This isn’t the sort of review of Beowulf you’d find in your York Notes. Instead, it’s a look at the slot game of the same name, exploring how it works and what special features it offers players.
Special Features
Beowulf has a few different features that make it stand apart from some more boring games on the market, so here’s a little look at each of them:
Stacked Wilds
The game has a number of Wild symbols available to players, with the most common of them being the one that looks like a Golden Horn. These can substitute in for any other symbol, apart from special ones that may trigger a different type of game. Stacked Wilds can can result in a pretty impressive win, if there’s enough of them that land on your reels.
Grendel Attack
The Grendel Attack feature of the Beowulf game can be triggered randomly at any time. The way the feature works is that a random number of Wilds will land on your reels and then be locked in place. However many Grendel symbols land on the fifth reel of the game will determine how many respins you’ll be awarded, with the Grendel symbols allowing you to turn losing lines into winning ones during that period. Once the ‘attack’ is over, the locked Wilds will unfreeze and the game will continue.
Free Spin Dragon Fight
The Free Spin feature of the Beowulf game will be triggered by landing three or more Free Spin Scatter symbols on active lines. The number of Free Spins you’re awarded isn’t pre-determined, so the Free Spins will continue for as long as the Dragon Fight continues. The fight, if you’re wondering, is between Beowulf and a dragon. The big question, therefore, is ‘how does the fight end?’
The answer comes in the form of more Wild symbols. Every time a Sword Wild lands on your reels, it’s the equivalent of Beowulf managing to stab the Dragon. That reduces one bar from the Dragon’s associated Health Level, with the Sword Wild remaining locked in place for the rest of the rest of the Free Spins or until you land a Dragon Wild symbol.. Those Dragon symbols will also remove a bar from Beowulf’s Health Level.
As you might well have guessed, the Dragon Fight will continue until either the Dragon or Beowulf loses all of their Health. Make sure that you’re cheering on the hero of the piece, though, as you’ll be awarded with three extra Free Spins if it’s Beowulf that emerges victorious.
There’s another level of confusion to mention with this particular special feature. If you’ve managed to land a Sword Wild and it’s been frozen in place then landing a Dragon Wild will see it removed. It will then be replaced by a Fire Wild that covers the whole reel for that specific payout round. In short, if you end up getting involved in a Dragon Fight then you’re going to let loads of Free Spins and will hopefully be rewarded with a good chunk of money.
Gameplay & RTP
There’s a funny thing about Return To Player averages, in that games with high ones will make you feel as though a win is just around the corner because of that, whilst you can often play games with lower ones and they seem to payout fairly regularly. That’s why we always recommend that you pick the games you play on factors other than their RTP. Still, how much you’re likely to get paid may well be quite important to you and if that’s the case then, on paper at least, Beowulf will tick your boxes. After all, 97.21% is incredibly close to what we’ve come to think of as the golden RTP percentage of 98, meaning that a small investment might give you a decent chunk of playing time. It might not, though, given that 97.21% is the average payout rather than a guaranteed one. Pick a sum of money you’re happy to play with and don’t swerve from that during your playing time.
If it’s not the Return To Player average that’s going to sway you then perhaps it will be the gameplay itself. Beowulf is well themed, including the rather epic music that kicks in as soon as you load up the game. It puts you in mind of the likes of Game Of Thrones or some other swords and sandals type bit of entertainment, complete with banging drums and string music. Within the game you’ll find the eponymous hero standing to the left of the reels, hood pulled up and sword in hand. The reels stand in front of a bit of countryside, with the reels also sticking with the theme of the game. The !0, J, Q, K and A symbols stand in front of some Celtic looking art, whilst the medium win symbols are made up of what look like Kings, Maids and Warriors. Add the Dragon and Sword symbols into that and it’s a consistent theme throughout.
The actual gameplay isn’t the best out there, if we’re being honest. There’s a fun clicking sound when the reels start spinning and an impressive ‘thump’ if one of the more important symbols lands, but the graphics aren’t good enough to allow the reels to spin smoothly. Instead there’s a definite blur to them, which would be enough to give some people a headache or feeling of motion sickness if they played for too long. The bonus games are well-thought out, if a little complex. It’s also a slight shame that the players don’t get to do anything to influence proceedings. Perhaps if you were able to select a sword that Beowulf would fight with it would be a little bit more engaging or feel as though you were part of the feature. That might just be nitpicking, given that the rest of the game works well and is quite fun to play.