Introduction to Dead or Alive 3: Wanted
Dead or Alive 3: Wanted is a casino slot from NetEnt, and a long-awaited follow-up to one of the online gambling industry's most recognisable Wild West-themed machines. To this day, Dead or Alive remains the favourite of many players worldwide, confirmed by regular showcases of big wins across iGaming forums, generated from the legendary Sticky Wilds feature. For a 2009 release, the game offered a substantial win potential of 12,000x the bet, which was way higher than most slots live at that time. In 2019, the sequel Dead or Alive 2 emerged, breaking the 100k barrier, arguably for the first time regarding non-jackpot wins, offering a max payout of 111,111x the bet.
With the third instalment, the producers have dialled down that figure to 33,333x (66,666x with one of the Elevate options enabled), but instead transformed the gameplay to include a larger 5x5 grid with Multiplier Wilds up to x100 and expanding Bounty Hunter Wilds available in the base game. Fans of the series should be happy to hear that the bonus round maintains the familiar Sticky Wild mechanics, but enhanced with the aforementioned multipliers. As usual, there is also a selection of Elevate options to experience the game's features instantly if you're willing to pay a bit more. Let's see what Jesse James, Della Rose and their posse of outlaws manage to score this time.
To test out the mechanical repertoire without risking your real money, you can fire up the demo mode available at the top of the page.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Dead or Alive 3: Wanted is a video slot from NetEnt with 5 reels, 5 rows, and 21 paylines. In the bet selection panel, you can choose your active stake from multiple options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.1 up to a Max.bet of 14. The game's default RTP is 96.03%, which is on the lower end of the industry average, plus there are also alternative variants of 94.02% and 92.08% released to operators. The average balance between the frequency and value of wins is tipped toward the latter due to high volatility, while the top prize from a single spin may reach 33,333x the bet in regular gameplay and 66,666x the bet with the Wanted Wilds Elevate feature enabled. On average, it takes 219 spins to activate the bonus game, while the base hit frequency sits at the rate of 22.99%.
Dead or Alive 3: Wanted comes across as much more intimidating and coarse than its older siblings, leaning intensely into the unforgiving reality of the Wild West, especially during free spins played on the backdrop of a derailed, flaming locomotive. There's plenty of energy delivered by a fast-paced, strumming soundtrack, which also carries some foreboding notes, further emphasising the gritty atmosphere. Symbol design follows suit, with blood-spattered items and torn wanted posters rolling through reels made of worn-out wood while the environment surrounding the playing area has moved from a town pictured in the second part to open, rocky wildlands, giving the entire scene a feeling of freedom. It's a generally good-looking Western theme, which you can enjoy on any modern device, such as a desktop, smartphone, or tablet, thanks to the responsive design.
The paytable comprises two sets of regular symbols, which award payouts whenever you match at least 3 instances on adjacent reels, starting from the left, while covering any of the 21 paylines. Among the low-paying ones, you'll see five card rank figures made of steel: 10, J, Q, K, and A, awarding from 1.5x to 5x the bet for a 5-of-a-kind hit. High-paying symbols consist of images depicting a canteen, an axe, a revolver, a bear trap, and a sheriff star, which bring payouts ranging from 10x to 50x the bet for a complete payline spanning all five reels. In addition to regular symbols, there are also Multiplier Wilds in the form of wanted posters, Bounty Hunter Wilds depicted by a male gunslinger, and Bonus symbols represented by a golden buffalo skull.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Dead or Alive 3: Wanted?
You can win up to 66,666x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Dead or Alive 3: Wanted?
The features are Wilds, Free Spins & Super Free Spins, and Feature Buy (Elevate).
Wilds
Two types of Wilds can drop on the reels, each performing a traditional role of substituting for regular symbols during win evaluation. Wanted Wilds are single symbols with a possible multiplier of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, or x100, applied to any wins the Wild participates in. Bounty Hunter Wilds expand to cover the entire reel upon landing and collect multipliers from all Wanted Wilds currently on the grid. If more than one Bounty Hunter Wild is present, the rightmost one will collect multipliers from both types simultaneously. All multiplier values are additive.
Free Spins & Super Free Spins
Landing 3, 4, or 5 Bonus symbols anywhere on the grid during a single spin awards 10 Free Spins. An additional payout of 50x or 2,500x the bet is added for scoring 4 or 5 Bonus symbols, respectively. If only 2 Bonus symbols land, a re-spin is granted with Bonus symbols and Wanted Wilds held in place. When one of the triggering Bonus symbols is a Super Bonus symbol, an enhanced bonus variant will be awarded.
During Free Spins, any Wilds that were present on the triggering base game spin and those landing throughout the bonus stay sticky in their positions, except Bounty Hunter Wilds. Bounty Hunter Wilds additionally leave their total collected multiplier on any Wanted Wilds they overlay. If you manage to lock 5 Wilds on a single reel, you receive 5 extra spins.
The Super Free Spins variant guarantees a Bounty Hunter Wild on a random reel on every spin.
Feature Buy (Elevate)
If running with the outlaws proves to be a harder challenge than expected, you can help yourself to some enhanced spins and instant feature triggers.
2x = guarantees 1 Bonus or Super Bonus symbol to land.
5x = limits the multipliers on Wanted Wilds to x5, x10, x25, x50, and x100, plus doubles the max win cap to 66,666x the bet.
150x = guarantees 2 Bounty Hunter Wilds to land, plus, if Super Free Spins are triggered, each spin guarantees 3 Bounty Hunter Wilds.
100x = activate Free Spins with 3, 4, or 5 Bonus symbols.
1,000x = activate Super Free Spins with 2 Bonus and 1 Super Bonus symbols.
Final Thoughts on Dead or Alive 3: Wanted
Carrying on a legacy the size of the Dead or Alive slot must come with a lot of pressure on the creators. After a decade between the original and the first sequel, and now seven years from that point, players' expectations must be immense as to how the gameplay can get better without violating the familiar formula. Dead or Alive 2 took some risks with additional bonus rounds, but ultimately managed to maintain the core experience. Offering one less and one more volatile variant in addition to the standard Free Spins format seems to have worked well, allowing some players to pick their pace, and others to stick to the original format.
The third part focuses on evolving the Wilds by equipping them with massive multipliers up to x100 and increasing the playing area size (along with increasing the number of paylines) to accommodate the expanding Bounty Hunter Wilds. Naturally, a move like this had to come with some sacrifices applied to the paytable, which now sees most of the regular payouts more or less halved. All these changes feel like a bit of a double-edged sword, since they make the game fit the modern playstyles, which very often rely on multipliers, but at the same time, strip it from the original charm stemming from a classic 5x3 grid and high volatility offered by sizeable payouts on very few paylines. Free Spins tries to maintain the same formula with Sticky Wilds, but for some reason, it doesn't feel like the same bonus we've played in Dead or Alive 1 and 2. Perhaps due to the playing area structure that now requires two more Wilds per reel to be locked in for the additional spins to kick in. Bounty Hunter Wilds are arguably the most influential addition, further emphasising the role of multipliers, but separating the third part from the previous instalments at the same time. Hence, we feel like the game will receive a mixed reception from the players, gaining the favour of the younger crowd and facing criticism from the old-school style enthusiasts.
To wrap up with a word on the audiovisuals, the game clearly tries to fit in with the more rough style of games like Tombstone R.I.P. by Nolimit City and Duel at Dawn by Hacksaw Gaming. It does a pretty good job with the highly refined graphics, introducing a much darker mood than before, as well as the intense soundtrack, which seamlessly adjusts to events happening on the screen. The theme still operates on a relatively predictable imagery, forming a classic Wild West picture, but the layer of coarseness undoubtedly adds character to the scene.
Dead or Alive 3: Wanted applies more disruptive changes to the original mechanics to fit better with the modern trends, while charging the theme with darker, more gruesome vibes.
