Hacksaw's New Slot Flips Its Wild Mechanic Sideways

Dr. Annelies De Vos · 2026-10-01

Hacksaw Gaming just dropped a new Western slot called Buried by Night. But here's the thing—it's not just another cowboy-themed game with a fresh coat of paint. The studio took its signature VS mechanic and literally turned it on its side. Instead of wild multipliers expanding vertically like they always have, they now stretch horizontally. That might sound like a small tweak. It's not. ### What Actually Changed With DuelRows If you've played Hacksaw slots before, you probably know the VS system from games like Gladiator Legends or Undead Fortune. A VS symbol lands, expands, and triggers a duel where the winner slaps a multiplier of x2 to x100 onto the whole symbol. Buried by Night keeps that core idea but rotates the expansion 90 degrees. When a VS symbol hits on reels 2, 3, or 4, it spreads sideways across the row. That's the DuelRows feature—same DNA, different posture. Why does this matter? Because it changes how wins stack up across the grid. A horizontal spread can connect symbols in ways the vertical version couldn't. It's a subtle shift that opens up new payout paths. ### The Numbers Behind the Hype The game carries a 15,000x max win, and you can hit that ceiling in any mode. That puts Buried by Night right in the high-volatility territory Hacksaw fans expect from their VS titles. Feature buys are front and center too: - BonusHunt FeatureSpins costs 2x your bet and makes triggering a bonus three times more likely - Both main bonus rounds can be purchased outright if you'd rather skip the grind Hacksaw isn't shy about letting players pay for action. That's been their playbook for a while now. ### Where It Fits in the Hacksaw Lineup This isn't Hacksaw's first rodeo—literally. The studio went West back in 2021 with Wanted Dead or a Wild, and they've returned to the frontier several times since. Buried by Night sits comfortably next to Bullets and Bounty and Duel at Dawn. But the theme isn't really the story here. What matters is how Hacksaw keeps iterating on its VS engine instead of abandoning it. They're building mechanical families, not one-off gimmicks. > "Reworking rather than retiring the VS engine points to a deliberate product-line strategy." That approach keeps things familiar for returning players while giving each release its own identity. Smart move, honestly. ### What This Means Going Forward Buried by Night feels like evolution, not revolution. Hacksaw took a proven mechanic, gave it a new angle—literally—and wrapped it in a theme they know works. If you're into high-volatility slots with big upside and don't mind the variance, this one's worth a spin. And if you've been following Hacksaw's VS titles, you'll recognize the bones even if the skeleton's been rearranged. Expect more of this from the studio. They're clearly committed to squeezing every drop out of their flagship mechanics before moving on to something new.