Duel at Dawn Demo: Free Play and Review
Updated Demo client 1.41.0Hacksaw Gaming, November 2024
Two kinds of wild reel decide almost every good spin in Duel at Dawn, Hacksaw Gaming's western from November 2024. A VS symbol turns into a DuelReel where the Outlaw and the Sheriff fight over the multiplier, and an Outlaw symbol becomes a wild reel that shoots extra wilds onto the 5x5 grid. Both carry multipliers from 2x to 200x, and the cap is 15,000x.
- Provider
- Hacksaw Gaming
- Released
- November 2024
- Grid and wins
- 5x5, 19 paylines
- Volatility
- 4 out of 5 (Hacksaw)
- RTP
- 96.30% default. Lower versions not published by Hacksaw
- Max win
- 15,000x the bet
- Demo bet range
- €0.10 to €2,000.00, starts at €2.00
- Buy menu
- 5 options, 3x to 200x the bet
- Wild reels
- DuelReels (VS symbol) and Outlaw reels, multipliers 2x to 200x, added together when several join one win
- Max win reachable in
- All game modes
United States
Real-money play at Cafe Casino
Play Duel at Dawn demo
The studio's own demo with virtual credits. No account, deposit or download.
Same game, real money
Cafe Casino offers Duel at Dawn for real money, with a welcome bonus for players from the United States:
300% up to $2,000 + 150 FS 18+ · T&Cs apply · check the RTP in Game info · the demo stays free
18+Demo mode uses virtual credits and pays nothing out. Real-money play is for adults only.
The demo loads Hacksaw's client at a €2.00 stake with €5,000 of fun money. Stakes run from €0.10 to €2,000, and the buy menu is the one casinos show where buys are allowed.
DuelReels and Outlaw reels
A VS symbol expands only when the full wild reel it becomes would be part of a winning line. The reel then shows two duelists with a multiplier each, and the survivor's value applies to every win that runs through that reel. If two DuelReels join the same win, their multipliers are added, not multiplied.
The Outlaw works differently. He expands into a wild reel with a revolver holding one to six bullets, and each bullet becomes a wild somewhere on the grid. Two Outlaws can share a spin but never hit the same positions or each other, only one can land per reel, and a VS symbol and an Outlaw never appear together.
Most DuelReels we saw on screen settled low, at 2x or 5x. The higher values on the list, 75x, 100x and 200x, are rare; Wild Wild West raises the chance of seeing them. In our 500-spin log, 12 of the 19 base wins of 3x or more came from Outlaw reels and 7 from duels.
Is Duel at Dawn a sequel to Wanted Dead or a Wild?
It is a separate game, not a numbered sequel. Hacksaw released Duel at Dawn in November 2024: DuelReels return, the Outlaw reel is new, and the game has 19 lines and a 15,000x cap. The confusion comes from Wanted Dead or a Wild, the 2021 western whose middle bonus round is also called Duel at Dawn.
If you came here looking for that bonus round, it is covered in our Wanted Dead or a Wild review.
Paytable on 19 lines
Wins pay left to right on 19 fixed lines, and only the highest win per line counts. Multiples of the bet from the paytable at €2.00:
| Symbol | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| J, Q, K, A | 0.1x | 0.5x | 1x |
| Wagon wheel, bull skull | 0.5x | 1.5x | 3x |
| Cowboy hat, crossed revolvers | 1x | 3x | 6x |
| Sheriff badge | 2x | 5x | 10x |
| Wild | - | - | 10x |
A full DuelReel counts as five wilds in a column, so a single reel at 10x can lift a modest sheriff line from 2x to 20x.
Wild Wild West and Dusk 'til Dawn
The number of FS scatters that land together picks the bonus. Three give Wild Wild West, four give Dusk 'til Dawn, and both start with 10 free spins.
| Bonus | Trigger | How it plays |
|---|---|---|
| Wild Wild West | 3 FS | Base game rules with more VS and Outlaw symbols and a better chance of high multipliers; 2 FS add 2 spins, 3 FS add 4 |
| Dusk 'til Dawn | 4 FS | VS symbols appear only in DuelSpins; each Outlaw that fires all six bullets unlocks one, up to four |
The DuelSpins of Dusk 'til Dawn escalate. The first guarantees at least two VS symbols, the second three, the third four, and the fourth lands five, one on every reel. Each DuelSpin is played straight after the spin that unlocked it, does not use up a free spin and adds three more.
That round paid €249.80, 124.9x the bet, without a single retrigger. Later we bought Wild Wild West for €200 to compare; ten spins returned €122.20, 61.1x the stake and about 61% of the price.
500 logged spins at €2.00
Separately from the on-screen play, a script ran 500 base spins on Hacksaw's demo server and logged each stake and win.
Both bonuses in the log were Wild Wild West. The first, on spin 100, paid 144.1x and pulled the balance from €4,878.40 to its peak of €5,164.60; the second, on spin 329, paid 55.0x. Between and after them the base game was quiet: the best ordinary spin, number 441, paid 17.1x, and the longest run without a win lasted 26 spins.
The run closed at its lowest balance, €4,732.20, a return of 73.2% on the stakes. With two bonuses worth almost 200x between them, that result says more about how short 500 spins are than about the 96.30% RTP.
Duel at Dawn buy menu
Five cards: three kinds of FeatureSpins, charged on every spin until switched off, and the two bonuses.
| Option | Price | At €2.00 | RTP | Volatility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BonusHunt FeatureSpins Each spin is 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game | 3x per spin | €6.00 | 96.32% | Very high |
| Deadly Duels FeatureSpins At least 2 VS symbols land on each spin | 60x per spin | €120.00 | 96.35% | High |
| Lone Outlaw FeatureSpins At least 1 Outlaw symbol with 2 or more bullets lands on each spin | 60x per spin | €120.00 | 96.31% | High |
| Wild Wild West 10 free spins with more VS and Outlaw symbols | 100x | €200.00 | 96.31% | Very high |
| Dusk 'til Dawn 10 free spins with progressively stronger DuelSpins | 200x | €400.00 | 96.30% | Very high |
Deadly Duels and Lone Outlaw are the interesting ones: at 60x per spin they guarantee at least two VS symbols or an Outlaw with two or more bullets, but no FS scatter can land while they are active. All buy options return between 96.30% and 96.35%.
Duel at Dawn FAQ
Checked against the Game info screen of the demo. The rest of our Hacksaw reviews are on the home page.
What is the highest multiplier in Duel at Dawn?
A single DuelReel or Outlaw reel can carry up to 200x. When several of them are part of the same win, their multipliers are added before the win is paid.
How many paylines does Duel at Dawn have?
Nineteen fixed lines on a 5x5 grid, paying from left to right. Only the highest win on each line is paid.
Can the 15,000x max win land in the base game?
Yes. The rules say the cap can be reached in all game modes. When it is reached, the round ends at once and any remaining free spins are lost.
What does the Outlaw symbol do?
It expands into a wild reel and shoots one to six extra wilds onto the grid, one per bullet in its revolver. Its reel also carries a multiplier between 2x and 200x.
What is the RTP of Duel at Dawn?
It is 96.30% in the version the demo runs, the figure printed under the paytable in Game info. Hacksaw's game page does not list lower versions for this title.
Final word on Duel at Dawn
Duel at Dawn is busier than the 2021 western and generous with wild reels: every on-screen win we captured above 3x had a DuelReel or an Outlaw reel in it. The multipliers it actually drew for us were small, though, and the logged run depended on two free spins rounds. The Dusk 'til Dawn ladder of guaranteed VS symbols is the feature worth seeing; it needs four scatters or €400 at the default bet.