Finn and the Dragon Tales

Finn returns, and this time he has swapped his fiddle for a hoard of dragons. Finn and the Dragon Tales is NetEnt’s April 2025 sequel to the studio’s much-loved Finn and the Swirly Spin, and it keeps the DNA that made the original a cult favourite: the hypnotic clockwise Swirly Spin engine, a cluttered Irish-fantasy grid, and a slow-burn feature chase that rewards patience over adrenaline. What is new is the theme — Finn has traded leprechaun mischief for a den of colour-coded dragons — and a considerably meaner volatility profile.

Mechanically, this is a 7x7 Swirly Spin grid rather than a conventional reel set. Symbols feed in from the bottom-left corner and spiral clockwise toward the centre, and wins are formed by clusters of five or more matching symbols that then cascade away, dropping fresh symbols into the vacated spaces. It is scatter-pays territory, so position matters less than sheer volume, and the cascades keep a single spin ticking over far longer than the reels of a standard slot.

The heart of the game is the Key. Every base-game win nudges a magical key along a meter, and when it lands in the Bronze, Silver or Gold zone it triggers free spins — 5 with a green Dragon, 8 with a blue Dragon, or 10 with a red Dragon respectively. Inside the feature the central Dragon transforms a whole colour group of symbols into a single matching type to manufacture a scatter win, while rocks clear from the grid to expose Treasure Chests packing extra multipliers, cash prizes, additional spins, or even a bonus Dragon. It is a genuinely layered bonus, and on the right sequence the compounding transforms and multipliers are where the game’s ceiling lives. For the impatient there is a Feature Buy, offered at several tiers, that fast-tracks you into the free spins.

That ceiling is respectable rather than record-breaking. NetEnt’s own game page rounds the maximum to around 3,800x your stake, while most review databases quote the precise figure of 3,828x — either way, this is a mid-tier cap by today’s standards and nowhere near the 10,000x-plus payouts that dominate the modern high-volatility charts. Volatility is officially rated high, with a stingy hit frequency, so expect long dry spells punctuated by the occasional meaningful feature hit; this is not a slot that trickles.

On RTP, be careful where you play. Finn and the Dragon Tales ships with the configurable tiers NetEnt now favours — a headline 96.04%, dropping to 94.03% and a genuinely poor 88.03% depending on the operator’s chosen setting. Always confirm which version a casino has deployed before you commit, because the gap between the top and bottom tiers is enormous over any real session.

Presentation is classic NetEnt: warm, storybook art, an easy-going Celtic score, and the satisfying tactility of the spiral cascade. It will not reinvent your evening, but it is a comfortable, well-built sequel that honours the original.

SlotWhizz rating: 3.5/5.

Verdict: a charming, mechanically rich Swirly Spin follow-up let down slightly by a modest max win and the ever-present risk of a lowered RTP tier. Fans of the original will feel right at home; jackpot hunters may want more. Remember that the house edge is built into every spin, so the maths favours the casino over time no matter how the dragons roost.

18+. Play responsibly.