Wanted Dead or a Wild Slot Review

23/11/2021 | Categories: Hacksaw Gaming Slots | Published by: Joe | Last updated: 05/01/2024

Yes, we have decided to take a break from Red Tiger and Pragmatic Play slots for a while and redirect our sights to Relax Gaming partner, Hacksaw. This Malta-based provider, founded in 2018, is likely best-known as a supplier of software scratch card games in the interactive space. However, they have also recently been grabbing eyes with a few of their slot releases. We have already discussed Chaos Crew and Tasty Treats, and now it is time to divert our focus to the third most popular title in Hacksaw Gaming’s catalog, their western-themed spinner, Wanted Dead or a Wild, which is no doubt a clever name.

Unleashed at casinos everywhere in later September, Wanted Dead or a Wild did not garner massive critical acclaim, but it did enter the top one hundred rankings and stayed there for a month and a half. In the last few days leading up to this review, its popularity has been dwindling. Therefore, this is a perfect opportunity to see if this slot was a flash in the pan or if will it survive in this sector for years to come.

Theme & Design

Naturally, the theme here is America’s Wild West period. For those who have been neglecting their history studies, this is the period from 1607 to 1920, when European colonial settlements expanded throughout mainland North America. By our estimation, there are over three hundred slots that use this motif. At the time of writing, the most-played one is a game we recently reviewed, Pragmatic’s Bounty Gold.

All the Hacksaw slots we have played thus far feature the same visual feel. They have a blurry background image where not much is happening, a reel grid with the game logo at the top, and the button’s panel at the bottom. The reels here spin inside a wooden frame, and the graphics try to produce a vintage vibe by implementing scratches, unsaturated colors, and lined-filled retro typefaces. The presentation is not bad. It is just super similar to other Hacksaw games. The soundtrack is also decent, but we will call it uneventful. It is atmospheric but has no pop to it.

The button configuration is the same Hacksaw always uses. The auto-spin option, located on the right side of the buttons panel, next to the spin button, allows you to set up as many as 1,000 reel rotations. You can pair it up with the turbo-spin function available via the three-bar/hamburger icon on the left side of the same panel. There, you can also mute the game and check its paytable.

Specs & Gameplay

Wanted Dead or a Wild plays out on a 5×5 grid, featuring a high variance and a hit frequency of 19.36. The game’s default RTP is a modest 94.55%. Yet, it can go up to 96.38% at some operators, dropping to 88.42% at others. The most you can bet on Wanted Dead or a Wild per spin is $100, and the least is $0.2. The max payout is x12,500 your stake, which is super respectable. Unlike most Hacksaw slots, this one uses standard paylines, fifteen of them. When this title was first announced, rumors were that it would feature the cluster-pay system, but that changed by the time it got released.

The game’s low-paying symbols are 10-A card royals. They all yield prizes of x1 for five-of-a-kind. The high-paying ones are a cow’s skull, a cowboy hat, a money bag, a bottle of whiskey, and a bullet chamber. If five identical symbols from this batch show up on the reel grid on a single spin, the game will pay out a prize in the range of x5 to x20. The bullet chamber is the most valuable token from this group.

The word Wild overlaid over a sheriff’s badge is the Wild here, substituting all other symbols except the specialty ones and paying out wins of x20 for five-of-a-kind. The VS Wilds appear more in the Duel at Dawn mode, and the Train Robbery, Dead, and Duel ones act as Scatters. A plus is a Multiplier token. We will explain all these in the subheading below.

Wanted Dead or a Wild Symbols

Bonus Features

Hitting at least three Duel symbols triggers the Duel at Dawn mode, where ten free spins get supplied. Inside it, VS Wilds are more likely to land compared to the base game. These VS tokens expand to cover an entire reel, and they force two outlaws, carrying specific multipliers to participate in a shootout, with you claiming the winner’s multiplier.

Landing three Train Robbery symbols activates the Great Train Robbery bonus round, which has a medium variance. It has its moving train background and awards ten complimentary reel rotations. In it, all landed Wilds remain sticky until this round ends.

Three or more Dead Scatters gain you entry in the Dead Man’s Hand bonus. That is this slot’s premiere feature, divided into two sections. In the first one, the aim is to collect as many multipliers and Wilds as possible. These get tallied into the top corners of the new game grid, which now only displays ghost card symbols, Wilds, and multipliers. Whenever a multiplier or a Wild hits, the spin counter resets to three. The feature concludes when you notch three non-winning reel rotations in a row. When that happens, this bonus feature moves to its second stage – Showdown, where three Showdown spins get awarded, and the collected Wilds get added on each one, with the gathered multipliers getting applied to every win here.