Dead or Alive Slot Review

Intro

Dead or Alive was created by NetEnt in 2009 but is still as popular as ever today. Owing to the game’s success, NetEnt developed a sequel in 2019, and this Wild West-themed slot features big bonuses, sticky wilds, and a potential max jackpot of 13,888x the stake. 

Are you ready to turn to a Wild West life of crime for potential cash prizes? Read on to find out more about this iconic casino game, and the best Canadian casino sites that offer it.

Screenshots

Dead or Alive has five reels, nine paylines, and a return to player (RTP) rate of 96.8%. Players can spin its reels from as little as $0.09 per spin, rising to $18, and the highest paying symbol is the gun scatter, paying up to 2,500x the stake when five land on the reels. Dead or Alive is a high variance slot, so players may have to wait a while before hitting a cash prize, but these are likely to be of a decent size when they come through.

Paytable

NetEnt is one of the biggest software developers in the world, and its games adhere to a strict standard of fairness and safety. NetEnt holds licences from many gambling jurisdictions, including the UK Gambling Commission and the Malta Gaming Authority, among others. You can enjoy spinning the reels of Dead or Alive knowing this slot ‒ and all other NetEnt slots ‒ are independently audited by regulators such as eCOGRA.

Dead or Alive has three special features: wilds, sticky wilds, and a free spins bonus. The wild is represented by the wanted poster, and this will replace other symbols on the reels to help form winning combinations. 

To trigger the free spins bonus round, players must land three or more gun scatter symbols on the reels. 12 free spins are awarded, plus an instant cash prize depending on the number of scatters that landed. All wins during the free spins round will be doubled, and if you manage to hit another three scatters, you’ll retrigger the round. During these free spins, wilds become sticky, remaining on the reels for the duration of the round.

Dead or Alive is up there with the very best NetEnt slots, but here are some others to try out. 

Wild Wild West: The Great Train Heist 

Sticking with the Wild West, The Great Train Heist has five reels, ten paylines, and an RTP of 96.7%. The bonus features in this slot include a picking game potentially worth up to 50x the stake, and a free spins bonus round with up to 30 free spins; during this free spins round, four different wild features come into play. Players can spin its reels from just $0.10 per spin, and there’s a max jackpot of 500x the stake.

Starburst

Starburst is a million miles away from the Wild West games above, taking place in outer space on five reels. There are ten paylines in play here, but Starburst is perhaps best known for its win-both-ways payline structure. Its simplicity means there are limited bonus opportunities here, but there is an expanding wild in play. With an RTP of 96%, this is one of the world’s most beloved slots of all time.

Dead or Alive is arguably the most popular Wild West slot on the market, but other software providers, such as Yggdrasil and Relax Gaming, have released titles with similar themes, which we’ve reviewed below.

Money Train 2 

Relax Gaming’s Money Train 2 features five reels, 40 paylines, and has an RTP of 96.4%. This game was released in 2020, so the graphics are more polished than Dead or Alive, and this game offers a bigger max payout of 50,000x the stake. The reels are encased inside the money train and include various outlaws, as well as a wild represented by a skull. The highlight of the game is the money cart bonus, awarding multipliers between 1x and 10x the stake and three re-spins; if you land the special gold bonus symbol during this round, you’ll receive a multiplier between 20x and 200x the stake. 

Desperate Dawgs

You can count on the wacky development team at Yggdrasil to take a more light-hearted approach to the Wild West theme, which is exactly what they’ve done with Desperate Dawgs ‒ a five-reel, 20 payline slot with an RTP of 95%. This game has bright and colourful cartoonish graphics that centre on a pack of outlaw dogs in the Wild West. On the reels, you’ll find guns, dogs and sheriffs, and there’s no shortage of bonus opportunities: wilds, a wagon trail picking game, and the crime spree free spins round which involves increasing multipliers. Players can spin the reels of this game from $0.20 per spin, and the max win is 3,092x the stake.

Dead or Alive is now over a decade old but it still looks fantastic. On the reels you’ll find standard playing cards, while the higher paying symbols are represented by whisky tumblers, cowboy hats, boots, and sheriff badges. The wild symbol looks great too ‒ a most wanted poster invoking images of Jesse James, Billy the Kid and other infamous outlaws. There’s a quiet menace to the design of this game, with silence between spins adding to an eerie and tense scene. In the distance beyond the reels, there’s an ominous thunderstorm approaching, creating a dramatic landscape.

If you like Dead or Alive, you might also like the following slots.

The Greatest Train Robbery

The Greatest Train Robbery is a five reel and 40 payline slot created by Red Tiger Gaming, where players join a group of bandits in the Wild West in a train robbery heist. This is a well-designed slot with lots of gems, coins and gold bars displayed on the reels. There’s a small range of bonuses, but wilds and free spins are available here, and there’s a randomly triggered bandit feature awarding re-spins, extra wilds, and mystery symbols that guarantee winning combos. This slot has an RTP of 95%, and players can spin the reels from $0.10 per spin.

Shaman’s Dream

With a strong Native American theme, Shaman’s Dream is one of Eyecon’s most popular slots. Totem poles, buffaloes, eagles and axes fill the slot’s five reels, and there are 25 paylines in play. Pay attention to the wolf, which serves as the game’s wild, and there are also 15 free spins to be enjoyed when landing three or more scatters on the reels ‒ any wins generated by these spins will be trebled at the end of the round. Shaman’s Dream has an RTP of 95.6%, and there’s a max jackpot of 9,500x the stake.

Dead or Alive 2

The sequel to NetEnt’s iconic slot is equally as enjoyable and has a memorable free spins round, taking place in three different settings: the train heist, where increasing multipliers boost wins; the saloon, where all wins are doubled; and the high noon saloon, where sticky wilds are in play. Players can spin the reels from as little as $0.09 per spin, and there’s a jackpot prize of 111,111x the stake on offer. This slot has five reels, nine paylines, and an RTP of 96.8%.