Deadwood

Didn’t Will Smith once sing, “We’re goin’ straight to the wild wild west?” Well, if there was ever song lyrics fitting of an online slot game, then these are them, as that’s precisely where we’re going in Deadwood, a release by iGaming studio Nolimit City. The American Wild West has long been the focus of movies, TV shows, books and more, so this is a concept that punters will immediately buy into, and it’s also a genre where this developer, in particular, has a history. So, even with few details, you get an air of confidence that this slot has the potential to be fantastic.

While it’s possible punters who have been around the block where slots are concerned will get Dead or Alive by NetEnt vibes, it’s worth noting if you didn’t know, that Nolimit’s breakthrough release was a game called Tombstone. Deadwood is very much a continuation of the series. You may be more familiar with titles from this developer, such as Evil Goblins xBomb, but they have a real passion for the Wild West, which comes through in Deadwood specifically. For example, it's a visually appealing title, with a lot of effort going into the backdrop and the icons that appear on the reels that come in a 3-4-4-4-3 setup.

As well as the exciting reel setup, there are also 576 paylines included. So, for those players who choose to play with the max wager of £100 per spin, there is an excellent opportunity to pick up fair-sized wins in the base game. Punters can play from 20p, which is great. You can see that improvements have been from Tombstone, specifically with the paylines, as there were only 108 in the prequel from 2019. And these are the things you expect to see from a sequel and the continuation of a game series.

There is a good blend of symbols in Deadwood, and they kick things off with five royals – 10, J, Q, K and A. And, while these lower paying icons are the type people get fed up of seeing, they do come with a Wild West-like design, which makes them almost fitting. The rest of the regular icons, which are all related to the theme, include a shotgun, whiskey bottle, money safe, gold pocket watch and gold bullion bars.

Nolimit City provides five special symbols, but again, there is no shying away from the Wild West theme, which is music to our ears, or should that be eyes? There are three different bounty hunter wilds, which will trigger a feature, and then there is the sheriff badge, and the scatter, with the latter responsible for starting the free spins features.

One thing is for sure, there are no limits, by Nolimit, when it comes to bonus features. Punters will have access to an array of them, and they begin with the Hunter xNudge Wild feature. As mentioned above, there are three bounty hunters, and when they appear on reels 2, 3 or 4, they will nudge to make themselves fully visible. When this happens, the multiplier will rise by 1 for each time they nudge. Multiple bounty hunters can appear simultaneously, leading to a combined total.

If you spot the sheriff badge on reels 1 and 5 simultaneously, it will trigger the Shoot Out feature. Any low-value icons that appear between reels 1 and 5, so 2, 3 and 4, will immediately transform into wilds.

Three or more scatters won’t provide access to a free spins feature. Instead, it will give punters the option of two free spin bonus rounds. They can head into Hunter Spins, where there is a guaranteed Hunter wild per spin, which will trigger the xNudge feature. Players can also choose Gunslinger Spins, where there are unlimited multipliers up for grabs. Both versions of the free spins feature will deliver eight rounds to begin with.

It's also possible to use the above to access the Shoot Out free spins feature if Sheriff badges land on reels 1 and 5 during. It leads to 10 free spins for play through, with low-value icons becoming wilds on reels 2, 3 and 4. Landing three scatters and sheriff badges on reels 1 and 5 simultaneously in the base game will also start the Shoot Out free spins.

If the American Wild West is your thing, look no further. Nolimit City really does have a passion for this genre, and Tombstone was a massive breakthrough hit. They take things up several notches in Deadwood, and it hits the heights expected. It's a great sequel, and now we're eager to see what comes next in the series.