Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot (Kalamba Games) Slot Demo & Review

The final season of The Walking Dead recently wrapped up on the US television network AMC, but don’t let that fool you into believing that zombies are going out of fashion! In fact, nothing could be further from the truth – not only is AMC already filming multiple Walking Dead spin-off series, but video game masterpiece The Last of Us has now been recreated as a live-action TV show as well! The hype surrounding these new television shows is effectively free publicity for zombie-themed slots, so I’d expect that Kalamba’s new Megaways Duel of the Dead will be just the first of what could turn into a flood of similar titles throughout the coming year. The game boasts solid vitals – up to 84,035 payways, a 96.22% RTP, and a maximum jackpot of 20,000x the total stake – let’s find out if it has the substance to back them up!

First up, this certainly looks different from your typical Megaways online slot. There are six reels, the first five of which can divide into between two and seven rows on each spin. The sixth reel is a little different – it always features seven rows, but the bottom three are locked until you can open them during the Zombies Go Wild feature. So who is hiding behind the locked cells? None other than notorious gangster Dead Eye Bob! He’s been locked up for shooting a deputy, apparently – whatever the truth of the matter, if he makes it out, then he’s definitely going to shoot the sheriff! The game’s best features are all available to purchase via a bonus buy menu, with prices ranging between 77x and 183x the cost of a single spin.

I’m not sure if a zombie apocalypse actually occurred during the days of the Wild West. If it did, there certainly doesn’t seem to be any surviving evidence of it ever happening! Why not try our free demo slot of Megaways Duel of the Dead, and see if you can get some answers out of Dead Eye Bob? I’d do it myself, but I’m washing my hair.

Duel of the Dead Megaways Slot
ProviderKalamba Games
Reels6
Rows7
Paylines84,035
Bonus Rounds1
Bet Range0.20 - 50
VolatilityHigh
Max Win20,000x
Bonus BuyYes
RTP96.22%
Our Rating6.5

Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot Casino Bonuses


Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot Free Play


Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols

Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot Paytable
Duel of the Dead Megaways slot paytable

If you are a fan of zombie shows such as the aforementioned Walking Dead, the first slot that I recommend you try would have to be AvatarUX’s Zombie aPOPalypse! Hacksaw Gaming has also had a good crack at the genre with their Rotten online slot, but I think I can speak for most slot fanatics when I say that we are all waiting for No Limit City to produce something with a full-on zombie vibe! Sure, we’ve had Rock Bottom, San Quentin, and Serial, but if anybody can create a killer zombie-themed online slot, it would surely be Nolimit City! The reason I say all this is that Megaways Duel of the Dead reminds me a lot of Nolimit City’s games – in particular, the cell in the bottom-right corner looks exactly like that developer’s fantastically grotesque Punk Toilet!

There are five ‘high-paying’ character symbols on the paytable of Duel of the Dead, but the term ‘high-paying’ is always relative when it comes to Megaways slots, isn’t it? The female is the most valuable of the five, but I struggle to reconcile her payout of 5x the total bet with the phrase ‘high-paying symbol’. The rest of the line-up fare even worse, too; two more male gangsters share payouts of 1.5x for a full payway of six of a kind, whilst the remaining two females have returns of only 1x for all six of their symbols. As for the so-called ‘low pays’, six aces, kings, or queens will bag you 0.5x your total bet, whilst six jacks or tens pay slightly less at 0.4x each. With payouts like these, it’s a really good job that the symbols appear in large stacks on all six reels – you’ll need to hit a decent number of those 84,035 payways simultaneously to stand a chance of winning anything close to the 20,000x jackpot.

As for the betting range, Kalamba has implemented minimum/maximum limits of €0.20 and €50.00 per spin, respectively, but I would advise caution before placing bets towards the upper end of this range – the volatility of a slot like this can make quick work of even the largest of bankrolls.


Base Game & Modifiers

Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot Base Game
Duel of the Dead Megaways slot base game

The base game of Megaways Duel of the Dead utilises an unusual playfield layout. Reels one through five can divide into between two and seven rows on each spin, whilst reel six has four standard fixed positions plus another three, which are occupied by the prison cell. Creating a win across this format will require a minimum of three matching symbols ( except the highest value symbol, which is just two ) landing on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost reel first.


Zombies Go Wild

It turns out that the hot blonde who features as the game’s highest-paying symbol is actually the sheriff of this town! Whenever she appears on the screen, she will instantly expand to fill the entire reel before activating the Zombies Go Wild feature.

During this part of the game, all symbols in columns two through five will transform into zombies, becoming targets for our sharpshooting heroine. Whenever the sheriff hits a zombie, its multiplier value will increase by one. When the shooting stops, all zombies with multipliers attached will transform into multiplier wilds.


Duel Feature

If Deadeye Bob appears on the sixth reel during the Zombies Go Wild feature, a shootout will ensue between him and the sheriff. Each time the sheriff scores a hit on Deadeye Bob, up to three multipliers will be scattered across the zombie symbols between the duelling parties. The duel finishes when Deadeye Bob finally manages to land a hit on the sheriff – how sad! Who will lock the miscreant back up in his cell now?


Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot Bonus Features

Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot Free Spins Feature
Duel of the Dead Megaways slot free spins feature

The two base game features are plenty of fun, but you’ll need to reach the free spin bonus round if you want to have a realistic chance of hitting a jackpot win. Three bonus scatters appearing anywhere during the base game will award five free spins, plus one additional spin for any extra scatters that form part of the triggering combination.


Free Spins

The Zombies Go Wild feature works slightly differently during the free spin bonus round. A bullet counter is displayed on the screen, indicating the number of shots the sheriff will use to target zombies on the centre reels.

The odds of triggering the Zombies Go Wild feature are also increased during this part of the game, and a duel is much more likely to occur as well. This is especially important, as wild symbols do not appear during regular spins. While testing this game, I had more than one bonus round where the Zombies Go Wild feature triggered on every free spin!

One additional free spin will be added to your remaining counter for each scatter symbol that lands on the reels whilst the free spins feature is in play.


Bonus Buy

The bonus buy menu offers three choices, all of which guarantee five free spins. The most expensive option costs 183x the regular price per spin and guarantees that at least one dual will occur during the bonus round. The cheapest option costs just 77x, but it still guarantees that the Zombies Go Wild feature will activate during the bonus round -this seems like a real bargain to me.

The final option costs 98x the normal price per spin and offers an 80/20 gamble as to which of the previous two choices will be activated. Considering the cost of purchasing these options outright, I would probably give the gamble a miss on this occasion – it just isn’t worth the risk for a one in five shot at a bonus round that only costs around 2.5x more than the cheaper alternative!


Duel Of The Dead Megaways Slot Review Final Thoughts

I’m a tad confused by the theme of this slot, if I’m honest – it’s more of a Wild West game than a zombie game in my eyes. This really doesn’t matter too much though – it’s a fun slot all the same, and the features still feel fresh and new, whatever they are based on.

The bonus buy options seem fairly priced to me as well, making it incredibly annoying that I cannot take advantage of them at my favourite online casinos. All in all, though, this is a highly recommended game, so go give it some spins.


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