After the successful release of Valley of the Gods, Yggdrasil realised that it had struck gold with the game’s formula. A few years later, the studio released the sequel Valley of the Gods 2, which played on some technological advancements in the industry. Now, almost a decade after the first in the series was released, Yggdrasil is back with its latest game: Valley of the Dead.

Valley of the Gods may have bathed us in the ethereal sunlight of the deities, but Valley of the Dead plunges the player down into the grim depths of Hades to face off against famous characters like Zagreus, Medusa and the Minotaur.

Valley of the Dead slot overview

The Valley of the Dead slot might look intimidating, but don’t let Hades’ halls scare you! This is a great slot with some very entertaining aspects to it. It may feel similar to Valley of the Gods in its playstyle, but as the legends say: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The symbols in Valley of the Dead encapsulate the vibes of this game perfectly. The highest-paying symbols are Zagreus, Medusa, Cerberus and the Minotaur. The standard symbols, rather than being the traditional playing card ones, are replaced by Bronze and Silver Coins. This is a great way to immerse the player into the atmosphere, and more modern online slot games need to pay attention to this.

Of course, Valley of the Dead wouldn’t be as popular as it is without some engaging features to the gameplay, either. Just as with Valley of the Gods, each win will trigger a respin and also contribute to either win multipliers or extra lives. These will be explained in detail in the Valley of the Dead features section.

Valley of the Dead slot pay table

If your stake is $1, then the following will pay out:

Who made the Valley of the Dead slot game?

The Valley of the Dead slot game was created and released by Yggdrasil (pronounced igg-dras-ill), an esteemed Swedish slot provider studio. Along with the other games mentioned in this review, Yggdrasil is known for making Vikings Go Berzerk, Enchanted Waters, E-Force, Devour the Weak and Badger Miners.

Yggdrasil was founded in 2013, but quickly found its footing in the iGaming industry. Within the next few years, it had received licences from Gaming Authorities from around the world and expanded into several major jurisdictions.

Through an agreement with IGT, Yggdrasil debuted in the US in 2021 and has only continued to grow since then. By 2024, Yggdrasil is one of the top US online casino providers and has even helped smaller studios establish themselves in the jurisdiction.

Pros and Cons of Valley of the Dead

+ The respins on every win can lead to some great combinations as the reels continue to open up

+ The extra lives are a nice touch

+ The atmosphere is expertly crafted, down to the smallest details

- High volatility

- OnlyWins feature may not be available everywhere

Valley of the Dead slot table

Valley of the Dead slot features

Rather than having separate game screens or requiring specific symbol combinations to trigger bonus modes, Valley of the Dead integrates the gameplay features directly into the standard experience for a seamless gaming experience.

Each winning combination of symbols will transform into skulls and then reveal more of the reel until the full 5x5 grid is revealed. This BoltLock feature will continue until either the entire reel is revealed, or until you lose the winning streak.

Bonus Game: If you create enough winning combinations in your win streak and unlock the full grid, then the bonus game will kick in. Once it begins, each win will either contribute to the Multipliers or the Extra Lives. The Multipliers will naturally apply to each win, but the Extra Lives mechanics will step in to keep the streak going if you encounter a loss. This is important, because as soon as you lose this streak, the reel will BoltLock back up again.

Rather than being able to use Buy Feature mechanics to automatically trigger a particular feature, Valley of the Dead utilises OnlyWins, which gives you 99.99% chance to win on each spin (it can go against compliance to say you’re guaranteed a win, which is why they place it at 99.99% instead!).

To play using OnlyWins, this will cost 4.4x times the standard bet. This means that if you were playing at $1, OnlyWins will cost $4.40 a spin. You can also buy a block of 10 OnlyWins, although this doesn’t come with a bulk discount. One thing to note: The win will not necessarily cover the purchase price of the OnlyWin.

Does the Valley of the Dead slot game offer free spins?

Valley of the Dead guarantees at least one free spin every time you land a winning combination on the reels. This can result in potentially limitless combinations of spins, especially once you factor in the Extra Lives.

However, other than this mechanic, there are no additional symbols or tricks to get free spins at this online slot.

Valley of the Dead slot conclusion

Valley of the Dead is a very, very good online casino slot. Some players may find it too similar in gameplay to Valley of the Gods or Valley of the Gods 2, but others have praised its change in artistic direction. A large proportion of players will only play slots they find visually appealing - so if they didn’t like the sunny and bright look of Valley of the Gods, then they get to try the gameplay in this more brooding, darker iteration.

That being said, there could’ve been some more developments put into the game, rather than just reskinning the gameplay. An extra feature or gameplay element would’ve gone a long way in silencing the critics over this release being too similar to game releases in the past.

These aren’t enough to bring the game down though. If you focus your attention on Valley of the Dead and don’t worry about what games the studio has released in the past, then you’ll find an excellent online casino experience. The atmosphere is second to none and the gameplay is genuinely entertaining.