Slots review Relax Gaming Dead Man’s Trail

Dead Man’s Trail: Slot Overview

Dead Man’s Trail is a pirate-themed slot from developer Relax Gaming, built around a lengthy bonus round that can deliver some hefty plunder. Pirate slots often invite the usual “to the high seas” intro—raise the sails, taste the salty air, and cruise cheerfully toward the unknown. Dead Man’s Trail doesn’t really go there. Instead, it feels like slipping quietly into foggy coves, doing questionable business in shadowy corners, and cutting deals with dubious types in even more dubious taverns. Put simply, it’s a darker take on pirate life, supported by a base game Coin feature and the Dead Man’s Trail Bonus.

It looks like hurricane season in the Caribbean as a ship drifts into a harbour framed by huge mountains, with other galleons pitching in choppy water nearby. Dead Man’s Trail is seriously brooding, set in a rough shantytown packed with suspicious sailors. The game is wrapped in thick atmosphere, delivering audio and visuals that aren’t the first thing you’d expect from Relax Gaming. Think back to Sails of Fortune—next to this, it’s basically Disney’s It’s a Small World. Dead Man’s Trail heads in the opposite direction to offer a satisfyingly grim experience.

Gameplay runs on a 5×4 grid with 40 payline action, and stakes range from 10 p/c to $/€20 per spin. While the presentation may not scream Relax at first glance, the numbers are very much in the studio’s wheelhouse. For starters, volatility is high—one moment you’re convinced you’ve found the ‘X’ on the map, the next it’s gone with the breeze. The RTP sits at a nicely standard 96.29%. Also worth noting: there’s a jackpot edition called Dead Man’s Trail Dream Drop with an RTP of 94.0%.

The paytable includes eight regular symbols, evenly split between four higher-paying icons and four J-A tiles. The premium set features four character symbols: an eyepatched hero, a world-weary piratess, a governor-like figure (likely not entirely clean), and a tough-looking man with what seems to be a map tattooed across his bald head. Not the most reliable crew, but they still return 5 to 30 times the stake for five of a kind on a payline. Wilds pay double the top premium when five land on a payline, and they also substitute for all paying symbols to help complete wins.

Dead Man’s Trail: Slot Features

Dead Man’s Trail includes two added elements. The first is a Coin feature that can appear during the base game, and the second is the Dead Man’s Trail Bonus, which may be triggered naturally or purchased where allowed.

The Coin feature is a straightforward add-on that helps keep the base game from feeling too flat. Special coin symbols can land on any reel and show a bet multiplier value. When coins appear on at least three different reels at once, you’re paid the combined total of all coin values currently on the screen.

Hitting 3 or more bonus symbols activates the Dead Man’s Trail Bonus. The reels are removed, and play shifts to a bonus round played on a map covered in a trail that your pawn travels along. Each turn reveals a random number from 1-9, moving you that many spaces around the route. Wherever you land triggers an action based on the tile type. Once a Normal Tile or Mystery Chest has been landed on, it becomes an End Tile.

Normal Tiles show a prize value that you collect. Skull and crossbones tiles are End Tiles; landing on one ends the feature and then pays out your total collected win. The Start Tile activates the Reset Action (explained below), while Chest Tiles can trigger 1 of 11 special actions:

Scout: adds +100 to +1,000 to a random Normal Tile.
One-Eye: multiplies the value of a normal tile by x2-x5, repeats 2-4 times.
Commander: adds +3 to +5 to all normal tiles.
Collector: collects the summed value of all normal tiles to the total win.
Collect & Command: adds the summed value of all normal tiles to each Normal Tile, as well as to the total win.
Reset: replaces all End Tiles with Normal Tiles
Super Reset: replaces all End Tiles with temporary Mystery Chests.
Coin Win: random coin win of 25x to 50x is added to the total win.
Persistent Scout: works like Scout but acts at the end of every turn.
Persistent One-Eye: works like One-Eye, but acts at the end of every turn.
Persistent Commander: works like Commander but acts at the end of every turn.

Where the option exists, you can jump straight into the Dead Man’s Trail feature by purchasing it for 100 times the total stake. This guarantees at least 3 bonus symbols on the next spin. The feature buy carries a theoretical return value of 98%.

Dead Man’s Trail: Slot Verdict

Dead Man’s Trail shows off a different side of Relax Gaming while still delivering the studio’s familiar mix of high volatility and big-win potential. It steps away from the brighter, cartoonish vibe in favour of a grittier, more grounded style, which suits the theme and feels like a refreshing change. As for gameplay, the base game mainly serves as the engine you spin through to reach the bonus, though the Coin feature does pop in now and then to shake things up with the occasional extra payout.

The real upside sits in the Dead Man’s Trail feature, where the strongest potential lives. On paper, it can sound a bit like Money Train 2, but in practice it plays quite differently. Rather than chasing Bonus Symbols through streak respins, you’re collecting rewards as you travel around the trail. That said, there’s still a hint of MT2 in the way Normal Tile values can stack up while you hope special actions arrive to push the win higher.

There are two main routes to getting the most from the bonus. The first is landing Reset, either via chests or by returning to the starting tile. This is hugely helpful, as it removes all End Tiles and opens up more room to keep the run going. The second is landing special actions that can be just as transformative here as they are in Money Train 2—especially the persistent ones. Without Mystery Chest actions, it’s much harder to build meaningful returns from standard Normal Tile values alone.

When Normal Tiles get boosted by Scouts or One-Eyes, for instance, their values can ramp up fast. Individual tiles can reach as high as 10,000x the bet, and the maximum win is capped at 50,000x. As with MT2, you’ll generally need a good amount of special actions to really make it count.

The Dead Man’s Trail feature won’t suit every player. It can feel brutal to finally trigger it and then exit early before you’ve built anything worthwhile. That sting is even sharper if you’ve bought the feature—though the RTP for doing so is high. On the flip side, the bonus can be genuinely gripping when big values are sitting on the trail and you’re trying to avoid End Tiles long enough to grab them. If you want a change from free spins or streak respins and like the idea of a potentially huge payout, Dead Man’s Trail delivers strong nautical mood along with plenty of tension for players who enjoy taking risks.