Most Western slots give you saloon doors and tumbleweeds. Wanted Dead or a Wild gives you a blood-red sky, a barbed-wire fence, and the quiet tension of something about to go very wrong. Hacksaw Gaming built this 5×5 slot around three distinct bonus rounds, each with its own volatility profile, and a proprietary DuelReels system that turns entire reels wild with multipliers reaching up to 100x. The result is one of the most feature-dense games in Hacksaw’s catalogue, and one of the few where choosing which bonus to chase is itself a strategic decision.
Features & Bonuses
VS Symbols and DuelReels
The VS symbol is the centrepiece of standard play and the Duel at Dawn feature. When a VS symbol lands and forms part of a winning combination after expanding, it covers the entire reel and turns wild. Two outlaws appear in a duel animation, and the survivor’s multiplier applies to every win passing through that reel. Multiplier values range from 2x to 100x. If multiple VS symbols land on different reels, their multipliers are added together before being applied to winning combinations. Land one on every reel and the entire 5×5 grid becomes wild.
The Great Train Robbery
Three or more Train Robbery scatter symbols trigger this feature, which awards 10 free spins with sticky wilds. Every wild that lands stays locked in position for the remaining spins, gradually filling the grid. This is the lowest volatility bonus of the three, rated medium by Hacksaw, and it tends to deliver more consistent returns. The bonus buy costs 80x your total bet, with an RTP of 96.27%.
Duel at Dawn
Landing three or more Duel scatter symbols awards 10 free spins loaded with additional VS symbols compared to the main game. This is where the DuelReels system truly shines, because the increased VS symbol density means multiple reels can turn wild with multipliers on a single spin. Hacksaw rates this as very high volatility, and for good reason. The bonus buy costs 200x your bet, with an RTP of 96.33%.
Dead Man’s Hand
Three or more DEAD scatter symbols activate this two-phase bonus. The first phase is a collection round where you gather wilds and multipliers. Each time you collect a wild or multiplier, the remaining spin counter resets to three. The round continues until three consecutive non-winning spins occur. Phase two is the Showdown, which awards three spins where all collected wilds are placed on the grid and the accumulated multiplier applies to every win. Hacksaw rates this feature as high volatility, and it is the most expensive to buy at 400x, but it also carries the highest bonus buy RTP at 96.43%.
Bonus Buy
All three features are available for direct purchase outside the UK, where regulations prohibit this option. Each bonus round is clearly labelled with its volatility rating and cost, so you can match the purchase to your appetite for risk. Feature buys can exceed the standard max bet limit of €75.
How to Play
How Wanted Dead or a Wild Works
The game uses a 5×5 grid with 15 fixed paylines. Wins require three or more matching symbols on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost position. Only the highest win per payline counts. Bets run from £0.20 to £75 per spin, with feature buys able to exceed this range. At high volatility with a hit frequency of roughly 19%, you can expect a winning spin about once every five attempts on average, though the gap between features can stretch much further. The default RTP is 96.38%, but operators can configure this down to 94.55%, 92.33%, or 88.42%.
Demo Paytable
At a £0.20 bet, here is what each symbol pays across the 15 paylines.
| Symbol | 5 on a Line | 4 on a Line | 3 on a Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wild | £40.00 | – | – |
| Bullet Chamber | £40.00 | £20.00 | £4.00 |
| Whiskey Bottle | £20.00 | £10.00 | £2.00 |
| Money Bag | £20.00 | £10.00 | £2.00 |
| Outlaw | £10.00 | £5.00 | £1.00 |
| Skull | £10.00 | £5.00 | £1.00 |
| A | £2.00 | £1.00 | £0.20 |
| K | £2.00 | £1.00 | £0.20 |
| Q | £2.00 | £1.00 | £0.20 |
| J | £2.00 | £1.00 | £0.20 |
| 10 | £2.00 | £1.00 | £0.20 |
UltimateSlots Verdict
Wanted Dead or a Wild is Hacksaw Gaming at their most confident. The DuelReels system adds a genuinely original twist to the expanding wild concept, and having three bonus rounds with distinct volatility profiles gives players something most slots never offer: a real choice about how they want to play. Standard play runs dry for long stretches, and the 5x5 grid with only 15 paylines means wins need to align precisely. But when the features land, particularly Duel at Dawn, the multiplier stacking can produce results that justify the wait. A polished, feature-rich slot that rewards patience and still holds up years after release. Ultimate Slots Rating: 8/10
Detailed Review
Best Things (What’s Good!)
The DuelReels system is unlike anything else in the genre. Watching a VS symbol expand to cover an entire reel, then seeing the duel animation play out to reveal a multiplier, is one of the most satisfying visual moments in any slot. When two or more VS symbols land simultaneously and their multipliers stack, the win potential escalates rapidly. The fact that landing VS symbols on all five reels turns the entire grid wild gives every spin in the Duel at Dawn feature a genuine sense of possibility.
Worst Things (What Sucks!)
The base game can feel punishing. With high volatility and a paytable where even premium five-of-a-kind combinations top out at 20x bet, standard play rarely delivers meaningful returns. You are essentially waiting for a feature trigger, and those triggers can take a while. Players who need regular feedback from their spins will find the gaps between action difficult to sit through, especially on a smaller bankroll.
Slot Demo Practice
Art
The art direction hits immediately. Hacksaw’s hand-drawn, comic-book style gives Wanted Dead or a Wild a visual identity that most Western-themed games simply cannot match. The colour palette is muted and dark, dominated by reds and browns, and every symbol looks like it belongs in the world the game creates. This is not a slot that borrows a Western skin and calls it a day.
Sound
Sound design follows the same philosophy. A gentle banjo accent sits underneath the gameplay, subtle enough to stay relaxed during extended sessions but distinctly Western in character. Bonus rounds ramp up the audio intensity with train sounds and dramatic scoring, but the standard play soundtrack avoids the trap of becoming repetitive.
Gameplay Basics & Bonus Round
Standard play delivered exactly what the volatility rating promised during our demo session. Small wins appeared roughly every five spins, rarely exceeding a few times the bet. Credits burned steadily downward. The VS symbols appeared occasionally in regular play but felt infrequent enough that you cannot rely on them to sustain your balance outside of a feature.
Triggering The Great Train Robbery through the bonus buy confirmed its medium volatility label. The sticky wilds accumulated gradually, and the final payout landed close to the buy-in cost. Not a loss, but not the windfall you hope for either. The cinematic intro sequence for this feature deserves special mention. The cutscene transitions are among the best production work in any slot, making the bonus feel like an event rather than just a mechanical shift in the game rules.
The real draw here is the depth of choice. Three bonus rounds at three volatility levels, each with transparent pricing and RTP labels, let you match the game to your mood and budget. That level of agency is rare in slots and is a big part of why this game, released back in 2021, still commands attention. If you want a free play session with genuine variety, Wanted Dead or a Wild delivers more than most modern releases manage.
Screenshots
The grid is well-designed, and the graphics are VERY polished, even considering the game was launched back in 2021.
Here you can choose exactly which bonuses you decide to purchase, each with different volatility options. We chose The Great Train Robbery in our demo test.
We didn’t win big, but the bonus result was roughly what we paid for it.
