Life and Death

Game Specifications

Slot Review

Game Overview

This might seem like a complicated Life and Death story, but it’s actually a pretty simple one but still incredibly engaging. Four Horsemen are on the mission to bring misery and death, and they are determined to accomplish their mission.

But gamblers embrace the horsemen’s presence and efforts because these are four Wilds, and they advance by expanding on the 4×5 area of the reel set. There are just Wilds and no other special elements, which isn’t a bad thing because they come with possible expansions and up to x200 multipliers.

Wilds are connected to a certain reel of matching color. And that adds some freshness. In the main game, Wilds only expand if they are on their connected reels. But that can change in FS when reels get a special activation, which gives them the power to charge Wilds for expansion regardless of where they land.

Theme

It’s interesting that the developer called the game Life and Death. Because there isn’t much life they show on the reels. Horses are the only living and breathing souls there, whereas the Horsemen themselves are bare bones wrapped in some rags.

The story is rarely used in the slot world, but it isn’t unique to this game. This apocalyptic story comes from the Bible. It’s about Four Horsemen who are authorized to bring death and destruction. It’s one of those Biblical stories full of rage and killing.

But Hacksaw Gaming presents a surprisingly quiet interpretation of the Four Horsemen’s ‘adventures’. The atmosphere is suspenseful, a bit daunting, but not apocalyptic at all. That’s probably thanks to quite upbeat soundtracks.

Life and Death Slot Features

Wilds are the cornerstone of the gameplay. But these aren’t just regular Wilds with no extra boosters. These symbols can expand and award multipliers. When you load a game, you’ll probably notice four different colored windows above four middle reels. The area below them is where Wilds can land.

Wilds Connected to Reels

Different colors above the reels show which Wild is connected to each reel. Four Horsemen icons are marked 1-4 and come in four colors so you know right away which reel they are connected to.

Being connected doesn’t mean, for instance, Blue Wilds can only land on a reel marked blue. Any Wild can land anywhere within that 4×5 area. Play Life and Death in the demo to see this happens all the time that Wilds land on reels they are not connected to.

Expanding and Multipliers

But the benefit of having a Wild landing on the reel of matching color is expansion. When colors match, a regular 1×1 Wild expands to cover all five positions of the reel.

There’s a certain hierarchy in this Wilds world as they come with different multipliers. Here’s what multiplier ranges they offer:

Blue is obviously the most common one, and you’ll often see it expand. Expansion doesn’t happen every time. Not only do reel and symbol colors must match, but there also must be a win that forms because of that expansion. If no win is possible after expansion, the process won’t be triggered.

One of the reasons Blue Wilds expand most frequently is because it’s closest to the first reel where all combinations begin from. But you’ll occasionally have Red ones. And if you get to trigger expansion on the green reel, that’s because you got extremely lucky.

In rare cases, when multiple multipliers meet on a win line, their total is applied. But there are never two Wilds on the same reel.

Life and Death Bonus Games

A pair of horses is an image you want to see. But just one or two of them don’t make any difference. You want three of these symbols in a spin. Because that’s when you get to spin the reels for free as you unlock Devastation Spins. 4 of these icons and you get Reckoning Spins with a much greater win potential.

Devastation Spins

Usually, when the bonus game is on, things change a lot as there are extra things that boost the chances of winning. But in Life and Death, the difference isn’t that obvious because the base mode itself is fun and well capable of delivering huge wins. So, what the studio did is simply increase the frequency of Wilds for this bonus feature.

Reckoning Spins

This is a truly exciting bonus game. Because not only Wilds are more frequent than in base mode, but a new booster gets introduced. When a Wild lands on the matching color reel, it activates the reel. That means Wilds connected to this reel are free to expand on all four reels.

Let’s say, a Blue reel gets activated. Then Blue Wilds will expand on any reel, be it red, yellow or green. This is quite an upgrade from the base game, when expansion is only possible when the colors of the Wild and reel match.

If you play Life and Death for free and don’t see that Wilds expand everywhere after reel activation, there’s a good reason for that. As mentioned above in this review, expansion will only happen if it can lead to at least one win. Otherwise, there’s no point in expanding.

How Many Free Spins?

Both bonus games begin with 10 spins. But gamblers get more once the feature begins, if they get lucky. 2 and 3 Scatters unlock 2 and 4 extra rounds. The slot rules don’t mention that the number of FS is limited. So, you can potentially have a bonus extended for quite a long time.

Bonus Buy

Testing Life and Death in free mode is a fun thing to do. Because gamblers don’t have to spend time to see the best this slot can offer. Bonus rounds cost x100 and x200 and there are two other options that cost some extra per spin. One of them is the option to speed up bonus activation. The other one gets you 3+ Wilds, and it costs x60. But the latter option excludes the possibility of a FS trigger.

Slot Symbols

If you aren’t familiar with Biblical symbolism, things that appear on the screen of this game might seem odd. But you know for sure where a half of the paying icons come from and what they mean. That’s because a set of cheaper icons are card values 10-A. The win range for these icons is between x0.1 and x10.

A set of five theme related symbols will get you anywhere between x0.5 and x50. The top paying image is the Holy Trinity (the one with three faces). Just three of these award x2 payout and six on a line offer x50 payouts.

Wilds

Four skulls are Wild icons. They each come with a specific object: bow, sword, scale and scythe. These are special symbols that allow gamblers to land the top prize. Because regular icons aren’t capable of maxing out the win potential. Even when all 19 lines get you the top paying combinations, it can only award x950, whereas the max win is x15,000.

Game Stats

Volatility is 4/5. But the slot also offers four feature buy options. And for each option the studio specifies volatility level, which can be high, very high or extreme. So, whenever you consider buying a feature, you’ll see how volatile the option is.

Max win is x15,000. And it can be reached at any moment, whether you are in base or bonus mode. But, of course, triggering FS and Reckoning Spins, in particular, gets you the best chances.

RTP

RTP is adjustable: 96.36%, 94.26%, 92.23% and 88.24%. It’s obviously better to play a version of the game with a higher RTP. So, check the Game Rules file. Right below the list of icons, there’s an RTP specified.

Find the Bonus Buy section to see how the RTP figure changes when different bonus buy options are selected. Basically, any paid feature is slightly detrimental to the average return. But the difference isn’t drastic. For instance, when the average return is 96.36%, the lowest the figure can get is 96.29%.

Conclusion

Life and Death is a thrilling online slot that focuses solely on Wilds. But these aren’t just Wilds that bridge the gaps between paying icons. They can expand and award up to x200 multipliers. And their connection to reels is what makes this slot even more interesting. Visuals are unique and the gameplay is engaging. These are good reasons to demo the game.

Symbols & Paytable

6x50

5x15

4x5

3x2

6x25

5x7.5

4x2.5

3x1

6x25

5x7.5

4x2.5

3x1

6x15

5x5

4x1.5

3x0.5

6x15

5x5

4x1.5

3x0.5

6x10

5x3

4x1

3x0.3

6x5

5x1.5

4x0.5

3x0.2

6x5

5x1.5

4x0.5

3x0.2

6x5

5x1.5

4x0.5

3x0.2

6x3

5x1

4x0.3

3x0.1

Scatter

Wild

Screenshots

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Frequently Asked Questions