High Noon Duel

High Noon Duel: Slot Overview

The last time we crossed paths with Swintt's partner studio Elysium Studios was in the humorously themed I Hate Fairytales, which sported, amongst other things, a unicorn farting a rainbow. This time, the studio throws players into a gritty showdown between two charismatic characters packing some serious hardware. As well as an interest in the Wild West, hopefully you've got a soft spot for wild symbol action, because a lot of High Noon Duels' mechanics are based on substitution, with a win multiplier thrown in for good measure. If you're ready to pick a side and hope you guy or gal riddles their opponents with bullets, it's time to draw.

High Noon Duel is a stylistic Wild Western with a slight steampunk influence. Not to Money Train 2 levels, but this isn't an entirely historically accurate game, though that's not a bad thing. The duelling takes place between two flamboyant characters, Pistol Belle and The Iron Cowboy. Quite what they are duelling over, who can say, but bullets are set to spray, and there's also a mysterious part-skull-faced Lady in Black to contend with. Basically, two people want to shoot each other, so players can fill in the rest of the gaps as they see fit. The graphical quality is quite cinematic as the game shifts from dusty town to canyon graveyard, with camera panning and dramatic lighting changes along the way.

This is a 4,096 ways to win game played on a 6x4 grid, where wins form on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost side. Winning combinations disappear, allowing new symbols to fall in, providing a chance for another win on the same spin. RTP is on the low side, with 94.03% being the highest version available, while the volatility has been classed as high. It is possible to wager from $/€0.10 to $/€40 per spin and buy several features.

Discs displaying clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spade shapes on them are the low pays, awarding 0.4x the stake for a 6-of-a-kind hit. Up from them are 5 character symbols awarding 0.5x to 1x the bet for 6 OAK combinations. Wilds are a pretty big deal in High Noon, where they are able to substitute for all paying symbols.

High Noon Duel: Slot Features

High Noon Duel packs its pistols with a Lady In Black effect, a win multiplier, Pistol Belle & The Iron Cowboy modifiers, free spins, Special Free Spins, Bet Boosts, and feature buys.

Lady In Black

When two Lady in Black symbols appear in a horizontal or vertical line, all symbols between them turn into wilds.

Increasing Win Multiplier

Each cascade increases the win multiplier, which applies to wins in the same round. The multiplier resets on every spin in the base game.

Pistol Belle & The Iron Cowboy

At random, Belle will shoot the reels, leaving 2 to 4 wilds on them. The Iron Cowboy can randomly shoot a 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4-sized wild onto the grid.

Free Spins

The Iron Cowboy and Pistol Belle scatters can appear on the reels, moving the progress bar to the left or to the right. When the bar is filled, the corresponding free spins round is awarded. Pistol Belle Free Spins and The Iron Cowboy Free Spin rounds both award 8 free spins, and each character activates in their respective round on each spin. The win multiplier does not reset between free spins in these rounds or the Special Free Spins round.

Special Free Spins

Special Free Spins scatters trigger 9 Special Free Spins. On each of these spins, a Pistol Belle or The Iron Cowboy feature randomly triggers. The win multiplier also does not reset until free spins have ended.

Bet Boost and Feature Buy

Activating the Bet Boost increases the stake to 1.4x to increase the chance of triggering free spins by about 2 times. The Super Bet Boost ups the bet to 10x, increasing the chance by about 22 times. Alternatively, players may buy Pistol Belle Free Spins or Iron Cowboy Free Spins for 115x each. Special Free Spins cost 300x.

High Noon Duel: Slot Verdict

Westerns are one of the most populous online slot types, but Elysium Studios has done enough to make High Noon Duel stand out from the pack. Maybe not dominate the pack, yet the game has a certain graphical quality that is quite noticeable, largely thanks to populating its dusty corner of the Wild West with interesting characters. A little more backstory might have beefed up the experience as a whole, since there were more questions than answers, but that's not a deal breaker. It's better to spend the time making sure a slot looks and performs well than writing a novel to go with it, and this Elysium has mostly done so, though some of the animated sequences can feel a bit slow and sluggish.

As alluded to, a love of wild symbols will help get the most out of High Noon Duel because a bulk of its features are built around them. This includes the wild bridge building of the Lady in Black, and the shooting wilds to the reels mayhem of Belle and Cowboy. High Noon Duel is a little one-dimensional in this regard, though when there are literally thousands of ways to win, having a few wilds in the right place might turn out to be pretty swell. Belle is able to blast up to 4 of them onto the grid with her modifier, while the Iron Cowboy can place up to a 4x4 chonk of a wild onto the grid, making him arguably the more exciting of the two.

Add the progressive win multiplier on top, and you can see how High Noon Duel might go about achieving its 27,000x max win. Low RTP is a drawback and gameplay can feel a bit slow, but the game stirs up a simple cocktail of getting wilds on the board, enhancing payouts with a multiplier, and it is potentially potent. Coupling that with all the bullets, strong personalities, and individual flair means there's enough here stylistically and mechanically for the right player to stay engaged for a stretch.