Merlin: Journey of Flame Slot Review

Merlin: Journey of Flame Slot RTP, Details & Wager Limits

The Merlin: Journey of Flame slot is played with 5-6 reels, 3 rows and 10 fixed paylines. In the base game, the 6^th reel is locked but in the free spins, the reel is unlocked. Winning combinations are created when a certain number of matching symbols appear from left to right across successive reels. They need to appear across any of the 10 paylines. High-value symbols need 2 (or more) for a win whilst others require 3 or more.

Bets-wise, Merlin: Journey of Flame can be spun from 10p to £100 per spin. Under the reels, use the plus and minus buttons in the Coin Value and Coins sections to change your bet. Players outside the UK can use Autoplay which enables up to 100 auto spins with single win/balance limits. For quicker spins, use Turbo Mode (enabled by pressing/clicking the lightning bolt icon). The latter isn’t available in the UK either.

The Merlin: Journey of Flame RTP is 96.28% which is above both the online slots average of 96% and the Play ‘n GO standard of 96.2%. That said, there are 94.28% and 91.28% RTP versions. Check the Paytable to see which RTP rate you’re playing. As a general rule of thumb, most new online casinos will offer lower RTP rates.

Additionally, the Merlin: Journey of Flame slot is a high-volatility game and ranked as 9/10. In terms of payouts, you can win up to 7,500 x your total bet. With a max win probability of 1 in 100 million spins, a screen full of Dragon Egg Wilds and/or Merlin symbols in the free spins will do the trick.

Theme: help Merlin take on a fiery beast

With a sorcery theme, the Merlin: Journey of Flame slot is the 5^th instalment in the Merlin series. Based on the mythical Merlin wizard that has appeared in the legend of King Arthur, you head to a swampy dragon pit on a quest to find a prized dragon egg.

With a young Merlin battling the dragon, he uses his Book of Spells to try and defeat the fiery beast. Beautifully designed, the colourful symbols appear prominently against the dark backdrop that is the dragon’s lair. The soundtrack is serious and adds to the intensity of Merlin’s fight.

On the reels, you will see 5 different-coloured rune stones as the low-value symbols. High-value symbols include potions, spellbooks, staffs and Merlin himself. Merlin is the best-paying symbol with 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 in combination awarding a 1, 10, 100, 500 or 750 x bet payout. Remember that in the base game only 5-of-a-kind payouts can be achieved.

Then you have the Dragon Egg Wild Scatter that substitutes for all symbols above. Importantly, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 wild scatters will award a 2, 20, 200 or 500 x bet payout. In the Free Spins feature, it appears as a Hatched Dragon Egg Wild Scatter with 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 paying 1, 10, 100, 500 or 750 x bet.

Symbol	Payouts/Info
Green Rune Stone	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.4, 1.5, 10 or 15 x bet
Blue Rune Stone	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.4, 1.5, 10 or 15 x bet
Red Rune Stone	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.4, 1.5, 10 or 15 x bet
Orange Rune Stone	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.4, 2.5, 12.5 or 20 x bet
Yellow Rune Stone	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.4, 2.5, 12.5 or 20 x bet
Potion	2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.4, 2, 10, 50 or 100 x bet
Spellbook	2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.4, 2, 10, 50 or 100 x bet
Merlin's Staff	2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.4, 2.5, 25, 150 or 300 x bet
Merlin	2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 = 1, 10, 100, 500 or 750 x bet
Dragon Egg Wild Scatter	Substitutes, pays up to 500 x bet + triggers free spins
Hatched Dragon Egg Wild Scatter	In free spins, substitutes + pays up to 750 x bet

Merlin: Journey of Flame Mobile

Released on the 13^th of July 2023, Merlin: Journey of Flame can be played on mobile, desktop and tablet devices. Automatically detecting which device you play with, it’s compatible with iOS, Android and Windows smartphones. The 6×3 layout works well on handheld devices and is perfect to pay at mobile casinos with apps.

Merlin: Journey of Flame Bonus Features

The Merlin: Journey of Flame slot comes with just 2 bonus features. With an optional Gamble feature, it focuses on the Free Spins feature where you play with a 6^th reel. Offering a randomly-chosen special expanding symbol, you can achieve 6-of-a-kind payouts which can lead to 7,500 x bet wins per free spin.

Free Spins feature

The Free Spins feature is triggered when you land 3 or more Dragon Egg Wild Scatter symbols anywhere during a base game spin. 3, 4 or 5 Wild Scatters will result in a 2, 20 or 200 x bet payout too. The 6^th reel will also be activated and 8 free spins will be awarded.

Once in, a random symbol is chosen to become the special expanding symbol. When you land a win with the special expanding symbol, it expands to take over the whole reel. High-paying symbols such as the potion, spellbook, Merlin’s staff or Merlin himself only require 2 (or more) to expand. Low-value rune stone symbols need 3 or more to expand.

Below is a table showing the payouts for a screen full of each symbol and the max win with 6 reels:

Lastly, 3 or more Hatched Dragon Egg Wild Scatters will reward you with an additional 8 free spins. There’s no limit either meaning unlimited free spins potentially.

Gamble feature

Not found in many newer online slots these days, the Merlin: Journey of Flame slot comes with an optional Gamble feature. Applicable in the base game, you can double your current win if you correctly guess the colour of a face-down card. It comes with a 50% win probability (1 in 2).

If you guess the suit of the face-down card, you have a 1 in 4 chance (25% win probability) and will win 4 times your current win. The Gamble feature can be played up to 5 times with a limit of 250 x your total bet.

Merlin: Journey of Flame Review Summary: fight fire with magic in the dragon’s lair

With the Merlin: Journey of Flame slot being the fifth instalment of the popular Merlin series, we had high hopes. Graphically, it’s superb with the young wizard taking on the fiery beast in this massive-scale adventure. This magical world of sorcery looks like something out of the Game of Thrones series.

Essentially a ‘Book of’ slot, the main attraction is the Free Spins feature where you’ll begin with 8 free spins and 6 reels. The 6^th reel basically dramatically increases your win potential.

A screen full of Merlin symbols for example will give you a 7,500 x bet payout with 6 reels and 5,000 x bet with 5 reels. It’s all about playing with a high-value special expanding symbol, like in Book of Dead (also by Play ‘n GO). There is an optional Gamble feature in the base game which is pretty self-explanatory.

In summary, the Merlin: Journey of Flame slot is like the previous Play ‘n GO ‘Book of’ slots but the added wrinkle of a 6^th reel during the free spins. With 7,500 x bet max wins available, it falls short of the 10,000 x bet offered in the Secret of Dead slot for example which also boasts 6 reels.

That said, the gameplay, RTP and max win are identical to those found in Play ‘n GO’s Scroll of Dead. Whilst it looks great, it’s not quite the worthy torchbearer for the Merlin series in my opinion. It’s still pretty good all things considered.