Deadly 5

Push Gaming were one of the first providers to be known for their highly volatile releases, and this didn’t stop with their latest release, Mad Cars. However, it seems the team have now decided to broaden their horizons and offer something for every player, as their next release takes a step away from what we know – with medium volatility levels. With a very simple concept at its core, Deadly 5 offers players wins up to 5,000x bet, and a default RTP of 96.39% (lower versions available).

Deadly 5 Base Game

We’re in the Wild West, with the classic Push Gaming graphics that we’ve come to love – things are lively and bright, with cacti in the corners, and a saloon visible to the left. Everything is given a faded out look, to keep the focus on the wooden reels where the action happens. Audios are suitably western, but really come into their own when the big win count up begins, polishing the whole thing off.

Deadly 5 Base Features

Taking place across 5 reels, wins are formed on Deadly 5 by matching at least 3 symbols on consecutive reels, beginning with the leftmost reel, along one of the 20 fixed win lines available. We begin with non-premiums – horse shoes and boots, each paying between 0.40 and 4x bet for 3-5 of a kind matches. Following this, we have flasks and guns in holsters, both awarding wins between 0.50 and 5x bet, again for matches between 3 and 5 of a kind. At the premium end, we meet four characters – blue, green, pink, and red/orange. Landing 3 of a kind character symbols will produce wins between 1 and 2.5x bet, with this increasing to impressive values between 37.5 and 75x bet for 5 of a kind. Finally, we have Wild Symbols, and Scatter Safe Symbols – land 3, 4, or 5 Wild Symbols to see wins of 5, 25, and 250x bet, respectively. Wild Symbols substitute for all symbols except Safe Symbols.

Deadly 5 Features 20 Fixed Win Lines

That’s pretty much it as far as the base game goes – there are no additional features on offer. This seems particularly strange with so many games produced nowadays stuffed full of features, but Deadly 5 has taken a different approach. In this release, it’s all about the Sheriff’s Bonus Round, which we’ll cover below. Until you trigger the bonus, it’s just a case of hoping you see decent wins, especially those involving Wilds, for wins up to 250x bet – not bad results for a game with no real base offering.

3 or More Bonus Symbols Trigger the Sheriff’s Bonus Feature

Deadly 5 Bonus

Land 3 or more Scatter Symbols to trigger the Sheriff’s Bonus Feature:

• 3 Scatters – 10 Free Spins, and 3x Instant Win
• 4 Scatters – 15 Free Spins, and 10x Instant Win
• 5 Scatters – 20 Free Spins, and 50x Instant Win

When Free Spins begin, a Sheriff Wild Symbol will appear on reel 5. The Sheriff Wild Symbol is a Full Reel Sticky Wild Symbol, and will remain on reel 5 for the duration of Free Spins, substituting for all pay symbols.

High Paying Symbols Can Become Expanding Wilds in the Sheriff’s Bonus

During Free Spins, the four high paying character symbols can act as Expanding Wild Symbols, substituting for all pay symbols. Above each reel is a Wanted Poster that corresponds to one of these high paying symbols, and if the relevant symbol lands beneath its Wanted Poster, it will expand into a Full Reel Wild Symbol. On every new Free Spin, any expanded symbols will spin off, with the exception of the Sheriff Wild Symbol on reel 5, which sticks for the duration of Free Spins. Symbols required on each reel are as follows:

• Reel 1 – Land Billy the Bull to expand to a Full Reel Wild Symbol.
• Reel 2 – Land Eliza ‘Ryder’ to expand to a Full Reel Wild Symbol.
• Reel 3 – Land Irene ‘Bullseye’ to expand to a Full Reel Wild Symbol.
• Reel 4 – Land El Fuego to expand to a Full Reel Wild Symbol.
• Reel 5 – The Sheriff Wild Symbol is present for the duration of Free Spins, acting as a Full Reel Sticky Wild Symbol.

Players in appropriate regions can buy Free Spins for a cost of 80x bet, where 3, 4, or 5 Scatters may land. The RTP when buying the bonus is 96.51%.

The maximum win available in Deadly 5 is 5,000x bet – if the total win of a single game round exceeds this, the game round will end and 5,000x bet will be awarded.

Deadly 5 Bonus

First Impression

There isn’t a great deal to say about Deadly 5. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, and I think we should be cautious to criticise games that aren’t highly volatile with insane win caps – there is definitely a place for those, but there’s also a place for the more simple releases, of which Deadly 5 is one. It’s definitely an interesting idea to release a slot with a volatility label of medium, especially from a studio like Push Gaming, from whom we’ve come to expect some of the most brutal maths models.

That said, the casual player will probably enjoy Deadly 5, and with wins available up to 5,000x bet, there will be many players delighted with their results. Of course, Push Gaming have given us far bigger win possibilities in the past, but 5,000x bet is nothing to be sniffed at. More experienced players – in particular those in Bonus Buy regions or streamers – will probably have a good time buying the feature and hunting a full screen of Wilds, especially for a cost as low as 80x bet, and the probability of seeing the max win significantly more appealing than many other releases.

Basically, it’s all very simple – you want as many Scatters as possible for a bigger trigger, and you want to try and match your Wanted Posters to see a full screen of Wilds, which will reward you with the 5,000x bet maximum win. It’s more or less what you look for in Hacksaw Gaming’s Wanted Dead or a Wild Duel at Dawn bonus, except Duel at Dawn can produce wins 2.5 times as big. This comes at a cost though, and with Deadly 5 offering the same goal, for less than half the cost, and with less volatile results, we wouldn’t be surprised to see players gravitate in Push Gaming’s direction in the battle of the Wild West. The final thing to mention is the RTP – the default 96.39% will be acceptable to anyone, but versions do go as low as 88.29% in some regions, so as always it’s worth checking this beforehand.

Overall, Deadly 5 probably won’t become a flagship of the Push portfolio, but that doesn’t write it off, and we expect to see plenty of players give it its fair chance, if not only to have a break from the extreme volatility surrounding us lately.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.