Lady of Avalon: Review

The previous Barcrest slot we covered was a complete train wreck and easily among the worst we’ve played in a long time—no small feat considering the pile of Microgaming titles we’ve had to slog through lately. Their newer release, Lady of Avalon, is far less of a catastrophe and more of a dependable option. Built on a 5-reel, 3-row, 10-payline layout, it’s essentially a high-volatility “Book of” clone, only dressed up with a fantasy theme.

The main focus is the free spins round, where expanding symbols can lead to hefty payouts. As usual, Barcrest tends to cater to high rollers, and to encourage bigger wagers they offer a higher RTP if you set your bet to 2€ or more (96% rather than 94%). We’re not fans of that approach, but at least it’s clearly stated. Lady of Avalon is available from 10 cents to 500 Euros per spin on mobile, tablets, and standard desktop play.

Like many Barcrest releases, Lady of Avalon keeps things straightforward visually. The action takes place in front of a moonlit lake, with symbols ranging from A to 10 royals to black horses, spellbooks, medieval castles, and wizards. The wizard functions much like the Explorer symbol in Book of Ra (Novomatic), and landing 5 across a full payline pays 500 times your stake. Lady Avalon acts as both scatter and wild, and 5 of her on a payline returns 250 times your stake.

Lady of Avalon: Features

The free spins feature is the core attraction in Lady of Avalon, and it triggers when at least 3 scatter symbols land anywhere on the reels. You begin with 10 free spins, and before the bonus starts, one special symbol is randomly selected as the expanding symbol. Whenever it appears, it expands to fill the entire reel. On top of that, symbols don’t need to be adjacent to create winning combinations.

Hit a full screen of the wizard symbol and you’ll collect the top payout of 5000 times your stake. The bonus can also be retriggered—if 3 or more scatters show up during free spins, you’re awarded 10 additional spins. There’s no cap on the number of retriggers.

Lady of Avalon: Verdict

In the end, this is a fairly plain “Book of” clone, and if you’re playing small stakes there’s really no compelling reason to pick Lady of Avalon over Book of Ra or Book of Dead (unless your casino is running those games on an RTP setting below the default). There’s also something about Barcrest’s overall feel—especially the count-ups—that makes their slots a bit less enjoyable for us, though it’s not a dealbreaker when the game itself delivers.

If you can’t access Novos or Play’n GO for whatever reason, Lady of Avalon works as a decent stand-in. The paytable matches the “Book of” formula, and the max win potential is the same 5000x. Surprisingly, the standout element here is the soundtrack. To really notice it, you’ll need to use auto-spin, since Barcrest typically doesn’t play music between spins otherwise.