Magic Merlin Megaways: Overview

A big plus of the Megaways game engine—for studios and players alike—is that it often shines a spotlight on developers many of us might otherwise overlook. Honestly, how many people knew Fantasma Games before their breakout Flower Fortunes Megaways, or had tried a Kalamba slot prior to Machina Megaways? And were Relax Gaming truly on everyone’s radar before Tiki Tumble Megaways? Naturally, the license also works brilliantly for well-known names too—Blueprint being a prime example, as they seem to focus heavily on producing in-demand Megaways titles these days.

Storm Gaming Technology is a UK-based company with a strong foothold in Britain, where they’ve established themselves as a major supplier of land-based gaming products. Online, though, they still have plenty of ground to cover before they can realistically fight for meaningful market share. That’s exactly where the Megaways license can make a real difference. Magic Merlin Megaways is an Arthurian-themed slot and Storm Gaming’s very first Megaways release.

Going in without any clear expectations, we were genuinely caught off guard by how strong the visuals looked the first time we saw it. We also immediately noticed a familiar style—almost as if it could have been a Blueprint Gaming production. As it happens, Storm Gaming is part-owned by founder and former Blueprint Gaming CEO Darren Breese, so there is indeed a link.

Magic Merlin Megaways is a 6 reel slot with cascading symbols, delivering up to 117,649 ways to win at full expansion. With gameplay reminiscent of Bonanza, it introduces an additional reel—called the Marvellous Mechanical Symbol Generator—which drops in extra symbols to boost your chances of forming winning combinations. A mystery symbol can also appear at random and transform to reveal matching winning symbols. Ultimately, the main excitement is in the free spins round, where an unlimited win multiplier rises after every reaction. The game is available on all devices, including tablets and mobiles, and you can stake between 10 cents and 100€ per spin.

Thanks to the Megaways engine, every spin produces a random number of win ways, starting at 324 and reaching up to 117,649 when the reels fully expand. This works because each reel can display anywhere from 2 to 7 symbols. A chain reaction mechanic is also in play: winning symbols disappear and new ones fall in from above. The reactions keep going until no additional winning combinations appear.

Magic Merlin Megaways is a strikingly polished slot, featuring sharp graphics, impressive detail, and excellent background music. With a cartoon-like tone, the setting is Merlin’s intriguing laboratory—a bright, colourful world that looks fantastic. On the reels you’ll find lower-value J to K royals alongside higher-paying scrolls, crystal magic staffs, potion bottles, swirling portals, and Merlin himself. Merlin is the top-paying symbol, awarding you 50 times your stake for 6 of a kind. The wild appears only on the extra grid above reels 2 through to 5, and it’s added at random when fired out of the cauldron pot.

Magic Merlin Megaways: Features

During any spin, Mystery Card symbols may land randomly on the reels. When they do, every one of them converts into the same regular symbol, helping to increase your potential payout. In practice, it’s essentially the same mechanic used in Blueprint’s Megaways slots.

Keep an eye out for the magic book scatter, because landing 4 on screen triggers 12 Free Spins (and each additional magic book adds another 5 spins). If you’ve played similar Megaways titles before, you’ll quickly recognise the familiar setup here—each reaction win increases the win multiplier by 1 with no cap. The feature can also be retriggered by hitting 3 or 4 free spins scatter symbols on the top row, awarding 5 or 10 extra free spins respectively.

Magic Merlin Megaways: Verdict

It’s hard to ignore: the art style, paired with the mystery symbol mechanic, gives off strong Blueprint energy. Put differently, it wouldn’t shock us if there’s some behind-the-scenes crossover happening. Setting that aside, though, Magic Merlin Megaways is as enjoyable as most Bonanza-style Megaways games—although anyone hoping for something truly different may feel a little let down.

From a production standpoint, it’s outstanding, which is also why it can feel like a missed chance. Ideally, the mystery symbol feature could have been swapped for a different random mechanic, or the bonus round could have included a twist—anything to make it feel a bit more distinctive. Still, it’s clearly a strong first Megaways effort, and fans of this format will probably have a good time with it. Looking ahead, we’d just like to see Storm Gaming resist leaning too heavily on familiar formulas. The Megaways engine is excellent, but it offers far more possibilities than simply reworking Bonanza.