Introduction to Buried by Night
Buried by Night is a casino slot from Hacksaw Gaming and a continuation of the studio's ruthless Wild West saga. After countless lead exchanges in 2 Wild 2 Die, Bullets and Bounty, and Duel at Dawn, the studio flips the script (quite literally) on its iconic DuelReels formula, introducing DuelRows as a new source of valuable multipliers. Depending on the reel you land the foreboding VS symbol, you'll have a chance to see it expand horizontally across three or even all five columns, while awarding the surviving multiplier. Following the blueprint of its older siblings, the game offers three bonus modes, each with more power channelled to the core feature. From increased frequency on the lowest tier and a progressive bar awarding DuelSpins with guaranteed VS symbols and nudges to the explosive Hot 100 Bonus, triggering continuous nudges until you hit a total of 100 wins. Once all the dust settles and you're the last man standing, you can help yourself to loot worth up to 15,000x the bet.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Buried by Night is a video slot from Hacksaw Gaming with 5 reels, 5 rows, and 14 paylines. You can choose your stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.1, which makes the spins particularly affordable, up to a Max.bet of 50, ideal for high rollers seeking a bigger thrill. The math profile runs on a default RTP of 96.32%, which is in line with industry standards and promises reliable long-term returns. Three alternative variants of 94.34%, 92.26%, and 86.35% are also available to operators, so make sure to verify the version you're playing. You can expect wins to be slightly more valuable on average at the expense of their reduced frequency due to medium-high volatility, while the max win available on any single round is 15,000x the bet. In the base game, you'll experience a hit frequency of 29%.
Visually, you can instantly tell that Buried by Night belongs to the same family as the aforementioned Western-themed slots, as the setup is nearly identical. The background featuring prominent brush strokes, an intimidating character pointing the barrel straight at you, deliberately unrefined-looking symbols, and a brown-reddish colour palette are the common denominators that stand out right away. This time, however, the graphics seem to be a bit more lively and less muted, charging the scene with more vibrancy. Still, the image unmistakably brings to mind the ruthless reality of the Wild West, where danger lurks around every corner and inside every holster. If you're up for facing the outlaws, you can jump in from any modern device, as the game adapts seamlessly to all screen sizes of PCs, smartphones, and tablets.
Winning combinations must contain matching symbols on at least 3 adjacent reels, starting from the left, while covering any of the active paylines. The paytable hierarchy contains two groups of paying icons, with the low-paying ones represented by card suits: clubs, diamonds, spades, and hearts, all awarding 1x the bet for a payline of 5. High-paying symbols comprise images of a wagon wheel, a buffalo skull, a cowboy hat, a pair of revolvers, and a sheriff star. They bring payouts of between 5x and 12x the bet when scoring a sequence across all 5 reels. Wilds are represented by a round badge with the letter 'W', which substitutes for all paying symbols mentioned above and awards 15x the bet for independent 5-of-a-kind combinations. FS Scatters are depicted by yellow 'FS' letters on a red tile split in half.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Buried by Night?
You can win up to 15,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Buried by Night?
The features are DuelRows, Trigger Warning Bonus, Shoot To Kill Bonus, Hot 100 Bonus - Six Feet Under, and Feature Buy.
DuelRows
VS symbols can land on reels 2, 3, and 4. Whenever one drops, it expands horizontally, acting as a Wild on all positions it covers. Depending on the reel, the Wild will expand into different positions.
Reel 2 = expands across reels 1-3.
Reel 3 = expands across reels 1-5.
Reel 4 = expands across reels 3-5.
Each expanded symbol displays two duelists, each assigned a multiplier of x2, x3, x4, x5, x10, x25, x50, or x100. The winning gunslinger applies his multiplier to all payline wins that utilise the expanded Wild symbol. Several multipliers contributing to the same combination are added together.
Trigger Warning Bonus
Hitting 3 FS Scatters simultaneously in the base game triggers 10 Free Spins, where the average chance of landing VS symbols is increased. With 2 or 3 FS Scatters landing at the same time, you gain +2 or +4 Free Spins.
Shoot To Kill Bonus
Obtaining 4 FS Scatters in the same main game spin activates 8 Free Spins with an additional DuelSpin Bar. Every 3 FS Scatters scored during the bonus increases the meter by one tier, awarding a DuelSpin with the following upgrades.
Tier 1 = at least 1 VS symbol, 3 Nudges, and 2 Free Spins.
Tier 2 = at least 2 VS symbols, 4 Nudges, and 2 Free Spins.
Tier 3 = at least 3 VS symbols, 5 Nudges, and 2 Free Spins.
Tier 4 = at least 4 VS symbols, 6 Nudges, and 2 Free Spins.
Hot 100 Bonus - Six Feet Under
Landing 3 Hot 100 Scatters in a single main game spin awards the feature. You play a single Free Spin, where Nudges occur continuously until you accumulate 100 wins.
Feature Buy
If you don't wish to chase after specific symbol combinations in the base game, you can make use of the Buy Bonus menu, where certain functions of the game can be triggered instantly for a fixed price that scales with your current bet.
2x = Bonushunt FeatureSpins with a 3 times better chance to activate a bonus game.
60x = Fast Hands FeatureSpins, guaranteeing at least 1 VS symbol to land.
80x = Trigger Warning Bonus with 10 Free Spins.
200x = Shoot To Kill Bonus with 8 Free Spins.
Final Thoughts on Buried by Night
With so many games in Hacksaw's portfolio utilising expanding Wilds, the arrival of horizontally expanding VS symbols was inevitable at some point. Of course, Wilds spreading sideways are not exactly a novelty, even in the studio's own catalogue, considering games like Beam Boys or Donut Division, but they have never before appeared formally as DuelRows. Well, the day is here, and the setting in which the feature debuts couldn't be anything else than Wild West, given the legendary entry of the DuelReels mechanics in the 2021 release, Wanted Dead or a Wild. With the audiovisual style of later instalments of the series, it fits right in, proudly carrying forward the gritty atmosphere of the American frontier.
Even before you trigger your first DuelRow, the feature feels attractive from its description alone. With DualReels, you frequently saw VS symbols landing on the grid without expanding, since you had to connect them with an organic win. DuelRows alleviate that issue quite effectively, as those landing on reels 2 and 3 will always guarantee a win, since they expand across the first three columns or all of them at once. This consistency in triggering the mechanism makes it feel way more appealing and rewarding. It becomes even more thrilling when nudges come into play during the Shoot To Kill bonus, allowing you to benefit from the expansion multiple times in a row. For such a seemingly straightforward alteration (although probably not so simple from the mathematical design standpoint), the feature gained much more potency, making every VS symbol appearance a highly anticipated event, more often than not followed by a win.
Buried by Night flips the familiar DuelReels format on its side, shifting the focus from vertical to horizontal expansions, resulting in more consistent core mechanics.
