Hearth of Earth Xmas Slot Review

Heart of Earth Xmas - Slot Overview

As someone who plays a lot of Christmas slots when December comes round, I approached Heart of Earth Xmas knowing it was a straight reskin of the 2019 Heart of Earth release. You get a simple 5 reel, 3 row layout with 5 fixed paylines, mixed mining and festive styling, and a maths model built around medium volatility, a 16% hit rate and a main RTP setting listed at 94.91%.

Different sites list alternative RTP versions at 92.32%, 91.07% and even 86.02%, so I always check which one the casino uses before I start. Stakes vary between releases, but most real money builds I have seen run from about £0.05 up to £15 per spin. The game runs on HTML5, so it feels identical on desktop, mobile browser and tablet.

Theme and Design in Heart of Earth Xmas

As soon as I loaded Heart of Earth Xmas, it was obvious that Swintt had simply thrown a Christmas skin over the original graphics. You still see the mining tunnel backdrop and the odd contraption from Heart of Earth, now wrapped in tinsel with a few baubles and snowflakes. It all works, but by modern standards it does look a bit rough round the edges.

The soundtrack and small touches carry the seasonal mood quite well, though. You get twinkling lights on the reels, a soft winter scene behind the grid and gentle Christmas style music that never gets too intrusive. It feels more like playing an older land based cabinet that has been dressed for the holidays than a fresh 2022 slot, which fits the reskin story.

Symbols and Paytable in Heart of Earth Xmas

In Heart of Earth Xmas you get a classic set of nine pay symbols. The five low pays are simple card ranks, while the four premiums show strange mining contraptions and the wizard character from the base game artwork. What I like here is that every high symbol pays from just two of a kind on a line, which keeps the small hits flowing even on dry sessions.

The special Portal symbol is the workhorse. It acts as both wild and scatter at the same time, so in the base game it can step in for any regular symbol to complete line wins, while three or more in view trigger the feature. Portals land quite often in my experience, which helps compensate a little for the poor headline figures on the paytable itself.

During free spins one of those pay symbols becomes the Lucky symbol and turns into an expanding symbol. When you hit enough copies, it stretches to fill whole reels and then pays even if the reels are not touching from left to right. On paper the top symbol can reach 1000 per line and a listed total win cap of 15000, though in practice the game feels far more restrained.

Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	Scatter, Wild
	5	x200
	4	x20
	3	x2
	5	x1000
	4	x200
	3	x20
	2	x2
	5	x400
	4	x80
	3	x8
	2	x1
	5	x150
	4	x20
	3	x6
	2	x1
	5	x150
	4	x20
	3	x6
	2	x1
	5	x30
	4	x8
	3	x1
	5	x30
	4	x8
	3	x1
	5	x20
	4	x5
	3	x1
	5	x20
	4	x5
	3	x1
	5	x20
	4	x5
	3	x1

Bonus Features in Heart of Earth Xmas

The core feature in Heart of Earth Xmas is a straight Book of style free spins round. Landing three, four or five Portal symbols anywhere in view awards ten free spins, with the Portals acting as scatters for triggering and wilds during the bonus itself. Before the round starts, one pay symbol is chosen at random as the Lucky expanding symbol for that whole set of spins.

When that Lucky symbol hits in numbers during free spins, it expands to cover reels and pays on any position, so full screen hits are where the game can spike. Extra Portals can retrigger more spins, though that has felt rare for me. After any win you can use the Gamble, picking colour or suit on a face-down card to try to double or quadruple winnings up to a prize of 500.

RTP, Volatility and Payouts in Heart of Earth Xmas

Heart of Earth Xmas runs on what I would call a poor maths model by current standards. The main RTP is quoted at 94.91%, already below the level I prefer, and the alternative versions drop to 92.32%, 91.07% or even 86.02%. Combine that with medium volatility and a stated hit frequency of 16%, and you can expect quite a few dead spins between those expanding symbol bursts.

Stake sizes differ a bit depending on where you play. Some versions I tried ran from £0.05 to £15 per spin, while others used a tighter £0.01 to £3 range that suits smaller bankrolls. I have seen the potential top payout listed at around 5000 times your stake, but with this paytable and hit rate I treat that as marketing rather than a realistic target during normal sessions.

How to Play Heart of Earth Xmas

When I sit down with Heart of Earth Xmas I keep things simple. With only five fixed paylines there is nothing to tweak beyond stake, so I set a comfortable bet, check the paytable for the RTP version offered and let the spins roll. I rely on base game wild Portals for line hits, save most of my balance for the free spins, and only touch the Gamble on very small wins.

My Verdict on Heart of Earth Xmas

For me, Heart of Earth Xmas ends up as just a reskin of a slot that already felt dated. The Book of style feature works, the Portal wild scatters do their job and the expanding symbols can land decent hits, but the rough presentation and weak maths hold it back. I only wheel it out for a few festive spins when I want something seasonal and low effort.

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