Free The Dragon

Free The Dragon Review

King Arthur's legend and all those fantasy myths — that stuff was basically my bedtime story starter pack. It's a whole cultural layer, thick with swords, sorcery, and suspiciously British accents. And honestly? I'm still amazed this theme hasn't been overused in iGaming to the same extent as Ancient Egypt or the Wild West. I mean, we’ve got 900 variations of Pharaoh, but barely a dozen fire-breathing dragons worth mentioning. Wild.

As a kid, I totally bought into the dream — me, a shiny-armored knight on a noble quest to rescue a conventionally attractive princess from a treasure-hoarding lizard with anger issues. Fast forward to today, and I was handed Free the Dragon instead. Let’s just say… It’s not quite the epic I imagined, but it sure knows how to surprise you, not always in a good way.

Now, speaking of the developer — these folks are the industry equivalent of an old wizard who’s seen it all. They've been around since the early 2000s, back when slots still had that chunky pixel charm and bonus rounds were just a twinkle in some dev’s eye. Since then, they've built a sprawling empire, mixing blockbusters with weird little side quests like this one. They’re not afraid to roll the dice (pun intended) on strange ideas, and while not every game is a grail-tier masterpiece, I’ve gotta give them credit for keeping things interesting. Even if Free the Dragon feels like it time-traveled here from 2010 — wearing yesterday’s armor and all.

Anyway, let’s dive in and see if there’s treasure behind those reels — or just singed hopes and a lot of molten disappointment.

Once I hit spin, it didn’t take long to figure out that Free the Dragon sticks to a pretty classic 5x3 layout with 243 ways to win. It’s that familiar “no paylines, just vibes” system where any three+ symbols left to right can do the trick. On the surface, it looks like your standard fantasy slot — you’ve got wilds doing their wild thing, a Free Spins mode for the dreamers, and a Hold & Win-style bonus game for the collectors. But there’s a little extra magic tucked away in how the bonus symbols behave, and trust me, we’re going to talk about that spellcraft in just a moment.

Now, let’s crunch some numbers. RTP? A modest 95.85% — not tragic, but not exactly knight-worthy either. The betting range, though? That’s where things get spicy. You can go from €0.2 to a humongous €500 per spin. I’m not sure who’s out here casually throwing down five hundred coins to “free the dragon,” but hey — live your truth, high rollers. The rest of us will be over here cautiously burning through two-cent spins and hoping the beast takes pity.

Free The Dragon Features

So, we’ve got the reels, the numbers, and that suspiciously generous max bet range. But the real heart of Free the Dragon lies in its features — and thankfully, the developer didn’t just slap on a free spins round and call it a day. Nope, this game packs in more magical mechanics than a wizard’s spellbook. Some of them even work. Let’s pop open the hood and take a look at what this dragon’s been hoarding.

Wild symbol

The wild symbol does what wilds usually do — substitutes for everything except pearls and free spins symbols. Basically, it’s here to help, but don’t expect it to get involved in any serious bonus business. It’s a background character in this tale, not the dragon-slayer.

Dragon Bonus Game

This one’s a whole saga. Pearl symbols are the stars of the dragon bonus, but they’ve got quirks. For one, they only show up on reels 1 through 4, and when they land, they don’t vanish — they shimmy down a spot on the next spin. Six or more pearls will unlock the dragon bonus, and that’s where the real fun (and treasure) begins.

You’re given 3 spins to start, with any new pearl resetting the counter. Each pearl sticks to the grid and can show either a credit value — from 1x to 250x your bet — or a jackpot: Mini (10x), Minor (25x), Major (100x), or Grand (1000x). And yes, hitting that grand jackpot is basically the slot equivalent of slaying the dragon and getting knighted.

Fill all positions on the 4 reels, and you’ll unlock the super reel. This thing spins once and dishes out either chunky credit values, another jackpot, or a multiplier that boosts all current pearl values by up to 25x. It’s basically the game’s way of yelling “YOU WIN!” — with dramatic flair.

Free Spins

Free spins symbols only land on reel 5, and when they do, they stick around for 3 spins. Land more, and the countdown resets. Get three, and the feature triggers — awarding a number of spins equal to the total value shown on those symbols (from 1 to 10 each). So yes, you can get lucky and walk in with a boatload of spins… or not.

Once inside, locked tiles appear above and below the reels. You’ll need green key symbols to unlock top tiles and red keys for the bottom ones. Top tiles are all about multipliers — up to x100, applied to the current win. Bottom tiles, on the other hand, are packed with juicy stuff like extra free spins, credit prizes (up to 250x), and those same Mini-to-Grand jackpots.

But beware: these tiles reset after every spin, so if you’re hoping to hoard bonuses like a proper dragon, you’ll need to unlock them fast and often.

Bonus bet

Feeling bold? The bonus bet option adds 25% to your bet but boosts the value of free spins symbols when they land. You won’t see different prizes in the paytable, but your odds of entering the feature with more spins do improve.

Theme & Graphics

Medieval fantasy might not be the reigning champ in iGaming, but it’s definitely a heavyweight in pop culture. And while I’m still waiting for the “iGaming Elden Ring slot” (take notes, devs), Free the Dragon at least tries to tick the right boxes. We’ve got a dashing knight, a stereotypically blonde princess with “please rescue me” energy, and a dragon who looks like he moonlights as a motivational speaker for medieval reptiles. On paper, that’s the trifecta. In practice? It’s… something else.

The whole visual setup feels like a reluctant time traveler from the early 2010s — and not in a nostalgic way. The interface screams cheap Flash browser game, the kind you'd play while pretending to study. If you're coming off a few rounds of something crisp and modern, this thing will hit you like a resolution downgrade.

The reels are framed with stone towers, plopped in front of a dreamy sky and cartoonish mountain valley. It should be majestic, but somehow ends up looking like the background of a mobile tower defense game. The symbols don’t help either — the grid is packed with classic fantasy fare: the knight, princess, dragon, a fancy sword, a pink-glowing ring, and of course, the ever-important pearl. The card royals fill out the rest, doing their usual job of looking like filler.

And then there's the sound. The main soundtrack is exactly what you’d expect: whimsical, slightly epic, and definitely pulled from a “generic fantasy RPG” YouTube playlist. It’s not bad — in fact, it’s one of the more pleasant parts of the experience. But sound effects? Bit of a mixed bag. Most of them are inoffensive, but the sound of special symbols sliding down the reels (looking at you, pearl) becomes aggressively annoying after ten minutes. Like, “turn off the volume and suffer in silence” level annoying.

A noble effort, perhaps — but visually and aurally, this dragon is barely puffing smoke.

Pros And Cons of Danny Dollar

Pros	Cons
Interesting gameplay	Slightly low RTP
Massive bet range	Outdated visuals
Original feature design

Final Words

Free the Dragon is one of those slots that had me nodding in approval one moment and cringing the next. The gameplay? Genuinely solid. Between the hold & win pearl feature and the tile-unlocking free spins, there’s enough variety and clever layering to keep things interesting. I actually found myself enjoying the way the two main bonuses work together — something not every slot pulls off well.

But then there’s the visual side of things… and yeah, it’s rough. It looks like it fell through a time portal from 2010 and forgot to update its textures on the way here. Compared to modern slots, this one feels like it’s showing up to a cosplay convention in cardboard armor.

Still, if you can get past the looks — or just don’t care much about them — there’s a surprisingly entertaining slot underneath all that pixel dust. Just don’t expect any visual fireworks, and maybe lower the volume while you're at it.