Last Man Standing

Last Man Standing: Slot Overview

Would you looky what we have here. Software provider Slotmill has sauntered all bow-legged into town, having made another Wild West slot going by the name of Last Man Standing. We've joined the studio in similar territory before when reviewing Chilli Bandits but missed out on Slotmill's first Western slot. The title of that one was Outlaws, and it came out before Slotmill had really registered on the radar. Those days are long gone now, though, as each new Slotmill slot is greeted with excited anticipation. In the case of Last Man Standing, excited anticipation is inspired by hails of bullets, outlaws, sheriffs, showdowns, and a host of gun-smoking features.

A classic middle-of-nowhere town is where Last Man Standing rolls up its sleeves and gets down to business. There's nothing particularly remarkable in regards to appearance, though. Dust, tumbleweeds, and wooden structures, which look like extreme fire hazards, are typical Western stuff that winds up in a slot. Last Man Standard was a little basic to look at, but fine enough, plus the features and sounds dramatically densen the ride.

Last Man Standing's grid is a little unusual. It's made up of 5 reels and 4 rows, but the top row is a special Slider row with specific rules we will cover shortly. The number of ways to win starts at 1,024, but a splitting symbols feature can increase the number of bet ways up to a maximum of 16,807. The ways to bet are also quite wide, from 20 c to $/€60 per spin, Fast Track bonus buys, the Xtra-Bet and a Burst Mode. Burst Mode is an ultra-fast way to play, while the Xtra-Bet, when activated, doubles the stake to make it 3.4 times more likely to trigger free spins. Statistically, Last Man Standing's medium-high math model produces an RTP value of 96.12%.

Pay symbols in Last Man Standing are made up of Western-written J-A royals, a holstered pistol, and 4 character symbols - 3 Outlaws wearing bandanas on their faces, not Covid masks, and the sheriff. The Outlaws go by the names of 'Half Pint' Hank, 'Rattlesnake' Rich, and 'Longshot' Lola. Winning lines made from 5 matching non-Outlaw symbols pay 0.7 to 1.2 times the bet, while 5 matching character symbols pay 1.6 to 5 times the bet. A scary red-eyed dude with the ace of spades in his hat and two golden pistols called 'Dead Eye' Wilder is the wild, which replaces any of the regular paying symbols.

Last Man Standing: Slot Features

Last Man Standing's extras are a Slider row, split symbols, expanding symbols, a Quick Draw feature, Duel at Dusk free spins, and Fast Track bonus buys.

Slider & Split Symbol

The top row of the grid is known as the Slider and is where paying symbols can slide in from right to left. Pay symbols on the Slider are evaluated as part of wins. A split symbol can land on the Slider displaying a number. The number displayed indicates the number of random symbols on the reel that are split. Split symbols count as 2 symbols and split positions reset at the start of the next spin.

Expanding Symbols

Expanding symbols are special versions of the respective paying symbols that land on the Slider. When part of a winning combination, expanding symbols become fully stacked. Each expanding symbol triggers individually and resets after their win evaluation. If the expanding symbol is wild, the wild symbol stays expanded for the duration of the win evaluations.

Quick Draw

Landing Quick Draw symbols on the leftmost and rightmost reel triggers the Quick Draw feature. A random number of locations on the grid reveal coin prizes, and the sum of them is awarded to the player.

Duel at Dusk Free Spins

In the base game, landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters awards 8 free spins with 3, 4, or 5 starting lives, respectively. Scatter symbols convert to wild symbols when they are not used to trigger free spins.

Before the free spins bonus, the Duel at Dusk feature plays where the sheriff duels with Outlaws one at a time. A revolver's cylinder spins to determine whether the next outcome is a hit or a miss. If the cylinder lands on a bullet, it's a hit, and the current Outlaw loses a life. If it's a miss, the Outlaw shoots, and the sheriff loses a life. A character is defeated when they have no lives left. Each defeated Outlaw has its corresponding pay symbol on the Slider upgraded to an expanding symbol for the duration of free spins. The 4th Outlaw is the wild, and if defeated, the wild becomes an expanding wild. Free spins start if the sheriff is defeated or when all Outlaws are defeated. If all Outlaws are defeated, any remaining lives are added to the number of spins, one spin per life.

During free spins, the sheriff symbol and any defeated Outlaw symbols are upgraded to expanding symbols on the Slider. Hitting a special Upgrade symbol on the leftmost or rightmost reels awards +2 spins and upgrades the next symbol to be an expanding symbol for the rest of the bonus. If all symbols are upgraded, +5 free spins are awarded. A Super Split symbol may appear instead of the regular split symbol in the bonus. Symbol positions split by the Super Split do not reset during free spins, so future symbols landing in them are split.

Fast Track

The Fast Track gives direct access to Last Man Standing's features. Players may choose: Quick Draw - trigger the Quick Draw feature for 30x the bet; 3 Life Duel - triggers free spins with a 3 life duel for 100x the bet; 4 Life Duel - triggers free spins with a 4 life duel for 200x the bet; 5 Life Duel - triggers free spins with a 5 life duel for 400x the bet.

Last Man Standing: Slot Verdict

Western slots are a dime a dozen, and a possible reason why is that even if the gameplay is relatively weak, thematic components such as music and powerful visuals are strong enough on their own to pull together a mediocre slot. Just a thought. The good news is that Last Man Standing is by no means mediocre, even if its audiovisuals aren't the most gripping recreation of the Wild West ever seen in a slot. Last Man Standing isn't ugly at all - far from it, but wild desperation didn't ooze from the screen the way it does in Tombstone RIP, Wanted Dead or a Wild, or Dead or Alive 2, by comparison.

That changes, however, when free spins have triggered, and the shootout between the sheriff and the Outlaws takes place. Then, the bullets fly about, bodies drop, and symbols are upgraded to become expanding symbols. In this way, adrenaline starts to flow before free spins have even begun, especially if you're able to drop all of the Outlaws and get the expanding wild. Last Man Standing might have expanding symbols, but this is no 'book' wannabe. There are parallels, but the Duel at Dusk free spins feature is its own beast. This is in no small part because of the Super Split symbol. Regular split symbols are a plus, but the way Super Split symbols mark the reel position for the remainder of the feature can make an enormous impact on how it turns out. Wilds are able to expand and split, as can the upgraded Outlaw symbols, potentially leading to moments of absolute mayhem that have a definite Nolimit City feel to them when everything seems like it's slicing, expanding, and dicing.

So potent are the features that about the only little niggle was a wish the max win was higher than its 10,000x cap. As it is, there are no complaints about what Last Man Standing is financially able to produce, nor what it can do mechanically, as the game packs the sort of iron which can let fly hails of hot lead when it's cutting loose.