Barbarossa: Beyond the Edge

Barbarossa Beyond the Edge: Slot Overview

Software provider Yggdrasil's partners have had varying degrees of success using its DoubleMax feature, though one studio which has taken to the feature like a fish to water is Peter & Sons through its swashbuckling Barbarossa range. The original blasted like a cannonball into gamblers' screens, showing what the powerful doubling multiplier feature can do in the right hands, before follow-ups Barbarossa Revenge and Barbarossa Dragon Empire dropped. Rather than chart unexplored waters, subsequent releases have seen incremental changes to the core formula, and the current incarnation, Barbarossa Beyond the Edge, does the same, adding a special new cannonball to the multiplier trail to freshen the experience. 

Barbarossa Beyond the Edge sees the legendary captain and crew sailing beyond the last known waters to a place where sirens, sea serpents, and danger lurk. If it is the sort of place that might scare a lesser captain, buccaneers like Barbarossa and the crew are apparently just getting started. The adventure begins for gamblers in a rocky cove, laden with the aforementioned sirens, on a calm and sunny day, before the atmosphere takes a turn for the worse when free spins are active. Hard to put a finger on it, but something about Barbarossa Beyond the Edge's visuals seemed a little off. While perfectly fine to look at and quite aggressive when the cannonballs are flying, it wasn't the most graphically captivating game in the Barbarossa series. 

Barbarossa Beyond the Edge uses a typical Double Max play area made up of 5 reels, 3 rows, and 243 ways to win. A very highly volatile ocean-going romp, stakes of $/€0.20 to $/€30 may be selected, while the return to player value comes in at 96.44%.

The low pays are a bottle, fish, a webbed hand, a pearl, and a compass, paying 0.25x to 0.3x the bet for a 5 OAK winning combination. Above them in value are five pirate character symbols awarding 0.5x to 1x the bet for 5-of-a-kind. Wild symbols help create wins by substituting for all regular pay symbols. 

Barbarossa Beyond the Edge: Slot Features 

Wild cascades keep the ship moving forward while also increasing the win multiplier trail. Free spins are where players will want to be since the multiplier is progressive there, while various feature buys are available, as is a Golden Bet.

Wild Cascades 

Each win triggers a cascade which removes the winning symbols. A wild symbol appears in one of the winning positions, and new symbols drop down to fill the empty spots. Cascades continue until there are no more wins. Wilds disappear when part of a win. 

Multiplier Balls

Barbarossa Beyond the Edge has a multiplier chain that starts at x1 and doubles on each consecutive winning cascade. In the base game, the multiplier chain resets to x1 at the end of the spin. Mystery balls with a value of x3, x5, or x10 can appear during a cascade, and when they do, they multiply the previous winning multiplier step to become the new active multiplier, and upgrade all remaining higher multipliers on the displayed chain by the same amount. The full list of balls in the chain is:

• Normal Ball - Carries the regular doubling values. 
• Mystery Ball - Upgrades the chain multipliers by x3, x5, or x10.
• Golden Ball - Guarantees a win when reached.
• Wild Ball - Provides an extra wild.
• Multiplier Jump Ball - Skips a multiplier. 

Free Spins 

Landing 3 scatters in the base game awards 7 free spins, +2 free spins for each additional scatter. During free spins, the multiplier does not reset until the feature finishes. The round cannot be retriggered.

Feature Buys & Golden Bet

At the feature buy section, players can buy 7, 9 or 11 (the number is random) Power Free Spins, which have more special balls and more wins for 330x the bet. A regular round of 7 free spins can be bought for 110x, or 7, 9, or 11 random free spins can be bought for 220x the stake. The Golden Bet increases the stake by 50% to double the chance of triggering free spins.

Barbarossa Beyond the Edge: Slot Verdict

Those who have been following Barbarossa's journey will know by now not to expect shockingly new evolutions with each new release, but tweaks to the main blueprint to match the new locations the captain and crew find themselves in. So it is with Barbarossa Beyond the Edge, which loyally sticks to tradition, rather than plots a radically different path. By now certain expectations may have formed about how radical, or not, each new Barbarossa release will be, and Barbarossa Beyond the Edge stays true to form, repackaging what worked in the past with a new skin and side feature to experiment with.

Don't be expecting enormous differences in other words, as in a nutshell, Barbarossa Beyond the Edge is basically Barbarossa Dragon Empire with an extra cannonball and less winning potential. To be fair, the new mystery cannonball is a good one. In a game where progressing the multiplier trail is critical, any bump you can get along the way is appreciated, and the mystery cannonball can provide a decent kick. As for winning potential, yes, it has been lowered, but it still sits at an impressive 30,000x the bet, a sizeable pile of treasure lying in wait for captains lucky enough to chart the right path.

Barbarossa Beyond the Edge is unlikely to change players' perception of the Barbarossa series, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Peter & Sons have resisted the temptation of a major overhaul, instead choosing to take the DoubleMax framework, the extras which have worked in the past, and add an extra cannonball. For returning players, this may make Barbarossa Beyond the Edge feel like another stepping stone in the series' path rather than a brand new adventure, but hey, if it ain't broke and all that, and DoubleMax enthusiasts in general get a sturdy pirate-themed voyage with cannonballs a-plenty to get their doubling on.