Beowulf Slots
Before we jump right on in and look at the dynamics of this game, let’s have a little history lesson surrounding Beowulf itself. It is said to be the oldest poem in Old English, about a man named Beowulf who became a hero. During times of trouble for King Hrothgar, when his great halls were under attack, Beowulf stepped up and aided him in striking down the monstrous fiends.
It’s an epic story, and one that goes on to detail how Beowulf became a king himself, before passing away many years later. So many people have fallen in love with the grandness of the tale that it has been adapted into many formats, most recent being a animated film in 2007. And now it’s a slot machine from Pragmatic Play.
There are quite a few slots out there that have taken inspiration from the story, but not many of them capture the elegance and brutal nature of it so perfectly as this brand do - the 5-reels ooze with ancient Scandinavian culture.
The Wolf Cometh
Rather fittingly, Beowulf is one of the most important tiles upon the 40 paylines, and not simply because he rewards you with coins, it’s because he can trigger a special feature as well.
The hero can be found in matches of three, four and five, with the firth giving a return of 2,500 credits. This would be more than enough to keep players happy, but Pragmatic Play added another element: he activates the Super Respin Feature. It can only happen on the first reel, and four of his tiles must be stacked on top of one another for it to take effect, but when it does all the other icons fall away. They’re replaced with numerous blank tiles and Beowulf ones, with the aim being that many winning combos are made here; players begin with 3 spins, but extra ones can be added.
To add more fuel to the fire, this feature can be triggered during the scatter free spins feature. For this to happen you’ll need to locate between three and five red shields, with the amount of spins determined by the matches you make. Customers will get a maximum of 20 spins and x25 multiplier if they get all five.
There’s also a wild in among the symbols too, though it pales in comparison to these as it only subs other icons, though keep in mind it does so to create winning lines.
Fortunate History
Card suits and several themed tiles make up the rest of the symbols, with the card icons naturally making up the lower end of payments. However, while they are quite small when a match of three are made, if matches of five are completed their values soon increase, up to 200 credits.
Besides Beowulf there are two more character specific symbols, maxing out at 1,500 and 800 credits, with the redheaded warrior being the more generous of the two. Thereafter you have a longboat, horn, and an emerald ring with scattered values of between 500 and 300 coins.
A Great Man
The controls of Beowulf can be a bit perplexing due to how they’re presented - the big play button is also the only means of setting your betting range. And how do you tell this? There is a plus and minus symbol on either side of it, which is incredibly subtle and easy to miss. Nonetheless, once you spot it the controls become very user friendly.
Customers are unable to change the number of paylines, but they can decide whether they play with 1 or 10 coins, and how much those coins are worth, between 0.01 and 0.50. Clearly you won’t be breaking the bank with this slot machine if you select the lowest values, though that is for you to decide in the end.
An autoplay widget is tucked away under the control panel; when pressed it will ask you to select between 10 and 1,000 automatic rounds. Tap which you want and the game will begin, though you can halt this process whenever.
Legendary King
Beowulf brings an historic fictional poem to life, and in such a way that we can feel every motion of the battle and the hero’s journey to becoming king. Furthermore, although a well designed and modern slot machine, it has basic principles and simple controls to accommodate more purist players. Essentially there are frills, but they can be removed.
