Sticky Bandits Wild Return (Quickspin): Overview

When the original Sticky Bandit hit the scene in 2017, it quickly grabbed the attention of the casino streaming crowd. The visuals were top-notch and, even more importantly, it promised a western-style slot with a free spins round featuring huge sticky wild blocks—enough to get many serious players genuinely excited. But once it landed, Sticky Bandits ended up being a major letdown, as the strong concept was undermined by baffling payouts. What could have been an iGaming showdown of the decade against rival studio NetEnt—long a leader in the theme thanks to Dead or Alive—never really became a contest, because Sticky Bandit felt like it brought a toy gun to the duel. Still, it must have done well enough for Quickspin, since the studio is now rolling out a follow-up.

Heading back to the wild west roughly two years later, you’d expect these outlaws to have figured out how to chase richer loot by now. Sticky Bandits Wild Return utilities a setup of 5 reels, 4 rows and 40 paylines, and it’s a clear step up from the first game across the board. Available on all devices with stakes from 40 cents to 100€ per spin, it includes a mini-game that can trigger during the base game and can pay up to 500x your bet. On top of that, there’s a Lucky Shot free spins feature where mega symbols can become wild and remain sticky for the duration of the round. Sound familiar? In plenty of ways, it is—and you’ll see why.

On the visual side, Sticky Bandits Wild Return is seriously impressive. Put it next to the original and it’s obvious how much Quickspin improved in just two years in terms of game design. The detail level is excellent, and the crisp HD artwork plus smooth animations make everything feel more lively and energetic. Quickspin has long been strong on presentation, and this one is no exception. The soundtrack is equally solid for setting a gun-slinging tone, while the reel symbols feature dollar-bill styled A to J card ranks, plus cigar boxes, whiskey glasses, and three outlaws—where the female character is the top payer, awarding 10 times your stake for five of a kind. All symbols can appear fully stacked on the reels, including the standard wild, and the three outlaws may also land as mega symbols, covering 2×2 or 3×3 spaces on the grid.

Sticky Bandits Wild Return (Quickspin): Features

The most notable change from the first game is likely the inclusion of the mini-game called the Quick Slot Bonus feature. It activates when a Quick Slot symbol lands in view on the 5th reel during the base game. In short, you receive between one and three spins on a traditional one-armed bandit style machine with just four symbols (cherries, bars, horseshoes and lucky sevens). If three lucky seven’s land, you’ll collect the top prize of 500 times your stake.

The main attraction in Sticky Bandits Wild Return is, unsurprisingly, the Free Spins round. Known as the Lucky Shot Free Spins feature, it’s triggered by hitting three skull scatters anywhere on the reels. You begin with 7 free spins, and whenever an outlaw appears on the reels, a shot is fired that changes a random symbol.  If the shot strikes a 2×2 or 3×3 outlaw mega symbol, every covered position becomes a sticky wild.

Sticky Bandits Wild Return (Quickspin): Verdict

Before you get too carried away, it’s worth noting that from a maths perspective, the improvement isn’t as big as many would hope. The original Sticky Bandits had a rather underwhelming max win of about 700x your bet (739x to be exact, based on what the game achieved during a testing run of 1 billion spins), while the sequel raises the ceiling to roughly 1145 times your stake—a figure you’re still very unlikely to ever hit. With heavy-hitting western releases such as Dead or Alive 2, The One Armed Bandit, and Tombstone having just arrived, it’s hard not to feel that Quickspin has once again missed a prime chance to deliver a truly standout, on-trend slot.

That said, Sticky Bandits Wild Return delivers strongly in almost every other area and should be a big hit with casual players. The reality is that the hardcore gambler bubble is fairly small compared to the wider audience. Sticky Bandits Wild Return may not become our first pick whenever we want some wild west action, but we’re definitely interested in giving it a spin or two.