Dead Man’s Trail is a brand-new video slot from Relax Gaming, and this pirate-inspired game offers some fantastic win-potential – in fact, we’ve already seen players hitting the max win just weeks after the game’s release! Dead Man’s Trail is built around a 5-reel, 4-row format, and there’s 40 fixed paylines in play at all times. You can spin the reels from between 0.10 and 20 credits per spin at some of the best UK casino sites.
Like most of Relax Gaming’s slots (that come with a feature buy option) there’s two different RTPs. The default RTP of Dead Man’s Trail is 96.29%, but if you use the bonus buy this increases to 98%. Keep reading out Dead Man’s Trail slot review to find out more about the game, what it has to offer – and what we think of it!
Dead Man’s Trail Slot: Theme, Design, and Layout
In a rather unusual twist, Relax Gaming has designed Dead Man’s Trail not in the tropical paradise that pirate-inspired video slots are usually set in; instead, it looks as though the pirates have got lost, finding themselves stranded on a pacific island with tropical storms blowing through.
The graphics are fantastic – the game developer has really done an excellent job here – and to the right-hand-side of the reels you’ll see an incredibly detailed pirate ship, complete with masts and sails.
Everything else about Dead Man’s Trail is relatively conventional, and like all of the software provider’s games there’s an autoplay option and a quickspin feature available (provided you’re located outside of the UK.) If you are residing in the UK make sure you check our list of new bingo sites to see which operators offer this game.
Special Symbols, Bonus Features, and Gameplay
Dead Man’s Trail contains a number of special symbols, all of which can contribute towards various bonuses and features. We’re going to be looking at these – and how they work – below.
Dead Man’s Trail Slot: Bonus Features
Dead Man’s Trail is all about the bonuses and features, and there’s two of them; the first is a coin feature which occurs during the base-game, and you’ll notice that special coin symbols can land on the reels – although it seems to be pretty rare for this feature to trigger despite it not typically paying very well.
All of these coins display a random bet multiplier on them, and if you manage to land three or more of them anywhere in view (they have to be on at least three different reels) then you’ll be awarded the multiplier value of all the coins that currently appear on your screen. It’s not an amazing feature but it does spice up the base-game a little bit.
The main bonus round in Dead Man’s Trail is called, fittingly, the Dead Man’s Trail Bonus. This is triggered by landing 3, 4, or 5 of the scatter symbols anywhere in view, and you’ll then be taken to a new screen where you’ll see a map, covered in a trail.
It’s basically a progression-based trail that you move around, and to the left-hand-side of your screen you’ll see a counter that rolls between 1-9; each time this counter stops on a number you move that many steps around the map – and the type of tile you land on determines what kind of prize you get, or whether the bonus is over.
Now, there’s two main types of tiles; normal tiles and skull and crossbones tiles; the latter ends the bonus if you land on one of them while the former awards you the cash prize that’s displayed on it. You’ll also notice chests, and landing on these will award one of the following special perks:
Scout: this adds either +100 or +1,000 to one of the random normal tiles
One-Eye: this multiplies the value of a normal tile by between 2x and 5x, and can repeat up to 4 times
Commander: this adds +3 or +5 to all tiles on the map
Collect & Commander: this adds the sum of all normal tiles to one special tile, as well as to your total win
Reset: this removes all of the skull and crossbones from the board
Super reset: the same as the reset, but all end tiles are replaced with chests instead of normal tiles
Persistent Scout: this is identical to the scout feature, but it’s persistent until the end of the bonus round
Persistent One-Eye: again, this is like the One-Eye, and it simply means that the feature is in-play until the end of the bonus round
Persistent Commander: again, this is like the normal Commander, but it’s persistent – so it activates at the end of every turn until the bonus round is over
As we mentioned earlier, some versions of Dead Man’s Trail also have a Bonus Buy feature; this allows you to purchase direct entry to the bonus round for a cost of 100x your stake; and, as we mentioned, playing Dead Man’s Trail with only the feature buy increases the game’s RTP of 98%.
Conclusion
Dead Man’s Trail is another excellent release from Relax Gaming, and like most of the game developer’s recent video slots it offers some fantastic win-potential – up to 50,000x your stake from the Dead Man’s Trail bonus!
While the base-game may be a little lacking in terms of bonuses and features (the coin feature is a little underwhelming, to be honest) the main bonus round is incredibly exciting – and we really like the fact that it’s not too fast-paced, so you actually get to enjoy the action.
Dead Man’s Trail slot looks great, plays smoothly – and it’s also fully mobile-optimized – so if you’re looking for a new slot to try out with a slightly different bonus round, it’s a game we recommend you play today!
If you like this developer, make sure you try Helios’ Fury slot and for something a little bit different, Nolimit City’s Evil Goblins slot is worth a few spins if you have the necessary bankroll.
