Buckshot Wilds: Slot Overview

The Wild West library of online slots is a long-running staple, packed with everything from instantly forgettable titles to genuinely top-tier games. One developer that’s carved out a reputation in this crowded space is the seasoned casino studio NetEnt, thanks in large part to smash hits Dead or Alive and Dead or Alive 2. Those two games don’t mess around, yet they can deliver serious moments of glory when the bullets—or wilds and multipliers—start landing the right way. So when a fresh Western slot rides out of NetEnt HQ and ambles into town looking for action, it’s only natural that attention spikes.

Set in a parched, rocky stretch of frontier, Buckshot Wilds takes place in a small town out in the dust. In the base game, the viewpoint sits high above the surroundings, letting you soak in the oil painting-style look NetEnt has used to build the landscape. Push into the free spins feature and the action shifts into town at night—neat and orderly, not exactly the rowdy den of temptation you’d expect to lure in local desperados after a hard week of stagecoach robberies or cattle rustling. In a way, that mirrors how Buckshot Wilds plays overall.

Buckshot Wilds runs on an expandable grid that begins at 5 reels, 4 rows, and 20 paylines, but it can grow to 8 rows with 40 paylines active. It’s a medium-high volatile slot, with a default RTP of 96.04%, though lower configurations exist too. Players can wager from 20 c per spin up to $/€100. The paytable features Western-styled card royals, character symbols, and pistols, forming wins when matching icons land left to right starting from the leftmost reel.

Buckshot Wilds: Slot Features

Buckshot Wilds includes wilds, expanding wilds, expanding reels, free spins, a bonus bet, and feature buys.

Wilds & Expanding Wilds

Wilds make it easier to complete winning combinations by substituting for any standard pay symbol. Wilds stay on the reels, shifting down 1 position each spin before dropping off the bottom of the grid. If a wild lands over a trigger symbol, it activates a symbol shootout. At that point, the vertically, horizontally, or diagonally adjacent symbols convert to wilds. These are cleared away before the next spin.

Expanding Reels

On any spin, the reels can expand at random, growing to 8-rows high. Any wild sitting in the top four rows is cloned 4 positions downwards on its reel. Once the spin ends, the reels shrink back to their default height.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols awards 6, 10, or 15 free spins, respectively. During free spins, the grid remains at the full 8-row setting for the duration of the round. On the opening spin, 1 to 3 wilds are present, and +1 new wild is guaranteed on each spin. Any scatter symbol that hits grants an extra free spin.

Bonus Bet & Feature Buy

Turning on the Bonus Bet doubles the stake in exchange for guaranteed wilds in the base game, plus greater chances of getting Expanding Reels and free spins. In addition, scatters may land on the reels, awarding extra free spins. Finally, paying 100x the bet purchases the standard free spins round, while 125x buys free spins with the Bonus Bet enabled.

Buckshot Wilds: Slot Verdict

You know those fearless rodeo riders who sit on a bull in the chute, waiting for the gate to swing open—then the animal explodes into chaos, trying to launch them into the dirt before stomping or goring them? NetEnt’s first release of 2024 felt like the complete reverse of that. The gate eased open, a cautious creature peeked out, sniffed the air, and then wandered into the arena without a care, while the crowd offered a slow, polite clap.

To be fair, NetEnt builds casino games for all kinds of players, and Buckshot Wilds is clearly targeting a different taste than those who see Dead or Alive 2 as the ultimate Wild West slot. No offence intended—just calling it as it plays—but Buckshot Wilds comes across like something you might expect from a mid-tier studio, not the one that previously helped redefine the Western genre. Visually, it leans toward the vibe of Western Gold 2 or even Quickspin’s Sticky Bandits, though it also resembles plenty of other Western slots out there. What really set Buckshot Wilds apart wasn’t the familiar look or the familiar mechanics, but its extremely low max win of 859x max win (theoretically landing 1 in 50 million spins), which drains much—if not all—of the thrill from wondering what expanded-reel wild line action might deliver. The answer: not a lot.

Still, NetEnt’s 2023 was a mixed ride, ranging from the strong stuff (The Wish Master Megaways and Lost Relics 2, for instance) to the weaker end (101 Candies) with plenty sitting in the middle. With Buckshot Wilds, the studio hasn’t exactly kicked off 2024 with fireworks—unless low-upside, low-adrenaline Westerns are exactly your thing. We’ll see how the rest of the year unfolds, and whether NetEnt settles further into a comfortable groove or decides to stretch its creative muscles and remind the newer challengers what polished slot design can look like.