The Hive is an upcoming slot by Betsoft, taking us to the real hive turned into reelset. It’s a bee-themed game where you are able to join the hard-working insect and gain reward for your labor. The Hive features a unique and innovative honeycomb-shaped layout powered by a good variety of exciting features.
Betsoft’s brainchild is done in a cartoonish style. The honeycomb reelset is set in a backdrop of a colorful meadow, and we can witness a truly bonny scenery. The meadow is covered with grass and there are trees and blooming flowers on both sides of the screen. The reelset itself is a masterpiece of the design, the honeycomb looks amazing, framed with spreading honey and packed with nice-looking symbols. The scene makes you feel like a real beekeeper.
The collection of symbols is a set of 9 regular symbols, divided by 7 low pays and 2 premiums. On the low side we have 4 A-J royals, made up from sweet honey, and 3 beautiful colorful flowers. The high pays include ladybugs and bee queens, with the last one being the most rewarding, paying up to 10x of the bet. There are also 3 types of bees, which can randomly appear and move around the game field, but we’ll talk about that later as soon as we get to the features.
The grid is a 3-4-5-4-3 hexagonal grid with 30 paylines. All the lines pay both ways from left-to-right and right-to-left. The game has a solid RTP of 96.96%, which is way above the average level. However, this is a low volatility slot, and accordingly the payouts are relatively low too. The maximum potential the game can offer is 378x of the bet. Playable from 0.1$ to 10$ per spin, the game’s maximum payout reaches only 3,780$ in case you play with the highest bet option available. Quite disappointing for high-rollers, who prefer playing big as well as getting decent payouts, though, it’s not the target audience of the slot. On the other hand, The Hive has an insane hit rate of 48.71%, which makes almost every second spin a winning one.
The Hive is loaded with interesting features to keep you entertained all the way up.
With each spin there’s a chance to summon of of the 3 bees at one of 18 designated spots around the honeycomb grid. After each spin the summoned insects will move clockwise around the hive to 1 position and leave the game field after a random number of spins. Each bee differently affects the game and has a unique power-up.
Summons a swarm of other bees, including Queen Bees. Every consecutive spin the Queen summons a new bee, and the total number of summoned bees is always random. The bees surround the hive and significantly increase your chances of getting that sweet gold.
It’s hard not to notice a jar on the left side of the screen, which is a Honey Meter and a key to triggering Free Spins. The drones allow to fill the jat much faster. Every drone bee around the hive fills the Honey Meter by one level.
Worker bees award stacking multiplier to every win aligned to them. The Multiplier is increasing with each summoned worker bee by 1x, and it’s total value equals the number of workers +1.
Both drone and worker bees can be activated unlimited number of times as they travel around the grid.
Free Spins in The Hive are awarded when the Honey Meter is filled, and whenever it’s fully charged, you are awarded with 5 Free Spins. The meter has 12 levels, and the drone bees fill the meter by 1 level each. The feature starts with up to 3 Honey Burst Spreading Wilds. As soon as the bonus round begins, all bees around the honeycomb will fly away and come back after the feature expires, occupying their previous spots around the hive.
This one is available only during the Free Spins round. The Wilds will spread from their initial positions to adjacent honeycomb cells every consecutive spin and spread until there is no spare positions left or there are no more spins left. By the end of the bonus, all Wilds will disappear.
All said and done, The Hive is a really fun game with unique features and pretty nice design. However, it may not appeal to players who love more hardcore games with higher volatility and more weighty payouts. Nevertheless, though it won’t win everyone’s heart, the game will certainly catch a decent number of fans, who prefer relaxing sessions and exciting bonuses.
