Beat the Beast: Kraken’s Lair Slot Review
Released in February 2020, this game can be played exclusively at Casumo right now.
Theme and general information
Kraken’s Lair is the first in a series of five Beat the Beast slots. Apparently, the series is set to feature various monsters in highly volatile settings. The first such monster is a Kraken, and this just so happens to be yet another slot that features the infamous beast of the deep seas.
Thunderkick is known for developing slots with a more simplistic design that are still well-crafted and effective. Kraken’s Lair may not take your breath away with its visuals, but it is a good-looking game. And the background music sets the tune nicely as well, creating tension as we spin the reels.
We find ourselves at the bottom of the sea, where the Kraken lurks among sunken ships, no doubt pulled down by the Kraken himself. It’s dark and shadowy. The reel symbols are not overly sophisticated in detail but still nicely drawn. We get the 10 to A playing card symbols, a trident, a pendant, a chest and two different Kraken symbols. One looks like a golden statue of a Kraken and the other is the Kraken himself. The latter pays out 500x our stake for 5 of its kind. The golden Kraken statue is still worth 50x our stake for such a win.
The golden Kraken emblem is the wild in this game, which also functions as a scatter.
You can play this game from 0.10 to 100.00 per spin.
Expanding wins in the base game
The main feature in this slot plays out in the base game and the free spins. Whenever the golden Kraken emblem, the wild/scatter, is part of a winning symbol, the Expanding Win features is activated. The regular symbols that are part of the winning combination now expand on each reel along the payline to cover the whole reel. The wild does not expand but remains in place. This can now result in multiple stacks and additional wins across more paylines.
If one of the high paying symbols expands in such a win, awesome wins are possible.
Get some free spins and the potential for more
We need three scatter wilds to activate the free spins. In that case, we also get a scatter win of 2x our stake. If we land four scatters, we will get a win of 20x our stake and five scatters would pay 200x our stake.
In any case, we would only ever get 10 free spins at a time. During the free spins, one golden scatter wild emblem randomly appears on the reels before any spin. There it works as a wild as well as a scatter. So, if more scatters land, we could retrigger the free spins. Or we get expanding wins, if the emblem lands in a fortunate position to create winning combinations.
It’s theoretically possible to retrigger the free spins indefinitely.
Verdict: A volatile slot that brings some solid entertainment
The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) for Beat the Beast: Kraken’s Lair is 96.12%, which is a solid average. The game is highly volatile, however, and dry spells may very well be possible. So, careful budgeting is recommended.
Whilst the maximum payout in Kraken’s Lair is 7,777x our stake, we also only get 9 paylines, so wins are not easy to come by. But this online slot from Thunderkick is still entertaining and worth your while. Perhaps you have to budget on the careful side but expanding wins can create some tension and surprises along the way, reeling in handsome wins every once in a while.
Kraken’s Lair is a solid first offering in this Beat the Beast series and we’re looking forward to the next slots.
Yes
Yes
0.10
Yes
9
No
100
No
5
No
No
96.12%
Yes