Life and Death

By embarking on this sinister journey, you will have to face the impending end of the world, as well as the Four Horsemen who have come to sow terror in the mortal worlds. They embody the harbingers of the end of the world and will come to life on the reels in the form of expanding Wild Multipliers, joined by two bonus features: Devastation and Reckoning, alluding to the ultimate consequences of human actions.

Apocalyptic may be enough to describe the setting of the Life and Death slot machine: once the game starts, we are placed in a dark, black-and-white Gothic cathedral where two silhouettes evoking death greet us on either side of the grid against a dark, progressive soundtrack accompanied by religious chants and the sound of bells.

From a technical standpoint, Life and Death operates on a grid composed of 6×5 reels and 19 paylines, with high volatility and an RTP of 96.36%. Wins can reach up to 15,000x the bet, the ultimate reward for players wishing to challenge the four celestial entities of the New Testament.

A bet of between $0.10 and $100 is enough to initiate the game. The first challenge for players will be to find at least three identical symbols appearing along a payline on adjacent reels, from left to right, starting with the leftmost reel. The A, K, Q, J, and 10 symbols pay between 0.10x and 10x the bet and are followed by higher-paying symbols, which appear heterogeneous but are still part of the religious scene: chalice, sun, hand, head, and heart, which can pay between 0.50x and 50x the bet.

In addition to regular payouts, Life and Death will focus its action on the expanding Wild Multipliers and two bonus games: Devastation and Reckoning, as we will see below.

Life and Death vs. 3 other slots from provider Hacksaw Gaming

Wild Multipliers & Expanding Wild Reels

The Four Horsemen each feature a wild substitution that can replace all other symbols. When a Wild Multiplier contributes to a win, the value of the win is multiplied by the value displayed on the Wild Multiplier. If more than one Wild Multiplier contributes to the same win, their multipliers will be added together before being applied to the win.

Wild Multipliers can appear on reels 2 to 5, and each reel will be connected to a specific Wild Multiplier. Numbered 1 to 4, they will have their own color and different multiplier possibilities:

• Plague Blue: Linked to the second reel, can have a 2x, 3x, or 4x multiplier.
• War Red: Linked to the third reel, can have a 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, or 9x multiplier.
• Famine Yellow: Linked to the fourth reel, can have a 10x, 15x, 20x, or 25x multiplier.
• Death Green: Linked to the fifth reel, can have a 30x, 40x, 50x, 75x, 100x, or 200x multiplier.

Wild Multiplier symbols expand if the expanded Wild Reel can contribute to at least one winning combination once expanded and if it appears on its connected reel. The expanded Wild Reel retains the multiplier of the original Wild Multiplier, covers the entire reel, and replaces all symbols in the paytable. If more than one Wild Reel contributes to the same win, their multipliers will be added together before being applied to the win.

All Wild Multipliers can appear on reels 2 to 5, not just on their connected reel. More than one Wild Multiplier cannot appear on the same reel during a spin.

The Four Skull Wilds not only help complete winning combinations, but they also multiply wins and their values ​​can stack together, increasing the final prize.

Devastation Bonus Game

You will trigger this bonus by landing 4 Scatter symbols in the base game; this will activate the bonus with 10 Free Spins. This bonus maintains the mechanics of the base game but has a higher chance of landing Wild Multipliers. You can trigger 2 or 4 additional spins by landing 2 or 3 Scatter symbols on the screen.

Reckoning Bonus Game

Landing 4 Scatter symbols will activate this bonus with 10 Free Spins. This bonus includes all the features of the base game and the Havoc Bonus, and adds persistent Death Reels. Landing a Wild Multiplier on a connected reel will activate the reel as a Death Reel. When a Death Reel is activated, its connected Wild Multiplier transforms into a Wild Reel, regardless of the center reel it appears on, provided it contributes to at least one winning combination.

Bonus Buy

It will be possible to purchase access to the Devastation or Reckoning bonuses for 100x or 200x the bet respectively. Also, by purchasing the Bonushunt Featurespins option for 3x the bet, you will have 5 times more chances to trigger one of the bonuses. Furthermore, the Four Horsemen Featurespins feature guarantees that at least 3 Wild Multipliers appear on the reels for 60x the bet per spin.

Cross the Line Between Life and Death

It’s quite funny to see how Hacksaw Gaming can juggle cute game worlds with some truly dark ones. While Get The Cheese was on the more adorable side of the spectrum, Life and Death is on the opposite, darker side.

And yet, this type of title shares similarities in terms of gameplay, particularly with the presence of Wild Multipliers (a studio specialty, it must be said!). Here in Life and Death, these Wild Multipliers can expand when linked to their specific reel. In the Reckoning bonus, it’s even better because the expansion of these Wild Multipliers is not only more frequent, but also more open. Either way, at any given moment during the game, you can expect to walk away with 15,000x the bet, so it might be worth taking on the four horsemen of the apocalypse!