Dragon Shard is a video slot from Stormcraft Studios developed for Microgaming with 5 reels and 40 paylines. Released in May 2019, you can play this game at online casinos such as Guts, Unibet or Twin Casino.
Theme and basic information
With Dragon Shard we get a high fantasy theme that is really beautiful. The scene is set in a magical forest with castle ruins in the background. The Sun Queen and Ice King as well as their dragons, one of fire, one of ice, rule the reels.
The soundtrack is orchestral with a choir here and there and sounds quite epic and adventurous. If you like high fantasy, this slot is definitely for you.
The Dragon Shard symbol is the wild on the reels, which pays out 10x our stake for 5 on a payline. The Fire Queen and Ice King both always show up fully stacked (though, as usual, they may not land fully stacked on the reels) and pay out 4x our stake for 5 of their kind. Both dragons pay out 2.5x our stake for such a win. The dragon shard itself pays out 2x our stake for 5 on a payline and then we get the card suit symbols as the low-value symbols.
The dragon eye is the scatter in the game, and you get a bonus of 50x your bet, if you get 5 on the reels.
You can play this game from 0.10 (or 0.20 with the Win Booster) to 200.00 (or 400.00 with the Win Booster).
Win Booster and Mystery Symbols
The first thing to do when you start playing this slot is to activate the Win Booster. It means several things: a higher RTP, the game pays both ways now and the Mystery Symbol will only reveal high-value symbols from here on in.
Without the Win Booster, the game only pays left to right and the Mystery Symbol may reveal any symbol in the game, not just the high-value ones. But simply for the higher RTP, you will want to boost your wins. Yes, the stake doubles, but you can still play for as little as 0.20, so you can still play with a low budget and keep all the advantages.
As already mentioned, the Ice King and Fire Queen always appear stacked 5 high and the Mystery Symbol can also appear fully stacked on the reels, where, with the Win Booster on, it will now reveal a high-value symbol. Wilds may also be revealed.
Free spins with Mystery Reels
The dragon eye is the scatter in the game and three of it will award you with 10 free spins. Now 1 Mystery Reel will be active on each spin, meaning there’s always a chance to score extra high-value symbols and better wins.
If you started your free spins with 4 scatters, you’d get 2 Mystery Reels on each spin and 5 scatters would activate 3 Mystery Reels during the free spins. Plus, each additional scatter that lands on the reels will add another free spin to your tally.
Mystery Reels only appear on reels 2, 3 and 4, by the way.
Conclusion: Gorgeous slot with lots of potential
The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) for Dragon Shard is 96.77% (with the Win Booster), which is excellent value. This slot has a medium volatility, so wins are regular, though not always big. There’s always the potential for bigger wins, however, especially with the Win Booster active and those Mystery Reels and stacked symbols.
The slot is gorgeous and very well executed, even though the mechanics are familiar since they were already used in Stormcraft’s slot Fortunium. If you liked that game but aren’t a fan of Steampunk, you might enjoy Dragon Shard instead.
We certainly had fun playing this game and managed to score some decent wins to keep us going.
Yes
Yes
0.10
Yes
40
No
200
No
5
No
No
96.77%
Yes