots, this will trigger a random expanding symbol that becomes sticky. It is possible to retrigger the round to win up to thirty free spins in all.

Not that it’s overly interesting, but Merlin: Realm of Chance also has a gamble mechanic in its design. We’re not sure that brings anything to the table in 2024, but it’s there for those who want it.

Other Historical Slots Going Live

While we’ve only chosen to focus on two new games here, there have been a few other historical slots debuting this week. For instance, Pragmatic Play launched Medusa’s Stone on June 13. Played over five reels and twenty lines, Medusa’s Stone offers a free spin bonus with multiplier meters; you can buy the bonus outright, and it provides a random Medusa Spin that transforms character icons on the three central reels into wilds.

Released one day earlier, Thunderkick’s Sword of Arthur is easily a rival to Play’n Go’s latest effort. It isn’t just thematically similar, either. Sword of Arthur is a five-reel, ten-line Arthurian legend-themed slot that supports randomly chosen expanding symbols for its bonus; it’s highly volatile and uses scatter wilds. A clone, anyone? Well, not entirely.

This game also features a Power Reset mode, and this can see multipliers increase following any win that makes use of the expanding symbols. This is different from Play’n Go’s sticky wild mechanic. Having both slots launch at the same time is handy, though, especially if your casino only supports games from one provider and not the other.