WILD WEST DUELS
Wild West Duels online slot produced by Pragmatic Play comes with a default 96.00% RTP and a 5-reel, 5-row playing area featuring 15 pay lines.
The new sheriff has ruled in town for just a couple of weeks but was already widely known for his unconventional approach to dealing with criminals. He offered every wanted outlaw a clean slate in writing if they managed to defeat him in the duel. So far, a handful has tried, and all unanimously agreed with their forever-closed eyes that the old man was sharp as a tack. And there he was, eye to eye with another scoundrel looking for absolution from a long list of sins.
Spectators, as usual, gathered on the porches around the main road as the sun was nearing noon. The guilty cowboy’s hand twitched nervously around his holster while he tried to anticipate his opponent’s moves. He took a quick breath, ready to take the deciding shot, when a sudden glare from one of the buildings hit his eyes. Before he realized what compromised his vision, a massive force hit his chest, emptying the lungs entirely there and then. He collapsed on his knees, vainly fighting for breath, and felt moist warmth spreading around his heart. The sheriff was already standing on the porch of his office, reaching for a wanted poster that read “20,000x reward“.
WILD WEST DUELS
Wild West Duels online slot produced by Pragmatic Play comes with a default 96.00% RTP and a 5-reel, 5-row playing area featuring 15 pay lines.
The new sheriff has ruled in town for just a couple of weeks but was already widely known for his unconventional approach to dealing with criminals. He offered every wanted outlaw a clean slate in writing if they managed to defeat him in the duel. So far, a handful has tried, and all unanimously agreed with their forever-closed eyes that the old man was sharp as a tack. And there he was, eye to eye with another scoundrel looking for absolution from a long list of sins.
Spectators, as usual, gathered on the porches around the main road as the sun was nearing noon. The guilty cowboy’s hand twitched nervously around his holster while he tried to anticipate his opponent’s moves. He took a quick breath, ready to take the deciding shot, when a sudden glare from one of the buildings hit his eyes. Before he realized what compromised his vision, a massive force hit his chest, emptying the lungs entirely there and then. He collapsed on his knees, vainly fighting for breath, and felt moist warmth spreading around his heart. The sheriff was already standing on the porch of his office, reaching for a wanted poster that read “20,000x reward“.
7/10
SLOT DETAILS
Provider:
PRAGMATIC PLAY
Layout:
5x5
Theme:
WILD WEST
Pays:
15 PAY LINES
RTP:
96.00%
Bets:
0.20/100
SLOT FEATURES
Wild:
Jackpot:
Re-Spins:
Bonus Buy:
Multipliers:
Super Bet:
PLAY FOR REAL
How To Win On Wild West Duels Slot - Features & Mechanics
On a wooden platform supporting a gallows structure sits a 5x5 grid with 15 pay lines determining regular wins composed of at least 3 matching images. The paytable offers 10 symbols, 5 low and 5 high-paying. Single combinations award from 0.2 times the bet for shortest hits on the former up to 40 times for 5-of-a-kind scores on the sheriff icon that leads the hierarchy.
Expanding Wilds With Multiplier
The Wild substitutes for all regular symbols and appears on all reels. Therefore can also form the combinations on its own, paying the equivalent of the highest standard character. Wilds occasionally expand and display 2 multiplier values on either vertical end of the covered area. The gunslingers in the image duel each other, and one of the numbers prevails to apply to the total win on the current spin.
Wild West Duels Bonus Games
Three distinct bonus rounds are available, each triggered by at least 3 instances of its respective symbol landing in view during a single spin.
- Beer Game (10 free spins) adds 2x and 3x Multiplier Wilds to the reels. Any of such symbols landing in view remains sticky for the remainder of the bonus. Expanding Wilds are not available.
- Duel (10 free spins) plays with the same rules as the base game, but at least one Expanding Wild is guaranteed to land on every spin.
- Lost Relics (3 free spins) begins with a pick&click game that determines the number of guaranteed Wilds and a Win Multiplier for the upcoming bonus. Expanding Wilds are not available.
All 3 bonus games can be activated instantly for a fixed buy-in of 100x, 200x, and 400x, respectively, according to the above order.
Wild West Duels On Mobile
As it befits all modern online slots, the game is available in the newest HTML5 technology on all mobile devices so that you can enjoy a bit of wild west action from anywhere in the world. Both portrait and landscape variants are available, and the symmetrical 5x5 grid looks nice and clean on either one. Smooth gameplay, no interruptions, and quick loading times are what you can expect from Wild West Duels in portable mode.
Final Thoughts
At first, the game makes a surprisingly good impression, going in a slightly different direction with the art and the setting in general compared to many other titles from Pragmatic Play, which often feel treated superficially. Not that there's something unique or particularly striking in such a traditional, omnipresent cowboy theme, but it does feel pleasant from the get-go. Even though we're used to the fact there is hardly any backstory or ingenuity in the naming convention of the features in the studio's releases, the lonely, developing western town appears convincing and on point. There's also a considerable effort visible in designing the characters functioning as high-paying symbols, which gives a hint of the mood permeating this small frontier community.
It's only when we start going into the thick of it something starts ringing the metaphorical bell. Expanding Wilds with two multipliers, three distinct bonus rounds, and the word "duel" feel way too familiar. It doesn't take long to conclude that this is an almost complete copy of Wanted Dead or a Wild by Hacksaw Gaming. However, there's no theatrical gasping or clutching heads in a shocking gesture on our part because the iGaming industry has gotten us used to the fact that successful ideas are seldom left untouched by competition. To be even more critical, Pragmatic Play is probably one of the studios that dip into other designers' creativity more often, considering the provider's jam-packed road map. Hence, it isn't easy to evaluate such a product on its own merit when we can't spot the tiniest effort of concealing plagiarism. Therefore, the main and only takeaway from Wild West Duels is the praise for the graphic designer who has kept the quality at a respectable level. Other than that, it's a rather unimpressive attempt at duplicating an exciting concept.
