Dead or Alive 2 vs Wanted Dead or a Wild

Dead or Alive 2 vs Wanted Dead or a Wild: the scorecard

Both games borrow the same outlaw imagery, and both sit at the sharp end of high volatility slots. They get there in very different ways. Dead or Alive 2 from NetEnt is lean: nine lines, a quiet base game and a bonus menu built to stretch the ceiling. Wanted Dead or a Wild from Hacksaw Gaming is busier, with a tall 5 × 5 grid and multiplier reels that can fire on any spin.

The scorecard leans to Dead or Alive 2 on numbers, but scorecards don’t capture how a game feels. The sections below explain what each row means at the reels.

Nine lines on 5 × 3 against 15 lines on 5 × 5

Dead or Alive 2 bets on nine fixed paylines across three rows. NetEnt’s page sets the bet as coin value × 9 lines × bet level, so the game’s smallest stakes are in odd steps such as 9p or 18p rather than round 10p or 20p. With so few lines, most base spins miss completely.

Wanted Dead or a Wild uses five rows and 15 lines. More rows means more symbols in view, but the lines are still fixed paths, so it is not a ways game. The taller grid gives the multiplier reels space to cover more lines at once, which is central to how the game pays.

What happens between bonuses

Dead or Alive 2’s base game is deliberately plain: wild substitution, line wins and scatter pays. NetEnt notes that scatters pay from two anywhere and that five scatters in the base game pay 2,500x. Most of the game’s volatility is stored in the free spins.

Wanted Dead or a Wild has more going on. When a VS symbol lands and expanding it would create a win, it turns into a full wild reel and a duel decides a multiplier for that reel. Hacksaw’s rules state that when several wild reels sit on the same win, their multipliers are added together and then applied to the payline win. As an illustration only: wild reels showing x4 and x6 on one line give x10, so a line worth 30p becomes £3.

Because the multiplier reels add rather than multiply, three reels of x5 give x15, not x125. That keeps Wanted’s base game lively without the runaway compounding found in some bonus rounds.

Three bonuses each, matched up

Both games split their bonus into three distinct experiences, and lining them up shows how similar the thinking is.

Dead or Alive 2’s three saloons

Old Saloon doubles all wins and keeps wilds as sticky wilds; NetEnt says sticky wilds on each reel award five extra spins. Train Heist raises the multiplier by one and adds a spin for every wild that lands, with five extra spins on reaching x16. High Noon Saloon turns two wilds on a reel into x2 multiplier wilds and three into x3, and those multipliers multiply together on a shared win: NetEnt’s example is x2 and x3 making x6. NetEnt also states that each mode carries a different RTP.

Wanted Dead or a Wild’s three bonus games

The Great Train Robbery makes every wild sticky so it can join several wins. Duel at Dawn makes multiple VS symbols more likely to land together, expanding up to five DuelReels. Dead Man’s Hand is two-phase: the first collects wilds and multipliers, then the Showdown places the collected wilds on every spin and applies the accumulated multiplier to all wins. Trigger counts and spin numbers are in the game’s help screen.

Picking a Dead or Alive 2 mode: a simple routine

Dead or Alive 2 is one of the few slots where you choose the bonus. The choice changes the shape of results, not the cost of play, so a routine helps.

1. Before your session, read the rules for each mode in the help screen, including its RTP if listed.
2. Decide what you want from a bonus: steadier results (Old Saloon) or rare, very large ones (High Noon Saloon).
3. Pick Train Heist if you like a round whose value and length grow together.
4. Commit to one mode for the session so you can judge it fairly, rather than switching after each result.
5. Treat a weak bonus as normal; on high volatility games many rounds pay less than the stake spent reaching them.

Dead or Alive 2 vs Wanted Dead or a Wild RTP

Dead or Alive 2’s verified RTP is 96.82%, a house edge of 3.18%. Wanted Dead or a Wild’s top figure is 96.38%, and Hacksaw lists three lower versions. The table shows the theoretical cost of £300 staked, for example 1,500 spins at 20p.

At their top versions, the gap is £1.32 on £300. At Wanted’s lowest version, the same play costs more than three and a half times as much as Dead or Alive 2. Our guide to slot RTP versions shows how to spot which one you’re on.

111,111x and 12,500x in pounds

Note that Dead or Alive 2’s nine-line staking means a true 10p or 20p bet may not exist; the figures simply show the multiple. More importantly, a max win is a ceiling, not an expectation. Dead or Alive 2’s far higher cap sits on top of a similar RTP, which means the extra headroom is paid for by more rounds that return little. The clips of top-end results that circulate online usually involve bonus buys and stakes unavailable in Great Britain; our guide to slot streamers and big wins explains why.

Playing both under UK rules

Both developers list a bonus buy, and both are switched off for British players, so every bonus here starts from scatters in normal play. NetEnt’s page also mentions autoplay, which isn’t available on UK slots. The usual limits apply: £5 per spin from age 25, £2 for 18 to 24-year-olds, at least 2.5 seconds per spin, no turbo, and demos only after age verification. The full set is in our UK slot rules guide.

Other Western slots to compare

The original Dead or Alive is the simpler ancestor with one sticky-wild bonus. Chaos Crew shares Wanted’s 5 × 5, 15-line format. More titles sit in our Wild West slots collection.

Who each game suits

Choose Dead or Alive 2 if you prefer a classic line slot and like controlling how the bonus behaves. Choose Wanted Dead or a Wild if you want regular moments of action in the base game. On either, plan for long losing runs and set a deposit limit first.

Where to play Dead or Alive 2 or Wanted Dead or a Wild

NetEnt and Hacksaw games are widely available at UK-licensed casinos, but we can’t confirm which of our partners lists these two, so search the lobby and check the RTP first. Casumo matches 50% of a first deposit of £20 or more up to £100 (opt in, wager the bonus 10x within 7 days, £5 maximum bet). 10bet matches a first deposit 100% up to £25, wagered 10x on slots within 3 days, with bonus winnings capped at £1,000. Ladbrokes gives 50 free 10p spins a day for 10 days on selected games after £10 on slots, with no wagering. 18+, terms apply.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Set a deposit limit before you play: how to set limits. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.