Le Granny

Le Granny Slot

Le Granny is an exclusive Wildz-branded Hacksaw Gaming release, although anyone familiar with Le Bandit is going to recognise almost everything immediately. The same 6x5 Cluster Pays grid returns alongside Super Cascades, Marked Squares, Rainbows and the familiar bonus structure. Even the setting barely moves away from the original, with Smokey, baguettes, cheese, beer and the same grimy French surroundings making another appearance. Granny gets her place on the Wild poster, but beyond that, this is very clearly Le Bandit wearing slightly different clothes.

Winning clusters require at least 5 matching symbols connected horizontally or vertically. A win triggers the Super Cascade mechanic, removing not only the symbols involved in the cluster but all matching symbols currently visible. The positions forming the original winning cluster then become Marked Squares. These can subsequently be activated by Rainbow symbols to reveal cash prizes of up to 500x or Four-Leaf Clovers capable of multiplying adjacent values by as much as x10. Once the displayed prizes have been collected, remaining Marked Squares can activate again, giving the base game considerably more going on than a straightforward Cluster Pays setup.

There are three Free Spins features. Landing 3 FS symbols awards 8 Luck of the Bandit spins, where Marked Squares persist between spins until activated by a Rainbow, after which the grid resets. Four FS symbols trigger All That Flitters Is Gold with 12 spins and persistent Marked Squares that remain for the entire feature. The hardest bonus to reach is Treasure at the End of the Rainbow, triggered by 5 FS symbols. This also provides 12 spins with persistent Marked Squares, but guarantees a Rainbow on every spin. BonusHunt FeatureSpins are available for 3x the bet, increasing the chance of reaching a feature by five times, while direct purchases are available for the two non-secret bonuses.

Taken purely on its mechanics, Le Granny isn't a bad game. The Marked Squares and Rainbow system remains entertaining, the base game can generate some interesting sequences, and the 10,000x max win gives it a respectable ceiling. The problem is that these strengths aren't really Le Granny's achievements. They were already present in Le Bandit, and very little has been done here to make the branded version feel like a worthwhile alternative.

More damaging is the RTP. Le Granny runs at just 94.23%, compared with a standard 96.34% for Le Bandit, despite both games offering the same potential and fundamentally the same gameplay. That makes the question of which version to play rather difficult to answer in Le Granny's favour. Even the branding and visual changes aren't substantial enough to provide much compensation. Had this been the first game built around these mechanics, there would be plenty to praise. As another lightly altered version of an existing Hacksaw slot with a significantly worse RTP, however, Le Granny feels unnecessary and is difficult to recommend.