Wanted Dead or a Wild Review

Wanted Dead or a Wild Reviewed September 29 2021 by Casinogamesonnet.com

Hacksaw Gaming is heading out west with the gunslinging slot Wanted Dead or a Wild. The title is a clever play on words that, surprisingly, hasn’t been used before in gaming.

Does this game have more to offer, though, than just a witty title? You can find out below as we cover Wanted Dead or a Wild’s setup, atmosphere, win potential, RTP, and more.

Gameplay and Atmosphere

This slot features a 5x5 grid with 15 paylines. You earn wins by landing 3+ matching symbols in a line. That said, the gameplay is nothing unusual from many other online slots.

The atmosphere, on the other hand, is definitely unique when compared to other Wild West games. The dark background features gnarled trees, a full moon, and blood-red sky.

This backdrop looks more like it belongs in a Halloween slot than a Western. As a result, you may feel as if Wanted Dead or a Wild is strange at first.

The symbols, however, do bring some familiarity to the Wild West theme. They include bandits, cattle skulls, whiskey bottles, and other hallmarks of this famed setting.

Wanted Dead or a Wild Max Win and Payouts

Low-paying symbols include royals ranging from A through 10. Hacksaw added a nice touch to these royals by making them into withered playing cards.

High pays consist of a cattle skull, moneybag, outlaw, six shooter, and whiskey. The six shooter offers the most among this bunch at 20x your stake for five symbols. You can win up to 12,500x your stake when accounting for features.

This game also features a wild symbol that substitutes for regular pays to deliver wins. The wild offers prizes of its own worth up to 20x the stake.

RTP, Volatility and Betting Options

You can wager between €0.20 and €100 per spin. This betting range allows for jackpots going from €2,500 (0.2 x 12,500) to €1.25 million (100 x 12,500).

The Wanted Dead or a Wild RTP is 96.38% by default. However, Hacksaw Gaming has begun allowing casino operators to choose lower settings. That said, you should be on the lookout for potentially-worse RTP.

Hacksaw rates the volatility at 4/5, thus putting it in the medium-to-high range. The hit rate is very low at 19.3%.

Wanted Dead or a Wild Features

Wanted Dead or Alive offers three different bonus rounds along with wild multipliers that can take up full reels. You can also buy the bonus rounds for a certain multiple of your stake.

Wild Multipliers

The ”VS” symbols, which land during the base game and Duel at Dawn feature, become expanding wilds (1x5) when landing.

They also feature a win multiplier ranging from 2x to 100x. Assuming two or more VS symbols are on the reels, then their multipliers are added and applied to potential wins.

Dead Man’s Hand

The Dead Man’s Hand bonus triggers when 3+ “DEAD” symbols land on the reels. The first part of this feature begins with 3 free spins, where only wild symbols, multiplier icons, or placeholder symbols are available.

Any wild or multiplier symbol that lands will reset the free spins tally back to 3. You can get up to 20 wild symbols and a 31x win multiplier in the first section. The first part ends whenever three straight non-winning spins happen.

As for this bonus’ second stage (a.k.a. “Showdown”), you’ll receive another 3 free spins. During these free games, collected wild symbols are added to the reels. Additionally, the win multiplier applies to all payouts. Dead Man’s Hand features high volatility.

Duel at Dawn

You trigger this bonus when landing 3+ “Duel” symbols anywhere on the reels. Duel at Dawn offers 10 free spins, where more VS symbols land on average. This bonus also features high volatility.

The Great Train Robbery

You unlock this bonus by getting 3+ “Train Robbery” symbols on the grid. You’ll receive 10 free spins, where all wild symbols become sticky for the duration of the bonus. This feature carries medium volatility.

Bonus Buy

You can purchase any of the three features described above. Dead Man’s Hand, Duel at Dawn, and The Great Train Robbery cost 400x, 200x, and 80x your stake, respectively.

How Does This Game Compare to Other Hacksaw Gaming Slots?

Unlike most developers, Hacksaw hasn’t produced multiple games based on the Wild West. Wanted Dead or a Wild is their first attempt at this genre. Therefore, Wanted Dead or a Wild breaks new ground for Hacksaw.

This slot carries on with Hacksaw’s tradition of producing highly-volatile slots. Wanted Dead or a Wild may not offer a €3 million jackpot like Forest Fortune. Nevertheless, 12,500x the stake is a very large top payout.

Speaking of Forest Fortune, Wanted Dead or a Wild compares to this game with its sticky wilds. However, the latter doesn’t use sticky wilds in exactly the same manner. That said, this game is fairly unique from the rest of the Hacksaw collection.

Final Thoughts on Wanted Dead or a Wild Slot

Wanted Dead or a Wild may not be exactly what you think of when it comes to westerns. As mentioned before, its atmosphere feels more like Halloween time.

However, you probably won’t care about this once you get into the action. This slot is a volatile trip through a grim west that can deliver explosive payouts.

Dead Man’s Hand and Duel at Dawn are the pinnacles of this explosiveness. Both can provide huge payouts if everything goes right.

In summary, Wanted Dead or a Wild is another winning slot from Hacksaw Gaming. It has the volatility and bonus opportunities to keep you coming back for more.

The atmosphere isn’t our favorite for a western-themed game. Nevertheless, the bonuses still make this slot a winner.

Release Date

Wanted Dead or a Wild was released on September 29 2021.