Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood Slot

Do you remember the cautionary tale of Little Red Riding Hood? She set off through the forest to visit her grandma’s house, only to find that her poor antecedent had been gobbled up by a wolf, who then pretended to be her grandmother to try and devour poor Little Red Riding Hood too.

The story is a venerable one that has been passed down through the ages. It’s now the focus of a brand new slot from NetEnt called Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood. From all indications, it seems likely that this will be the first in a series of Fairytale Legends slots based on a number of different fairytales. Let’s take a closer look at how this new slot shapes up.

Overview: Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood

This new NetEnt game clearly has high production values given its exciting look. It features 3D Parallax scrolling while you spin the reels, as well as some nice cut-scene animations when you hit features and wins or open the slot initially. The slot itself is a 5×3 reel game with 20 paylines in play on every spin.

You can wager from as little as $0.20 up to a maximum of $50 per spin on the slot. You do so by increasing the coin value size and the level you wish to play at. There is a base game jackpot of 400x your win, but you can win on multiple paylines. This does increase the potential value of each win. In addition, there are a number of exciting bonus features you can trigger from the base game, which we’ll look at in more detail later in the review.

Who will the Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood slot appeal to?

With a RTP of over 96%, this is a low to medium variance slot depending on how lucky you are when you play. Wins are relatively common. That means players who enjoy regular wins will find plenty to enjoy on this slot. There’s also a number of exciting bonus features to attract players who like slots with additional features.

I think the unusual look of the game and the way that it’s presented, including Red Riding Hood walking through the forest at the side of the reels for example, will also attract players who like innovative looking slots. Fans who prefer more dynamic slots, which have action on and off the reels, will find lots to enjoy with the Red Riding Hood slot too.

Gameplay: Fairytale Legends: Little Red Riding Hood

Once the very cleverly designed opening screen has loaded and the slot has started, you are presented with a somewhat unusual looking 5×3 reel slot, with Red Riding Hood standing just to the left of the reels. As the reels spin she walks through the forest, with the trees and will- o’-the-wisps floating in the background.

The slot has 20 fixed paylines with a selection of low and medium value symbols. The playing card symbols are the lower value from 10 through to ace. The medium value symbols are a number of fairytale-themed symbols. These include a storybook, a rose, a key, a shield and the fairytale logo of an F and T logo. This last symbol pays when just two land on a payline and is stacked across the reels.

Interestingly, NetEnt has opted to call these symbols “medium value.” This lets you know that to win the bigger amounts in this game, you need to trigger the bonus features, of which there are many. Some of these can be triggered in the base game at random. Others will need to be triggered by landing scatter symbols.

The base game plays very neatly. It’s well presented with simple yet effective background music and nice animations when you trigger certain events or get a win on the reels. Speaking of which, you do tend to win relatively frequently on the slot, although many of the wins in the base game are either at the same level as your total bet or a little less.

In essence, playing the base game alone won’t bring you the bigger wins. It’s only through activating the bonuses in the Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood slot that you’ll experience the bigger wins.

Additional features

The first feature is the Wild symbol which is Red Riding Hood herself. She can replace any low or medium value symbol on reels 2, 3 and 4. Land two of these Wilds together and they freeze in place for one additional free spin.

There are three Fairy Features which can be activated at random in the base game. Fairy Magic Spin, which changes a cluster of up to nine different symbols on the reels into one particular symbol that can hopefully result in a big value win. Secondly is the Fairy Surprise feature. This sees one medium value symbols selected and the other symbols slowly change to that symbol until you land a win. Finally, there is Fairy Wild Spin. This adds three or four Wilds to reels 2, 3 or 4 and you receive a free Wild Respin when the reels stop.

You can also activate a trio of bonuses from landing three of the Treasure Chest scatter symbols across reels 1, 3 and 5. There is the Coin Win (which is your total stake value x15). The Free Spins round provides 10 free spins initially (with extra Treasure Chest symbols landed during free spins awarding you two extra spins). During Free Spins, Wild symbols are on all reels. Receive two on a spin and it freezez the wilds in place for a single respin.

The third Bonus is the Beware of the Wolf game. Here you move around the board by spinning a whirligig. As you move around the board you can collect prizes. These include multipliers, coin wins and a jackpot coin win. You keep spinning and moving until you land on the Collect space when the round ends.

Watch the video below to get a peek at how Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood is played. Tune in to twitch for more streaming video of your favorite online casino games.

https://youtu.be/HD-s_tSsKao

Special Features: Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood

Treasure Chest scatter bonuses

The three different bonuses on the Treasure Chest scatter round are good value. The Cash Award is the lowest value award, but at 15x your stake, still offers a decent return. The Free Spins and Beware of the Wolf features offer a chance at some of the bigger wins available on the slot. As such, these are the features to try and trigger most often.

Fairy features

The Fairy Features are a great addition to the base game. When you trigger one you can turn a non-winning spin into a spin that earns you a much larger win than a standard base game winning payline.

Wild symbol

During the base game the Wild symbol is a useful way to earn extra spins. If you can land two on a payline then you earn an additional free “respin” of the reels that do not include the Wild. This can, in turn, trigger a secondary win from the initial spin.

What works?

Random bonuses

The Fairy Feature bonuses are a great addition to the base game. They can offer some great higher value wins alongside the standard lower and medium value wins that you’ll hit when playing.

Scatter bonus features

The trio of different bonus features accessible through the scatter symbols are where the biggest wins in the slot are possible, including the jackpot. Landing these features is what you should be aiming to do on every spin, although they can be difficult to hit when playing.

Regular wins

One of the nice features of the slot is that you win relatively frequently, with Wild symbols playing a key role in helping you land a regular assortment of lower and medium value wins.

What doesn’t?

Hard-to-hit features

With only 20 paylines in play you need to hit features regularly. It’s a little frustrating on the Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood slot that you don’t tend to trigger the bonus features very often. You will need to budget your spins to get the best out of the slot.

Low-value wins

The base game is good fun and cleverly done, but there is no disguising that the regular wins do tend to be of a lower value and you only really hit the bigger value wins when you can land a feature, or trigger the Scatter bonus.

Small jackpot

The 400x jackpot isn’t the biggest available for a new game and certainly this will put a number of people off.

The scores

[wp-review id=”7425″]

Graphics & soundtrack 4/5

There’s plenty to like with the Fairtytale Legends: Red Riding Hood slot. They’ve included some innovative slot features not seen on many games and clever animations. Add to this neatly created symbols and you have a very well presented slot indeed.

Originality & creativity 4/5

I think the innovation in the slot presentation is carried over nicely into the game itself. There is the trio of randomly triggered base game features, plus three more exciting scatter-triggered bonuses. These ensure that the game offers many ways to win and plenty of variety for players.

Play value 3/5

The key to decent play value on this slot is hitting regular top-up base game wins and then landing the bigger medium to higher value wins that you get when you trigger a feature. The volatility is medium to low, so this does happen relatively frequently compared to other slots.

Jackpot potential 2/5

A jackpot of 400x is hardly huge in the modern slot arena. But with the chance to win this across multiple paylines, the cash value of a win can be increased. However that low baseline for a jackpot win will put some players off.

Repeat play 4/5

If you don’t mind the relatively low jackpot, then there is a huge amount to enjoy with the Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood slot. It’s a game that plays relatively generously and packed with features. I think this is definitely a slot you’ll come back to time and time again.

Total score: 17/25

Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood is one of the better modern release slots that packs a number of innovative features alongside a famous fairytale. Add to this a medium to low variance slot that offers a nice combination of payouts across its numerous features and you have a game that deserves to be a sure-fire hit.