Medusa gets a bad rap. Turning people to stone with a single glance sounds like the ultimate social distancing tool. Tired of small talk? Stone. Annoying neighbour won’t stop bragging about his NFT portfolio? Stone. Someone brings a tuna sandwich onto public transport? Double stone. Sure, the snake hair’s a bit much, but at least she doesn’t have to spend a fortune on hair products or listen to anyone talk over her. 

While a Medusa in the modern day would definitely make for an interesting take, Hacksaw has gone a little more traditional with its interpretation of the myth with its new Eye of Medusa slot.

Welcome to Ancient Greece!

The Eye of Medusa slot from Hacksaw Gaming uses a 3,125-ways-to-win system instead of fixed paylines. Bets range from $0.10 to $35 per spin, with a top win of $350,000 thanks to the 10,000x maximum multiplier. It’s a medium volatility game, offering a mix of frequent wins and dry spells. The RTP is 96.2%.

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Super Cascades trigger after any win, removing all symbols in the combination and all matching regular symbols elsewhere on the grid. New symbols drop in, potentially continuing the sequence.

Medusa symbols are wilds that appear in Silver or Gold form. If a low-pay win occurs while a Medusa is on the grid, it drops to the bottom and stays there until the spin ends. Non-Petrified symbols are cleared, and new ones fall in until no further wins occur.

If a high-pay win involves a Medusa, both the winning symbols and the Medusa become stone and drop to the bottom. The rest of the grid clears and refills. After cascades end, Petrified symbols reveal values: Bronze (0.2x to 4x), Silver (5x to 20x), or Gold (25x to 500x). A Silver Medusa applies a 1x to 4x multiplier; a Gold Medusa, 5x to 20x. The total win equals the sum of the values multiplied by the Medusa multiplier.

Three or four Free Spins scatters trigger the Snakes & Stones feature with 10 or 12 spins. Medusa symbols appear more frequently during this mode, with boosted multiplier chances. Two or three additional scatters add +2 or +4 spins.

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Landing five scatters unlocks the Gorgon’s Gold bonus round with 12 spins. Once a Medusa activates, its multiplier sets a new minimum for all future Medusas. If a higher one appears, the new value becomes the baseline for the rest of the round.

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Is the Eye of Medusa slot worth the risk of getting turned into stone?

The way Medusa’s snakes have been executed in the base game, and especially during a round of Gorgon’s Gold free spins, makes me think the character wasn’t initially designed to be Medusa. To me, it looks like she was originally meant to be Athena, and the theme was changed after the team had already designed the Athena character. I have absolutely no proof of this, but there’s just something off about Medusa and her snakes.

That being said, the Eye of Medusa slot is one of the more cookie-cutter entries from Hacksaw. The slot has a fairly generic look and feel that doesn’t do much to challenge the theme. The bonus features are plentiful but, again, nothing particularly out of the ordinary. The numerous ways to win and the 10,000x max multiplier are certainly reason enough to give this one a spin.

I give the Eye of Medusa slot a seven out of ten.

If you’re looking for a few other fun Hacksaw slots to try out, I recommend Pray for Three and Hounds of Hell.