Through the Fire

Through the Fire is a dark gothic fantasy slot from Nownow Gaming, pitting humanity against a wolf-like antagonist across a five-reel, 19-payline grid. Rather than the usual howling predator on all fours, this wolf stands upright, dressed and armed with a blade — a deliberately unsettling twist on a familiar fear.

The game plays out across two distinct phases. In the base game, players face off against the wolf in a shadowy, leafy setting that carries an almost graveyard-like atmosphere. Trigger or buy into the bonus round, and the tone shifts sharply — two human warriors, a fierce fighter and a stoic companion, appear in a cutscene before a red mist takes over the colour palette, setting the stage for the wolf battles that define the feature.

Winning combinations pay out for 3 to 5 matching symbols across the 19 paylines. Five card-rank symbols, running 10 through ace, cover the lower-value combinations, paying between 1x and 2.5x the stake for a full line. Higher up the paytable sit a cup, a vial, a cross, and the two warrior symbols, worth between 5x and 25x for five-of-a-kind. The Wild Wolf substitutes for every other symbol on the paytable, but it doesn't appear naturally in the base game — it only shows up on the reels after a successful Wild Wolf Battle, and a full line of five wilds pays 50x the stake on its own.

That battle mechanic is the game's signature feature: when a Battle symbol lands, it sets off a confrontation between the warriors and the wolf, generating sticky wilds and building toward a respin round backed by a rising total multiplier. Between the sticky wilds, the respins, a dedicated multiplier meter, and a separate free spins feature, Through the Fire layers several bonus mechanics on top of each other, with feature buy options available for players who'd rather skip straight to the action.

On the numbers, Through the Fire runs a 96.26% RTP in its preferred configuration, a solid figure above the typical slot average, paired with a self-rated high (4/5) volatility. A confirmed hit frequency of 29.18% means winning combinations land on a little under a third of spins, a reasonable rhythm for a slot built around building toward a bigger battle-driven payout rather than one relying purely on frequent small wins. The maximum win reaches 10,000x the stake, and betting runs from 10p/c up to $/€100 per spin.

Atmospherically, Through the Fire leans hard into its gothic fantasy setting, and the layered battle-respin-multiplier structure gives it more moving parts than a typical wild-substitution slot, even if the underlying paytable stays fairly conventional.

If a dark fantasy theme with a genuinely different wild-generation mechanic sounds appealing, Through the Fire is worth trying. The free demo at johnessyslots lets you watch a full Wild Wolf Battle play out and see how the sticky wilds and multiplier meter build before deciding whether the 10,000x ceiling is worth chasing with real stakes.