Wanted Dead or a Wild Slot Review (Hacksaw Gaming)

The Wanted Dead or a Wild slot is played on 5 reels, 5 rows with 15 fixed paylines available. Winning combinations are formed when you land 3 or more symbols. These symbols need to land from left to right, beginning from the leftmost reel. 

Bets for this game start at 20p and go up to £100. You can use the up and down buttons to adjust your bet amount. Non-UK players can utilise the Autoplay and Turbo Spins functions.

The Wanted Dead or a Wild RTP rate is 96.38%, which is above the online average of 96%. RTP options of 94.55% and 92.33% are also available, so it depends on which site you play at (check in the Paytable).

The volatility rating is very high with a 19.36% hit frequency rate. The latter means a winning combination will form every 5.16 spins on average. Finally, the Wanted Dead or a Wild slot game comes with 12,500 times bet max wins. 

Like all Hacksaw Gaming titles, the Wanted Dead or a Wild slot offers an immersive, high-quality experience. Expect pleasant guitar music, which is different from the Western soundtracks usually used in this genre. During the Great Train Robbery bonus round, you hear the sound of a train’s carriage moving rapidly along the track. During the other 3 free spin bonus rounds, the drama element gains momentum with the music, but it’s done in a subtle way. Due to the Western theme, expect lots of pistol-popping sound effects, especially in the Duel at Dawn feature.

Each bonus round has a different background to differentiate it, but they all have the same quality illustration style. For the base game, the main graphic shows a foreboding black tree set against a warm, glowing sunrise. The creatives are stunning and importantly they tell the story of Wanted Dead Or A Wild.

Here’s a rundown of all of the symbols and their values:

• 10: 3 = 0.1, 4 = 0.5 or 5= 1 x the bet
• J: 3= 0.1, 4 = 0.5 or 5 = 1 x the bet
• Q: 3  = 0.1,4 =  0.5 or 5 = 1 x the bet
• K: 3= 0.1, 4 = 0.5 or 5 = 1 x the bet
• A: 3 = 0.1, 4 = 0.5 5 = or 1 x the bet
• Goat Skull: 3 = 0.5,4 =  2.5 or 5 = 5 x the bet
• Bandit: 3 = 0.5, 4 = 2.5 or 5 = 5 x the bet
• Moneybag: 3 = 1, 4 = 5 or 5 = 10 x the bet
• Liquor Bottle: 3 = 1, 4 = 5 or 5 = 10 x the bet
• Gun Chamber: 3 = 2, 4 = 10 or 5 = 20 x the bet
• Wild: Substitutes for all symbols apart from VS and bonus game symbols
• Dead Symbol: 3+ triggers the Dead Man's Hand feature
• Duel Symbol: 3+ triggers the Duel at Dawn feature
• Train Robbery Symbol: 3+ triggers The Great Train Robbery feature
• VS: Expands if it forms part of a win and displays multipliers

Wanted Dead Or A Wild Mobile

Like all Hacksaw Gaming slots, Wanted Dead or a Wild plays fantastically on mobile whether you’re using Android or iOS. You can also play on a desktop or tablet for a great gaming experience. If you're playing on a handheld device, you'll use Portrait Mode which occupies more of your mobile screen. 

Wanted Dead or a Wild is stuffed with bonus features, including 3 Free Spin features which each have an individual volatility. It's also Hacksaw’s first game to feature DuelReels, which you can read more about below:

VS Symbol

Once a VS symbol lands that is part of a winning combo it will expand and cover the entire reel. This expanding reel is Hacksaw’s new DuelReels mechanic and Wanted Dead or a Wild is the first game to utilise the functionality. If more than 1 VS symbol lands then all of the values will be added and then multiplied with the line wins. Additionally, if a VS symbol lands on each reel so that the whole 5×5 grid is covered, the grid will be treated entirely as Wild. The possible multiplier values of a VS symbol range between 2x - 100x.

The Great Train Robbery

This is the first Free Spins round and it has a medium volatility. Here you’re awarded 10 free spins and Sticky Wilds. Of course with a game called Wanted Dead or A Wild, Wilds had to be a strong feature. During this round, all Wilds that land remain sticky for the duration of the feature.

Duel at Dawn

The volatility is very high for this second Free Spins bonus. 3 or more Duel Scatters trigger the round and you’re awarded 10 free spins. This feature has more VS symbols in the game, and landing them on every reel can ultimately land the Max Win. VS symbols can display multipliers ranging from 2x to 100x.

Dead Mans Hand

For the third Free Spins game, you’ll discover a high-volatility game. 3 or more Dead symbols trigger the round. The goal here is to collect as many Wilds and multipliers as possible. Wilds are collected above the reels and the multiplier total is displayed to the right of the grid. 

You get 3 spins to collect Wilds and multipliers and every time you collect either of them, the spins are reset to 3 until you have 3 non-winning spins in a row. When this happens, the ‘showdown’ part of the feature kicks off with 3 spins. Each spin will show the amount of collected Wilds you’ve gained and apply them to the grid. This feature can also trigger the max win.

Bonus Buy feature

If you’re not based in the UK you can make use of the bonus buy feature, which buys you into the free games bonus rounds:

• The Great Train Robbery: 80 x your bet
• Duel at Dawn: 200 x your bet
• Dead Man’s Hand: 400 x your bet
  
  

Jenny Mason

Queen of bingo

Jenny Mason has more than 17 years of experience in the online gambling industry and has worked for some of the UK’s top betting brands. She started at OLBG in 2014 and her role involves creating great content and looking after the marketing activity. Jenny is knowledgeable in all areas of online sports betting and has an interest in slots and bingo.

It’s always a treat to review a Hacksaw slot, I’m struggling to think of a title I’m not keen on. It’s an innovative studio and always some up with something different. In the Wanted Dead or a Wild slot game, the VS symbols and DuelReels were a highlight. Visually, they look stunning when a reel is covered, and you potentially cover the entire grid, which can lead to some decent wins if you score the higher multiplier, which can go up to an impressive 100x. Having 3 Free Spins rounds with different identities, volatility ratings and a mix of Sticky Wilds and multipliers included ticks made things interesting. If you'd like to read more about Hacksaw, read this OLBG guide to the best Hacksaw Gaming slots.

12,500 times bet max wins is a decent amount, which sounds about right for a high-volatility game. Design-wise, the game is typically Hacksaw, which tends to have a comic book /illustration style and is usually a treat for the eyes. Wanted Dead or a Wild is no exception and as soon as I launched the game I thought it looked superb

If Western-themed games are your bag, you should check out Hacksaw Gaming’s other Western game called 2 Wild 2 Die or Nolimit City’s Tombstone RIP. Another option is Hacksaw Gaming's Duel at Dawn which is another Western adventure with 15,000 times bet max wins. Want more Wild West slots? Check out the best 10 according to OLBG's Head of Slots Chris Taylor:

ALSO READ Saddle up with the Best Wild West Slots

The slot review was written by our slot game experts on the OLBG Expert team. Beginning with Jenny Mason our prime slot reviewer who has 17+ years in online gambling, working for top UK brands. Jenny is an expert in slots and bingo. It was then verified by Chris Taylor who has written over 10,000 slot game reviews in an iGaming career spanning over 2 decades.   

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.