Ancient mystical dragons from Chinese mythology are the inspiration for this slot game. The Swedish game studio Quickspin has again managed to come up with a fun, yet simple game that combines unassuming graphics with good game mechanics involving free spins and locked wilds.
The dreamy background of the game seems to consist of a sunny sky, not giving away any clues as to the theme. The simple letters and gemstones that make up for the base paylines could come from any game, as they don't leave any impact at all. The only visual links to the theme of the game come in the form of a yellow Chinese dragon on a red gemstone, and a green bonus scatter symbol with a traditional Chinese house. The wild symbol is a simple golden symbol with 'wild' written on it.
Even though simpler slot games are a trend, the graphics of this game leave the impression that Quickspin did not put enough effort into the design of it. It is important to create a certain atmosphere in a game to attract players, and Quickspin clearly failed to do so in this case. The background music, which catches the ear with oriental and mystical sounds, can’t really make up for this lack of ambient conditions.
The 2 outer reels are only 3 lines in height, while the inner ones are 4 lines high. This combination makes for 40 paylines, with a return to player rate of 96.55%, which is rather low.
The betting range goes from 0.2 up to 80. With 80 as the maximum bet, Dragon Shrine is rather conservative. The win potential of up to 871 times your stake can be reached through the bonus and respin possibilities of this game. The wild symbol substitutes for every symbol other than the bonus scatter symbol.
The Dragon Shrine respin feature is triggered by fully stacking up the first reel with 3 dragon symbols. This gives you 3 free respins, during which all dragon and wild symbols from the regular spin remain, as well as any additional dragon or wild symbols that might appear.
Dragon Shrine starts to really shine with the scatter respins, where 3 bonus scatters on the middle reels unlock 10 free respins, with the possibility of adding further respins with locked symbols and wilds with the Dragon Shrine respin. Additionally, the stacked Dragon Shrine symbols are mirrored on the opposite reel, giving the player even higher chances to win. Even more wins await the player if another 3 bonus scatter symbols appear during the free respins, which triggers another exciting round of free spins.
Dragon Shrine has the usual game quality that Quickspin offers, with exciting ways to make big wins. The visuals, however, do not match the great gameplay, and fail to leave a good first impression.