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30 September 2024 
Merlin: Journey of Flame Slot Review 2024
We’re following a young Merlin on another of his adventures in Play’n GO’s latest release, Merlin: Journey of Flame!
Before the years took a toll on Merlin, he was a young, dragon-hunting wizard who enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. We’re heading back in time to see Merlin in his younger years doing exactly that!
Young Merlin stumbles across a rare dragon’s egg in a swampy, dark, and enchanted lake. As he casts his spell, the dragon’s egg begins to hatch, and young Merlin finds himself in quite a fiery situation.
Play’n GO is fire-breathing new life into an Arthurian tale as old as time. Enter the dragon’s lair if you dare and witness Magic Runes, Expanding Symbols, the Gamble Spell, and Free Spins right before your very eyes.
As Merlin takes on this fiery beast, will he live to tell about it? Let’s play on and find out!
Merlin: Journey of Flame Base Game and Features
Merlin: Journey of Flame is a 5-reel slot with 10 fixed pay lines. There is a 6th reel, but this is locked during the base game. Winning combinations are formed when 3 or more of the same symbols (or 2 or more of any High-paying symbols) land from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.
The minimum bet available here is £.€0.10 per spin and the maximum bet available is £.€100 per spin, with plenty of other options in between the two. This game has a theoretical RTP of 96.28% and a max win cap of 7,500x.
In terms of symbols, the highest-paying regular symbol here is Merlin, followed by the Diamond, Book, and Potion. Low-paying symbols fall to Yellow, Orange, Red, Blue, and Green Gems. Dragon Egg Scatters also act as Wilds, substituting for all High and Low-paying symbols.
Gamble/Collect Feature
During the base game, whenever a winning combination forms, you will be given the option to Gamble your total win for more via a Gamble/Collect feature below the reel set.
This Gamble/Collect feature gives you the opportunity to multiply your total prize win on any spin by correctly guessing the colour of a face-down playing card, with a winning possibility of 50% to double your total win.
Alternatively, you can guess the suit of a face-down playing card in order to quadruple your total prize win (25% win probability). You can gamble your winnings up to 5 times, up to a limit of 250x your bet.
Merlin: Journey of Flame: Free Spins
Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 Dragon Egg Scatters across the reels during the base game triggers the Free Spins round, awarding 8 Free Spins and a payout of 20x, 200x, 2,000x, and 5,000x your bet respectively. Once active, the 6th reel is unlocked.
Before the Free Spins begins, a random High or Low-paying symbol from the paytable is chosen at random to be your Expanding symbol during this time.
The chosen symbol can form winning combinations across the reels in non-adjacent positions. When a winning combination forms across the reels, the chosen symbol will expand to fill the entire reel they are on and pay regardless of their positions.
Landing 3 or more Scatters during this time will award an additional +8 Free Spins.
Merlin: Journey of Flame: Our Verdict
Merlin: Journey of Flame brings back rather fond memories of Rise of Merlin, a slot that still holds a special place in many players’ hearts, including our own.
Besides its modern design, an increased max win cap, and swapping out magic orbs (Merlin’s balls) for fiery dragon eggs, Play’n GO has kept gameplay almost identical to that of Rise of Merlin, maybe a little too much for our liking.
There are of course some obvious differences that lie mostly with the Free Spins round. In the base game, the 6th reel remains locked until you enter Free Spins. With little else to keep you occupied in the base game, the idea of unlocking a 6th reel during free spins intrigues us, but is it worth the wait?
Another difference between the two titles is one that may just disappoint you. Retriggering the Free Spins round in Merlin: Journey of Flame will only award additional Free Spins and not another Expanding symbol, more reminiscent of Book of Dead than Rise of Merlin.
This can leave you feeling rather defeated especially if you’re expanding symbol is a Low-paying symbol. On the other hand, having Merlin as your expanding symbol and landing 6 of him across the reels can result in maximum potential!
Overall. Merlin: Journey of Flame is a fine follow up to a series of slots from Play’n GO that continues to impress.
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