Dragon’s Loot

Dragon's Loot Link&Win 4Tune: Slot Overview

Here be dragons is a phrase used to refer to far-off areas little is known about; hence, it might be dangerous for people to wander around them. The mythical creatures also show up in Dragon's Loot Link&Win 4Tune, an online slot from Games Global partner All For One Studios – formerly known as All41 Studios. On a side note, the name change helps prevent the studio from being referred to as 'All Forty-One Studios'. Anyhoo, on with Dragon's Loot, which is chock full of Games Global family favourites like Link&Win rounds and variations thereof.

Once you've bravely ventured forth into this land of dragons, it quickly becomes apparent the '4Tune' in the title isn't just a play on the word 'fortune' but also relates to one of Dragon's Loot's main selling points, that is, it uses up to 4 simultaneously spinning gaming grids during bonus rounds. Just the one grid in its base game, though, which is held in like a throne room made of stone with heraldic flags and all. At first, Dragon's Loot looks like any number of these Games Global Link&Win slots, with four main prizes sitting to one side, hyping the features, and the first look was okay, nothing overwhelming magnetic to report back on.

What lies beneath Dragon's Loot's chivalrous exterior is a highly volatile math model, producing a default RTP of 96.24%. On this model, hits come at a rate of 31.52%, and players may pick stakes of 10 p/c to $/€20 per spin. However, users not interested in the preliminary levelling up stage, let's say, can leap forth into battle where three feature buy options are available.

Played on a 5-reel, 3-row gaming grid (or up to four in the bonus rounds), each one has 25 paylines to award wins along. The symbols are a tad on the drab side, made up of grey stone J-A card ranks as the low pays and 4 gems as the 4 high pay symbols. Hitting a 5 OAK low pay win awards 3 times the bet, whereas a 5 OAK high pay win dishes out 5 to 10 times the bet. Gem cluster wilds are preset on all reels except the leftmost one, where they may be used to substitute any ordinary pay symbol.

Dragon's Loot Link&Win 4Tune: Slot Features

Dragon's Loot has two types of Hold&Win rounds, though both share some common rules. Each feature starts with 3 spins that reset when new Coins land on active grids. There, they stick until the round ends. Only blanks or Coins may land, bearing values of 0.5x to 15x, or the Mini, Minor, or Major Jackpot worth 20x, 100x or 1,000x the bet, respectively. Wins during the feature are added to base game wins, and the rounds end when all positions are filled, or spins come to an end.

Link&Win 4Tune with Dragon Coins

Landing at least 6 Dragon Coin symbols triggers this feature. The number of active grids depends on the amount of Coins, and they can become active one after the other. When at least 8, 20, or 36 Coins have landed, then the second, third, and fourth grid is activated, respectively. If all positions on an active grid are filled with Coins, then the Grand Jackpot worth 5,000x the bet is awarded additionally.

Enhanced Link&Win 4Tune with Royal Dragon Coins

Landing at least 6 Royal Dragon Coin symbols triggers this feature. All triggering coins are placed in the same positions on all 4 grids, which are all active till the round ends. If all positions on an active grid are filled with Coins, then the Grand Jackpot worth 5,000x the bet is awarded additionally.

Bonus Pick

Each time a Coin or scatter lands, these symbols are collected by a pouch by the reels. When there are 1-5 Dragon Coin symbols or 1-2 scatters on the screen, the Bonus Pick can trigger. When triggered players win one of these - 1x the bet, 10x the bet, 10 free spins, Link&Win 4Tune, or the Enhanced Link&Win 4Tune.

Free Spins

Hitting 3, 4, or 5 chest scatters awards 10 free spins plus a payout of 2x, 10x or 50x the bet, respectively. Before free spins begin, players pick one of the 4 grids, named Tower, Hall, Kitchen, and Stairs. Free spins are played on 4 gaming grids, but the picked one is considered to be the favourite. Chest tokens land on all 4 grids and are collected when they hit. At the end of free spins, if the favourite grid has collected the same or the most amount of tokens, the wins from the other 3 grids are also awarded.

Buy Feature

From the feature buy menu, players can get free spins for 35x the bet, the Link&Win 4Tune for 60x the bet, or the Enhanced Link&Win 4Tune for 140x the bet.

Dragon's Loot Link&Win 4Tune: Slot Verdict

Quad grids, we meet again, and it's a mechanism that gets dragged out every so often. A few studios have had a crack. For instance, Blueprint Gaming has made repeated use of it in the Power 4 Slots range, yet it's not a concept which has caught on like wildfire. Not sure why. Perhaps a lot of the time, it feels like it dilutes the experience rather than enhances it. There is only so much RTP or max win to spread around, and those figures are likely about just the same in Dragon's Loot as they would be if the game was played on a single gaming matrix. Or they could be, at least. In other words, unless there is a strong case for using 4 grids rather than 1, it can come across as a bit pointless. Pragmatic Play's The Dog House Multihold impressed as gaming grids could be linked through cloned symbols rather than just unlocking them one by one.

Unlocking reels makes up much of what happens in Dragon's Loot, but in saying that, All For One seems to have put quite a lot of thought into making the game, which is appreciated. It might not boast flaming innovation, yet the studio has at least made an effort to create a fuller experience for players interested in a fantasy-themed hold 'n win slot. This includes little things like picking a favourite room for the free spins round. Kind of neat, kind of annoying how you can get the wins of all four grids in free spins, but only if the active grid collects the same or most chest symbols during the round. The Link&Win rounds fare about the same. The unlocking grid action is fun when it goes your way, screen wasting when not. Or get lucky and trigger the Enhanced version of the Link&Win and have all four screens active from the word go.

Winning potential is quite impressive, for what Dragon's Loot is, at 15,000x the bet, so the 4-screen idea here has some substance backing its gimmickry. Probably more than enough substance to entice certain hold 'n win leaning gamblers in for a punt. However, despite all the thought and extra bits tossed into Dragon's Loot, it lacks the sort of truly great idea that might have elevated it above its peers.