Fireborn: Slot Overview

The previous time we checked in with Hacksaw Gaming’s mates, Backseat Gaming, we were stuck in the sticks with a farmer who seemed far more into snoozing than farming. Now the setting couldn’t be further from growing crops, as the fantasy online slot Fireborn is packed with dragons of different types, each bringing its own reel-altering powers. These modifiers can add wilds or even wild reels to the grid, sometimes carrying chunky multipliers that are either revealed or applied—both in the base game and in the free spins bonus where wilds become sticky.

Fireborn opens on a bleak, abandoned wasteland before transitioning into a frosty landscape, with a castle looming over the base-game scene. Visually it’s solid, but it doesn’t really deliver a narrative, either in the presentation or via the info screen. That isn’t necessarily a problem, though the subdued character made it take a bit longer to connect with Fireborn or feel pulled into its world. Maybe the cool vibe is helped along by all that snow. The dragons also aren’t immediately front and centre, but with a little patience (and a bit of luck), they and their modifier tricks should start showing up soon enough.

Action plays out on a 5-reel, 5-row grid with 19 paylines—a format Backseat Gaming clearly likes, having used it in Commander of Trident and in the studio’s first release, Lord Venom. Bets run from 10 c to $/€100 per spin, and while there isn’t a FeatureSpins option in the usual sense, players can purchase the free spins round for 200x the bet. When free spins are bought, the return to player is 96.3%, which is slightly above the standard 96.18% RTP. Keep your nerves steady, because the volatility is labelled as ‘extreme’.

Fireborn’s lower-paying symbols are five fairly plain 10-A card royals carved from rock, while the premium symbols are jewel pieces in blue, green, red, and light blue. A 5 OAK win with a low symbol pays 1 to 1.5 times the bet, whereas landing 5 of a high symbol returns 4 to 10 times the bet. Wilds can appear on any reel and substitute for all other paying symbols. If a wild carries a multiplier, it boosts any payline win it helps create. When multiple multiplier wilds contribute to the same win, their values are added together before the total is applied. Five wilds across a line pay 10 times the bet.

Fireborn: Slot Features

Across every stage of play, dragons are the symbols you’re hoping to land, as they manipulate wilds and/or multipliers in useful ways. They’re helpful in the base game, but even more valuable in free spins, where wild symbols become sticky.

Dragon Symbols

Fireborn includes four types of Dragon symbols. Two can appear in both the base game and the bonus, while the remaining two are exclusive to free spins. The dragons are Red, Blue, Green, and Gold.

• Red Dragon – expands to become a full reel wild, revealing a multiplier of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, or x100. Lands in the base or bonus game.
• Blue Dragon – breathes fire in one of these directions – up, down, left, or right, transforming the regular symbols it hits into wilds. The Blue Dragon then turns wild. Lands in the base or bonus game.
• Green Dragon – reveals a multiplier of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, or x100 and adds this to all wilds or wild reels on the grid. Only lands in free spins, and only if there are wilds or wild reels already present.
• Gold Dragon – shoots 1 to 5 fireballs at wilds or wild reels, doubling their multiplier. It can shoot the same or different targets with each shot. Only lands in free spins, and only if there are wilds or wild reels already present.

Free Spins

Scatter symbols show up only in the base game, and landing 3, 4, or 5 of them triggers 10, 12, or 14 free spins, respectively. During free spins, there’s a greater chance of landing Red or Blue Dragons compared to the base game, and the Green and Gold Dragons may also appear. Throughout the free spins round, all wilds and wild reels are sticky until the feature ends.

Fireborn: Slot Verdict

Fireborn ended up feeling like a bit of a ride. For long stretches, the base game was painfully dull, with spins that could crawl by and barely anything of note happening. And even when something finally did—say, a Red Dragon landing—it could still come across as more smoke than fire. Dead spins and tiny wins fell like ash after a burned-out raid. Still, every now and then the dragons would spark a burst of action, such as a Blue Dragon laying down a row of wilds alongside a full reel wild Red Dragon, reminding you there’s real upside here. Or you might see multiple Red Dragons land, and so on.

Put another way, Fireborn often feels quiet for extended periods, then suddenly throws in a cool moment that tops the balance back up, sometimes even pushing it ahead. That ‘extreme’ volatility rating is doing a lot of explaining. The design clicks far more in free spins, where wilds and wild reels remain in place until the feature ends and can be blessed with tempting multiplier values. That’s also when the game’s 15,000x the bet maximum potential starts to look like it could, in the right run, actually happen.

Up to now, Backseat Gaming’s four releases have been perfectly respectable, though each one also highlights the gap between them and parent powerhouse Hacksaw Gaming. Fireborn has strong concepts, but they don’t quite land with the same overall finesse—subtle or otherwise—found in slots like Chaos Crew 2, Densho, Benny the Beer, Wanted Dead or a Wild, and plenty more besides. That said, this isn’t meant as a dig at Backseat Gaming. The studio is still developing, with ample room to refine its style, and Fireborn definitely hints at potential—especially when the beast finally breathes fire and the features hit with brute force.