Das xBoot

The Submersible Review

Several memorable movies have been inspired by the original German 1981 classic, and the developer has done an excellent job capturing the tense sub-sea atmosphere in this game. The loud “ping” you hear whenever a Sonar Display scatter lands is enough to trigger claustrophobic memories from movies, and this sub is packed with features.

You’ll join the German crew on a typical WW2 sub, and you can “run silent and deep” for a while, before sudden feature triggers spike into solid payouts. You get to sink battleships with torpedoes in the Silent Hunter bonus round, and completing loaded torpedoes is the name of the game in the top-tier Wolf Pack feature. This is a highly impressive effort.

Features

The submarine crew members are on display as the 5 premium symbols, and you’ll meet the chef, radio operator, engineer, periscope operator and the Kapitanleutnant. The latter is the top-tier symbol, paying 20x your stake for 6-oak wins, while the regular premiums pay between 3.2 and 10 x your stake for the same.

The xNudge Wild is stacked 4 rows in height, and it always nudges fully in place whenever it lands. The wild multiplier increases by +1 per nudge, and the symbol will appear exclusively on reels 3 and 4 in the base game. If more than one multiplier wild is involved in a win, the multipliers combine before being applied.

You will land xWays symbols on reels 2 to 5, and these reveal 2-3 instances of a randomly chosen regular pay symbol. All xWays symbols that land on the same spin will reveal the same random symbol, and these also increase the number of win ways (check the meter above the grid).

Whenever you land an xBomb Wild, the global win multiplier is increased by +1. The wild symbol will then explode and remove all non-winning pay symbols. The xBomb itself turns into a regular wild that drops to the lowest possible position, together with the other symbols that did not get removed. A new batch of symbols will then drop from above to fill the gaps, and the win multiplier is carried over if you trigger the bonus round.

You can land the Sonar Display scatter on reels 2 to 5 only, and you need 3 in view to trigger the Silent Hunter Bonus Round. This awards 8 free spins, and you’ll see reel 3 grow into a periscope reel that’s 8 rows high. If you land matching symbols on reels 1 and 2, combined with a Periscope Wild on reel 3, you trigger the Torpedo Launch feature.

You’ll see the enemy ships through the periscope, and a torpedo is launched towards one of them. If you manage to sink the target, the Periscope Wild will expand to cover reel 3 completely. The global win multiplier is also increased by +1 per torpedo attack trigger, and the periscope wild multiplier increases by +1 per nudge before the full reel is covered. The wild remains 1x1 in size if you miss the target, and you win +2 extra spins per scatter you land.

The top-tier Wolf Pack Bonus Round is triggered when you land 4 Sonar Display scatters, and you’ll then see a torpedo tube appear below reels 2 to 5. Landing torpedo wilds on reels 2-5 drops an xWays Symbol down to help complete the torpedo, and each starts with x2 as the value. The value increases by +1 per new torpedo wild drop-down, up to x9 at the most.

Completing the torpedo by filling in all 4 positions triggers a torpedo launch, and this reveals the xWays symbols you’ve built up. The reel 2 and 5 positions will turn into the number of xWays Symbols you’ve racked up, while positions 3 and 4 turn into the applicable number of xWays Wilds. Each torpedo launch increases the win multiplier by +1, and scatter symbols provide +2 extra spins whenever they land.

The Bonus Buy feature is included as usual, but not in all jurisdictions. UK players cannot take advantage of this for sure, but if you are eligible, the Silent Hunter Free Spins will set you back 75x your stake. The Wolf Pack feature costs 350x your stake, and the RTP increases.

Experience

You get a brief taste of the base game, before the Silent Hunter Bonus Round is triggered. The Wolf Pack Free Spins is triggered right after.

Review Summary

Capturing the atmosphere on board a WW2 submarine as well as this, is a remarkable feat. The sub-sea sound effects and the ominous soundtrack blend together perfectly to immediately pull you into the action. We also love how you get a glimpse inside the periscope deck when the xBomb removes symbols.

Everything has been masterfully crafted to serve the theme, from the expanded periscope reel in the Silent Hunter round, to the torpedo launch feature in the Wolf Pack feature. The retro comic book visuals are perfect for this game.

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