Dragons of the North Megaways: Slot Overview

Fancy a rapid hop back through history, players? If you do, think back to the year 522. Amalaric became king of the Visigoths at just 20, and the medieval philosopher Boethius (writer of the Consolation of Philosophy) was jailed for allegedly plotting against Theodoric the Great, ruler of the Ostrogoths. The game’s info suggests we’re travelling fifteen centuries into the past to a “mystical world” in Dragons of the North Megaways, an online slot from Wizard Games, previously known as Pariplay. There aren’t any goths on show, but there are four dragons who’ve woken up and are ready to do some assaulting. Assaulting who? No idea. Let’s dig in and see what’s going on.

Dragons of the North Megaways is the third entry in the series, after Dragons of the North (2019) and Dragons of the North Deluxe (2020). Each one features a nicely crafted backdrop, building a high-fantasy, Lord of the Rings-style setting with brooding skies and looming statues, backed by an eerie soundtrack. Flecks that look like ash drift across the screen, and if we had to guess, dragons may have torn through here not long ago and wrecked something close by.

At the centre of the action sits a stone-framed 6-reel Megaways grid. Changing every spin, the reels show 2-7 symbols each, producing 64 to 117,649 ways to win. A highly volatile slot, Dragons of the North Megaways is available in three RTP versions, with the top option set at 96.28%, increasing to 96.51% when purchasing free spins. In that version, the hit frequency is 26.57%, although this may vary by RTP setting – the game lays out the details clearly so you can check which maths model you’re about to play.

There are nine standard pay symbols in Dragons of the North Megaways. At the low end are 10-A card ranks, paying 0.5-1x the bet for a six-of-a-kind winning way. Returns climb to 2-10x the stake for six of the premium dragon symbols, shown in purple, green, blue, and red. Regular wilds can land on any reel, substituting for all paying symbols to help form winning ways. If wilds create wins on their own, they pay up to 10 times the stake for a set of 6.

Dragons of the North Megaways: Slot Features

For a Megaways title, this Dragons of the North conversion includes some familiar mechanics along with a few less common touches. A classic addition is the cascading wins mechanic. When winning ways land on the grid, they’re blasted away in fireballs. New symbols drop into the gaps, and if they form another winning way, they’re removed and replaced again. Cascades continue until no further wins appear.

Dragon Bonus Reel

One of the more unusual elements is the Dragon Bonus Reel, positioned along the top of the grid. The Dragon Bonus Reel shows a different Dragon Bonus feature symbol above each main reel. If a Golden Dragon Egg symbol lands on a reel, it turns wild and activates one of the Dragon Bonuses displayed above it:

• Cash Prizes – awards a random bet multiplier up to 1,000x.
• Destruction – clears all low-pay symbols from the reels, setting off a cascade.
• Respins – grants 3 respins with increasing Megaways on each respin, up to 117,648.
• Free Spins – gives 10 free spins. These cannot be won during respins.

Mega Wilds

During base game spins or free spins, random Mega Wilds may trigger. These are full-reel wilds that apply ways multipliers of up to x7.

Free Spins

There isn’t a lot to add here. Once triggered, free spins play the same as standard base game spins, with no indication that anything is altered. If you want to buy free spins and the option is available, it costs 100x the bet.

Dragons of the North Megaways: Slot Verdict

Bring up dragons these days and it’s hard not to end up thinking about Game of Thrones sooner or later. While playing Dragons of the North Megaways, our minds wandered to the final season and the huge backlash it drew from so many viewers. There was even a Change.org petition urging HBO to remake Season 8 with different writers. Would that have wrapped up the many plot threads more cleanly, or just introduced fresh curveballs? Who knows – but does the fact we were mulling over another franchise suggest this slot wasn’t fully keeping our focus?

As for Dragons of the North Megaways itself, the visuals are solid, although some animations – like the symbol removals paired with the dun dun dun dun sound effect – feel a touch over-the-top. On the plus side, Dragons of the North Megaways delivers far more potential than the earlier Megaways title Rumble Rhino Megaways and its cheeky 2,000x max win. Wizard Games has raised the stakes significantly this time, offering up to 18,648x the bet. That’s a definite win. Oddly, as with Rumble Rhino Megaways, Dragons of the North Megaways doesn’t add anything new once free spins begin. From our own play, it felt like Golden Dragon Egg symbols appeared more frequently than in the base game, but there’s no official note in the paytable or game sheet confirming that’s true.

After a couple of conversions, it would be great to see Wizard Games do more in future than simply bolt Megaways onto an older slot. It would also help if the studio gave its Megaways bonus rounds a bit more variety with something that isn’t already present in the main game. If fantasy themes are your thing, Dragons of the North Megaways could still appeal, and it’s an upgrade over the grim Rhino Rumble Megaways, though Wizard Games would have had to really miss the mark for it not to be an improvement.