Life and Death Slot (Hacksaw Gaming)

The Life and Death slot has 6 reels, 5 rows and 19 fixed paylines. To land a winning combination, you need to see 3, 4, 5 or 6 matching symbols appearing on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel (i.e. reel 1) and on any of the 19 paylines. Just the highest win per payline will be paid.

Bets-wise, you can play from as little as 10p a spin to as much as £100 per spin (the max bet may be limited at certain sites though). If you want to alter your bet, use the arrows. Non-UK players have more gameplay options: there are Autoplay, Turbo and Super Turbo modes.

The Life and Death RTP rate is 96.36% which is above the 96% online slot game average. As with all Hacksaw Gaming slots, there are alternative RTP settings: 94.26% and 92.33%. Use the Paytable to determine which setting you’re playing. The Life and Death slot demo above has the highest setting possible.

Medium to high volatility, you can expect a win (on average) every 3.58 spins as the hit frequency rate is 27.93% (for the highest RTP setting). When it comes to win potential, Life and Death offers 15,000 times bet max wins in the base game or any of the bonus features. There is no max win probability information or figures available.

With a horror theme, the Life and Death slot sees you walk close to the final reckoning as you join the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse at the end of the world. Inspired by the figures in the Book of Revelation in the Bible’s New Testament, the question is whether you’ll rise or fall as the Horsemen ride.

Graphically, it’s a black-and-white slot game with blue, red, green and yellow colours reserved for the Four Horsemen. Set inside a gothic cathedral or church, the soundtrack has a chilling feel and adds to the intensity of the situation. Colour-wise, it resembles other Hacksaw slots like SixSixSix, Wings of Horus and Hand of Anubis.

On the reels, you’ll see gothic-style A, K, Q, J and 10 royals. High-value symbols are represented by Sacred Heart Eyes, goblets, suns, Evil Eye Hands and 3 heads. The latter is the best-paying symbol awarding 50 times your total bet for 6 in combination across any payline.

Life and Death benefits from 4 Wild Multiplier symbols: Blue Pestilence, Red Ward, Yellow Famine and Green Death. Appearing on their own reel, they come with their own multipliers ranging from 2x to 200x. More details on these wilds are provided below. The other symbol of importance is the FS Scatter which is key to triggering various free spins features.

Life and Death Mobile

Being a mobile-first provider, all Hacksaw Gaming slots are optimised using HTML5 technology to be played on mobile, desktop and tablet devices. If you’re playing on a smartphone, it’s compatible with iOS and Android operating systems.

The Life and Death slot benefits from 4 bonus features. Key to the action are the 4 Wild Multiplier symbols which come with multipliers and expand when landing on their corresponding reel. With 2 free spins features, the Devastation Bonus has a higher chance of landing these Wild Multipliers. In the Reckoning Bonus, you can activate Death Reels so Wild Multipliers expand even if they land on any of the other central reels.

Wild Multipliers & Expanding Wild Reels

Look out for 4 Wild Multiplier symbols which substitute for all paying symbols. When a Wild Multiplier symbol is part of a winning combination, the win is subject to the displayed multiplier. If multiple Wild Multipliers are part of the same winning combination, their multiplier values are added together before being applied to the win.

Landing on reels 2, 3, 4 and/or 5, each reel is connected to a specific Wild Multiplier symbol. Represented by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they have their own colour and multiplier range:

Importantly, Wild Multiplier symbols will expand to take over the whole reel if the expanded Wild Multiplier would be part of a winning combination. If multiple Wild Multiplier Reels are part of the same win, their multiplier values are added together and then applied to the win.

Finally, any Wild Multiplier symbol can land on reels 2, 3, 4 or 5. This means they can land on other non-connected reels. Also, only 1 Wild Multiplier symbol can land on each reel per spin.

Devastation Bonus 

The Devastation Bonus feature is triggered by landing 3 FS Scatter symbols during a base game spin. With 10 free spins awarded, there is a higher chance of landing Wild Multiplier symbols. If you see 2 or 3 FS Scatters, you’ll be rewarded with 2 or 4 additional free spins, with no limits.

Reckoning Bonus

If you landed 4 FS Scatter symbols in the base game, you’d activate the Reckoning Bonus feature with 10 free spins. The difference is that there are persistent activated Death Reels.

When you land a Wild Multiplier symbol on its connected reel, it will become an activated Death Reel. The connected Wild Multiplier expands into a Wild Reel regardless of which of the 4 middle reels it lands on (as long as it’s part of a winning combination). Finally, 2 or 3 FS Scatters will give you 2 or 4 extra free spins.

Bonus Buy

Non-UK players have the option of the Bonus Buy feature. With 4 options, they cost between 3 and 200 times your total bet. Below, there is a table highlighting all the options along with all details:

Life and Death Slot

Rating: 4.0/5

Life and Death is inspired by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and focuses on Wild Multiplier symbols that give you Wild Reels with multipliers up to 200x. In the Reckoning free spins, activated reels become Death Reels which see Wild Multipliers expand on any of the central reels. Max wins can reach 15,000 x bet.

Chris Taylor

The Life and Death slot, visually, is quite similar to other Hacksaw games where there is a monochrome style with splashes of colour used for the important Wild Multiplier symbols. In terms of the gameplay, the focus is on wild multipliers which can reach 200x and also combine across several wild reels.

In the Devastation free spins, you’ll benefit from more Wild Multipliers landing whilst the Reckoning free spins come with Death Reels. This means Wild Reels can appear even if the Wild Multiplier appears on any of the other central reels.

With 15,000 times bet max wins, Life and Death may not be the most innovative game by Hacksaw Gaming but the little twist makes it a game many will find appealing. My only pet peeve is that a thumping, rock soundtrack would have probably been more appropriate for the theme.

If you like the style, it has some similarities to Big Time Gaming’s Lil’ Devil in terms of the gothic imagery and multiplier wild reels. Another option is Nolimit City’s Book of Shadows which offers similar monochrome visuals.

Want more death-inspired slots? There are plenty in my guide to the best Halloween slots which has games based on serial killers, mental asylums, supernatural rituals, twisted demons and forbidden arts.

ALSO READ The Best Halloween Slots to Play in the UK

The Life and Death slot review was written by Chris Taylor from our OLBG Expert team who who written over 10,000 slot game reviews in an iGaming career spanning over 2 decades. It was then verified/checked by Jenny Mason, our prime slot reviewer who has 17+ years working in online gambling, top UK brands. 

Chris Taylor

The king of slots

Chris Taylor is an industry veteran originally from Gibraltar. Having worked in the online gambling industry since 2004, Chris loves slots and has reviewed over 10,000 online slot games. Running a slots-focused website for 13 years, Chris is the go-to guy for everything slots-related.