The Nemean Lion

The Nemean Lion: Slot Overview

The Nemean Lion is a brand spanking debut slot from Blue Guru Games, an outfit HQ'd in Malta, with a presence throughout Europe and Asia. The studio's apparent aim is to tell stories with their games, touching on subjects as diverse as history, mythology, and even spiritual concepts. It's all rather curious, and it'll be interesting to see how future releases reflect their aims. For now, we've got The Nemean Lion as a guide, and for the debut, Blue Guru has played it relatively safe by going with Greek Mythology, but to their credit, have scratched a bit further beneath the surface than many do and come up with one or mechanical inventions to match.

A little back story might help before we enter the game world, and The Nemean Lion was the first task in the legendary 12 Labours of Hercules story. The lion terrorised the village of Nemea in the Peloponnesus and could not be harmed with conventional weapons. Hercules defeated the lion by trapping it in a cave and suffocating the poor beast. Others say he choked it. After that, Hercules wore the Nemean Lion's skin, though some ancient writers disagree and claim the skin came from a different lion which Hercules killed when he was 18. It was a long time ago, and legends can morph as the years pass.

The game is set in the Ancient Greek countryside, away from the hustle and bustle of the battlefield or Mount Olympus, where these sorts of slots are often located. Blue Guru has artistically recreated a dreamy arcadia for their game, situating a 5x5, 40-payline grid in a Peloponnesian valley of trees, meadows, and slowly moving clouds. Equally as atmospheric is the soundtrack, blending instruments that sound like they come from the era with a poignant vocal track rising over the top. Not a revolutionary vision of Ancient Greece, but distinctive enough to make a positive impression.

Digging deeper into The Nemean Lion's workings, we come across a medium/high volatile math model with two RTP settings – 96.01% and 90%. Regular hit rate is not provided; however, players can expect to trigger the free spins bonus round at a theoretical rate of 1 in 162 spins. Bets vary from 20 p/c up to $/€100 per spin, available for play on desktop, tablet, or mobile devices.

Fixed to the 5-reel game board are 40 paylines for landing winning combinations of three or more of a kind across. Paying 2.5 to 3.75x the bet for five of a kind wins are lower value stone looking symbols, then 5x the bet for a sort of amulet and club, then 6.25 to 50 times the stake for the higher value characters tiles. Wild swiping paw symbols appear on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5 and substitute for anything except the scatter.

The Nemean Lion: Slot Features

Just like Hercules laboured, players have their own task to complete in The Nemean Lion. This is the scatter symbol collection. Should 1 or 2 scatter symbols land on the middle three reels (2, 3, 4) during the base game, they are collected in a meter located above them on the corresponding reel. Each meter starts at x2, and for every 50 scatters collected, its value increases by +1. Scatter symbols that trigger the bonus round do not contribute to the collection.

Roar To Victory Free Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols on the middle three reels awards 12 free games. The positions where triggering scatters hit become multiplier positions and take the value from the multiplier meter above them on the reel. In free spins, whenever a scatter symbol lands, its position also becomes a multiplier position. If a scatter lands in a cell which is already a multiplier position, its multiplier increases by +1. When more than one multiplier is used in a win, the values are multiplied together before being applied to the line win amount. Finally, when the round ends, each multiplier meter above the reels resets back to x2.

The Nemean Lion: Slot Verdict

For the most part, The Nemean Lion is a decent first release from Blue Guru. The studio might not have reinvented the wheel with it, but they've made a solid game with character and a functioning set of features. Players interested by the Ancient Greek theme get a bit of extra detail to mull over from one of the most popular tales of yore, while players, in general, get a new collection-based game which gives players something focus on while batting lions in the base game, before getting the chance to let loose what they've stored in free spins.

As always, these sorts of longer-term collection features can be a double-edged sword with plenty of opportunities to make your day as much as break it. Patiently building multipliers only to see them squandered in a weak bonus round can sting, but there are bright sides too. One, multipliers multiply each other, which can quickly boost their capabilities. Two, scatters landing in multiplier positions add an instant +1 to the value, which is much quicker than collecting 50 scatters in the base game. They can prove useful in putting a decent win together, and The Nemean Lion's potential is on the high side.

All in all, The Nemean Lion is a decent game that focuses on one aspect of Greek Mythology in a bit more depth. Is The Nemean Lion a Ben & Jerry's experience as the studio makes itself out to be? Sure, why not, though it's perhaps closer to indulging in a mini cup than gorging on a 4.5L tub of Caramel Chew Chew.