Castle of Fire is a medieval Pragmatic Play slot that impresses with both its design and special features. This fantasy-themed game shines with its mystery symbols that can reveal up to three matching ones. In the bonus round, they turn sticky, giving you even more opportunities to get a hot winning streak.

I was genuinely impressed with the mechanics and the specs, too. It’s a slot with 729 ways to win and a highly volatile math model with an average RTP. Unlike other Pragmatic Play slots, the layout is a bit different. On the other hand, the hit frequency is more than decent, as I saw myself during this review.

Thanks to the mystery symbols, you can win some decent money in the base game. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, they truly come to life in the bonus round. That’s where they turn sticky, and since sticky symbols can reveal a matching high-paying symbol, the bonus round can be very pleasant and rewarding.

The leading characters are a queen with red-hot hair, panthers, wolves, and a magical potion. It’s all mythical and fantastic, just like it befits a medieval tale. There might not be any dragons, but the online slot does well to offer an immersive magical atmosphere. Read on below to learn more about the experience I had with my Castle of Fire slot review.

While most Pragmatic Play slots have a similar setup, this one’s a bit different in visual terms. The 6x3 reel set features large, elongated blocks that don’t give off the vibe of slot games. As mentioned earlier, the reels are populated by the typical medieval fantasy slot symbols. Those include a red-hot queen reigning from her castle of fire, a magical potion, beasts, and a few runes.

While the reel set differs from what we are used to seeing, the layout is quite familiar. All the controls are set beneath the reels. You can easily use the betting adjustment tool or the autoplay feature to set your stake. The guide is on the left – click the big i button to access the paytable and get an overview of the features.

On top of the high visual production values, the audio in the background and sound effects are right on point. The audio-visual elements are perfect and suitable for a slot of its ilk.

The first thing you’ll want to do before playing Castle of Fire is set your bet. The tool allows you to place bets between 20c and $240 per spin. That should be enough for most players. I learned that the default is set to $2 per spin, which is a bit high in my experience. I lowered it to $1 and started spinning by hitting the Spin button.

Instead of a fixed number of paylines, the slot works with 729 ways to win. Wins are formed by three or more matching symbols per line, from left to right. Unfortunately, you shouldn’t hold hope for wilds. There is none to help you complete wins. Luckily, the scatter not only triggers the bonus round but pays up to 500x when it does.

The true highlight in Castle of Fire is the mystery symbol. It can reveal up to 3 matching symbols on the reels, including the scatters. That’s the only special feature you have in the base game, with a bonus spins round to follow.

You need 3-6 scatters to trigger the bonus round, for which you receive 12 free spins. However, you get a payout of 2x, 15x, 100x, and 500x the bet for three, four, five, or six scatters, respectively. All mystery symbols that land on the reels in the bonus round are sticky. This greatly increases the slot’s winning potential.

With a lot of sticky symbols and a bit of luck, they may reveal the highest-paying symbols. This means the highest possible winning combinations. Unfortunately, the slot has no scatters in the bonus round, which also means no retriggers. In my experience, it would be much better if the scatters made a fresh appearance during the bonus. Luckily, there's a bonus buy slots feature you can easily activate and jump into free spins with just a few clicks.

While playing the Castle of Fire slot for real money, I wasn’t impressed with the lack of special features from the get-go. Sure, the mystery symbols may have sent a few decent wins my way. But nothing else kept me entertained until the bonus round came through.

Being a highly volatile slot, I decided to pay for the bonus round. It set me back 100x the bet ($100 on my default bet), and three scatters landed immediately on the reels. The RTP remains the same, and you get 12 free spins per the guide. I had a bit more luck in the bonus round, thanks to the mystery symbols. However, I find the lack of retriggers another problem since it cuts back on the winning opportunities.

The Castle of Fire RTP figure is set to 96.01%. That’s the average for a highly volatile slot game. While it’s not the highest-paying slot in the studio’s portfolio, the maximum projected win of 8,000x the bet is more than decent.

Castle of Fire is a decent slot by Pragmatic Play. It may not have the best features, but the bonus round is quite lucrative when those sticky mystery symbols come into play. I was blown away by the great graphics and high production values, although that shouldn’t be a surprise coming from Pragmatic Play.

For a bit of a different action at top casinos from the same studio, you can try Buffalo King Megaways. Or go with the biggest hits, such as Sweet Bonanza and Big Bass Bonanza. There’s no going wrong with some of the most popular slots of all time.