Wild Outlaws: Slot Overview

Saddle up for a Wild West ride with software provider Light & Wonder and their trigger-happy online slot called Wild Outlaws. The title ‘Wild Outlaws’ sounds like a bold claim, bringing to mind hard cases tearing across the frontier, robbing stagecoaches, blasting up saloons, and causing all kinds of trouble. So, let’s head into Wild Outlaws and find out what sort of Western adventure the Light & Wonder crew has put together.

To be honest, the initial impact wasn’t especially strong. Wild West slots are everywhere; it feels like another batch lands almost every month. Light & Wonder aren’t newcomers to the theme, yet Wild Outlaws doesn’t immediately show that experience. Visually it comes across as a bit dated, with a familiar dusty-town backdrop that doesn’t offer much character or sparkle, and it doesn’t really capture much of the genre’s charm. The soundtrack is fairly enjoyable, though.

Putting presentation to one side, Wild Outlaws runs on a 6-reel layout with 4 symbols per reel, giving players 4,096 ways to win. It’s a medium-high volatile slot where payouts land when at least three matching symbols connect from left to right, beginning on reel one, and it comes with a default theoretical return of 96%. To get started, choose a base stake of 20 p/c to $/€10 per spin, then decide whether to enable the Gamble feature and the Premium Play mode. Both are explained below.

Shiny 9-A card ranks act as the lower-paying symbols in Wild Outlaws, paying out coin prizes of 0.4 to 1 times the bet for six-of-a-kind, while six of the boots, hats, skulls, or money bags deliver 1.5 to 10 times the bet. Wanted poster icons serve as wild symbols, appearing naturally on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5, and they can also be placed on reels 1 and 6 via the Wild Revolver Bonus. Wilds can replace any regular paying symbol.

Wild Outlaws: Slot Features

The Wild Revolver Bonus can activate (not guaranteed) when 2 scatter symbols appear on the reels. If it kicks in, the scatters turn wild, and 3 to 5 bullet holes are fired onto the grid, which then transform into wild symbols.

Free Spins Bonus

Hitting 3 Bonus symbols launches the free spins bonus. Each Bonus symbol spins and shows a value from 1-6. These values are totalled to determine how many free spins are awarded. In the free spins round, 4 locked positions are placed above reels 2-5. Whenever a wild symbol lands on reels 2-5, once wins are evaluated, a duplicate of it moves to the top of the reel, where it becomes a sticky wild for the remainder of the feature. If a wild symbol moves up and a sticky wild is already present on that reel, the sticky wild is awarded a multiplier. This multiplier equals the number of wild symbols locked on the reel. If 2 Bonus symbols land, the Wild Revolver Bonus may trigger. Or, if 3 Bonus symbols land, the scatters spin to decide the number of additional free spins.

Premium Play

Turning on Premium Play increases the base bet by 50%. In return, if a win larger than 1.6x the Premium Play stake lands, The Sheriff Bonus triggers. Then 12 Sheriff badges show up, and players choose one to reveal a cash prize of x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, or free spins. If free spins are won, the game returns to the base round and the reels spin to start the free spins feature.

Gamble Feature

With the Gamble option enabled, the Gamble feature is triggered when 5x the stake or more is won. If Premium Play is switched on, the Gamble feature activates at 2.5x the Premium Play stake amount. The Gamble screen offers two choices – double the current win or free spins. Players may change the gamble, collect, or continue gambling – up to a set cap. A maximum of 30 free spins can be won, and wins cannot exceed 10,000x the bet.

Wild Outlaws: Slot Verdict

In theory, you can be wild without being an outlaw, so can you be an outlaw without being wild? Maybe—who knows; perhaps we had Wittgenstein-style language puzzles on the brain, but that was one of the odd thoughts that popped up while reviewing Wild Outlaws. Another was: is this a new release? Presumably yes, yet it really does look old-fashioned, and as often happens, it’s tough to tell whether the studio aimed for a deliberate retro vibe or not. Wild Outlaws appears like it could have launched years before the last Light & Wonder Western slot we covered, Wild Showdown, so it’s hard to say.

That’s unfortunate, because there are genuinely appealing concepts here. The Premium Play mode, for instance, is a compelling idea, and it doesn’t demand massive wins to set it off. Land a win above 1.6x and you get a shot at improving it with a multiplier or even kicking off free spins, which did happen during the review, so it’s certainly achievable. The Gamble feature is also tempting since it appears on wins of 5x the bet or more – both extras have fairly accessible entry conditions. For comparison, Big Time Gaming’s Win Exchange usually arrives around the 25-100x level to gamble or the 100x swap for free spins. They’re clearly targeting different types of gamblers, but each approach has its strengths, and Wild Outlaws’ setup feels like it could suit a particular audience.

The remaining features are solid enough as well, so the main stumbling block seems to be Wild Outlaws’ overall presentation and lack of a standout identity, though taste is subjective. With more charm, more punch, or a less dated look, the positives Wild Outlaws brings to the table would likely have stood out far more.