The Dead Escape

The world of AMC’s celebrated The Walking Dead is given a fresh (yet still rotting) look in The Dead Escape, a rather exciting new slot from Habanero Systems. While still offering everything that online slot players look for – wild symbols, free spins, smooth gameplay, original design, and big payouts – there are also new elements. Human heroes fight ‘duels’ with zombies right on the reels!

Theme

The post-apocalyptic world of The Dead Escape is evident in every element of game design. Behind the reels, barbed wire, gory human remains, and an abandoned city signal to players that something is terribly wrong. Game symbols include gruesome zombies, which act as wild, two of their human opponents, a radioactive symbol, and a grey hand reaching up out of the grave. An orange truck acts as scatter, while red playing card symbols valued ace through nine complete the set. Ominous, low background music is punctuated by sudden, loud sound effects in a way that adds suspense to an already unsettling (in a good way) game experience.

Betting Options and Functions

It isn’t easy surviving the zombie apocalypse, but players who want to win will have to start with mastering the complex betting structure of this slot. While the 30 available paylines are fixed, coin value can be set between 0.01 and 5.00 times the betting currency, while bet level can be adjusted from one to ten coins per payline. The overall real-money bet ranges from a minimum of 0.30 to a maximum of 1500.00 – Habanero is becoming famous for this exceptionally broad range of bet size, the upper end of which will greatly appeal to high rollers.

Autoplay is available up to a whopping 500 spins, with the option of building in automatic stops for single wins of adjustable size, or long-term losses exceeding a given amount. Separate menus explain payouts, game rules, and allow players to toggle sound on and off, and enable full-screen mode. There is also a double-or-nothing gamble feature to accompany every win in base play. The overall theoretical return to player is an excellent 96.15%.

Features

This game’s Duel feature is perhaps the most interesting base play feature yet seen in modern slot design (though it is available in bonus play too, of course). Any time the wild zombie symbol lands adjacent to one of the game’s human protagonists, a battle is fought to the death. If the human wins, the zombie expands to fill its entire reel; if the zombie wins, the human is transformed into another wild symbol. Either way, players benefit from more wild symbols on the reels than there were before the duel was fought. The result of one duel can also trigger second one, or even a third or fourth if victorious zombies keep spreading across the reels.

Of course, a game this well-made would never skimp on the bonus features, and free spins are every bit as exciting and lucrative as players might hope. When three or more of the orange truck scatter symbol appear on the reels, the human protagonists try to use the truck to escape. The background turns from day to night, and 15-30 free spins are awarded. Though free spins cannot be re-triggered, every zombie bonus symbol to appear on the reels will add one free spin to the overall total. It’s possible to keep this free spin mode going for quite some time in this manner.

Finally, four jackpots are available here: Mini, Grand, Major, and Minor. These can be won on any spin, whether or not a winning combination appears on the reels.

Our Take

With The Dead Escape, Habanero Systems distinguishes itself as a designer possessed of both great thematic ideas, progressive design, and tremendous potential. It’s hard to find anything not to like here: players should only try to remember to keep sleeping, eating, and showering, so that they don’t emerge from gaming sessions looking like zombies themselves.