Warrior Ways

Warrior Ways

8 / 10
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Do you consider yourself a warrior and were you born to battle? Whilst you’re probably still thinking of the answer, the Warrior Ways online pokie from provider Hacksaw Gaming takes place in a Japanese futuristic city where four different clans fight each other in order to gain control of the place. With a unique Duel feature and some fantastic Clash and Conquest features, the exciting gameplay can lead to max wins of 10,000x the bet. The Clash feature can bring multipliers up to 100x, whereas the Conquest feature will give you 10 free spins and the chance to even earn more. With an outstanding RTP, this volatile pokie has a lot going for it. Explore everything on offer below in our detailed Warrior Ways review.

Warrior Ways Review

This title looks different to most other online pokies whilst the reels look more like a card game, with each of the reel symbols displayed in portrait orientation rather than landscape. And we have to say, this does give the game a great look. The story of 4 clans in war over territory in a futuristic Japanese city might be a bit too much for some players, but it will certainly appeal to a certain category of players. Warrior Ways’s graphics and animations are fantastic, with duels looking like a combat styled video game. The game’s music is an electronic version of some traditional Japanese styled music, with sympathetic reel effects that perfectly match the audio that comes with this pokie.

Nice to know

Launched 29 March 2022
RTP 96.33%, 94.42%, 92.30%, 88.39%
Volatility High
Software Hacksaw Gaming
Features Battle Feature, Bonus Game, Bonus Symbols, Buy Feature, Free Spins, Multiplier, Random Multiplier, Respins, Scatter Symbols, Wild
Theme Asian, Japan
Paylines 1024
Grid Layout 5-4
Min. bet/line $0.10
Max win x10.000
Jackpot N/A

Positive points

  • ✅ Excellent Standard RTP
  • ✅ Win Up To 10,000x Your Bet
  • ✅ Different Bonus Buy Options
  • ✅ Lots of Features

Negative points

  • ❌ Ranging RTP
  • ❌ Low Symbol Values

How to Play

Find the paytable of Warrior Ways by clicking the 3 line menu at the bottom left of the reels. The paytable shows you how wins can be achieved as well as providing rules and info about the bonus features. Once you’ve gone through this, play Warrior Ways by:

  • Setting your stake. Do this by using the up and down arrows towards the bottom right of the screen. There is a progress bar which shows you where your current bet lands within the range of available bets.
  • Spin the reels by clicking on the large round spin button which can be found at the bottom right of the screen.
  • If you wish to spin repeatedly, go for the auto button which can be found on the right of the spin button. This gives you the option to spin up to 1,000x automatically.

Symbol Wins

As for the audiovisuals, Hacksaw Gaming always manages to impress us each and every time. The Warrior Ways set is right in the middle of the city’s main street. On both sides we see houses and buildings in Asian style. There are street lamps on the sides, but as they’re failing to provide proper light, you are about to enter a dark street which is quite a grim location for a pokie. On the grid we see the four clans in action that are recognised by their different colours: red, green, blue and yellow. There are 5 reels with 4 rows and a total of 1024 ways to win. If 3 Clash symbols land anywhere on the reels at the same time, the Clash feature is triggered. The bonus round is split into 2 phases – the Collect phase and the Clash phase which we will discuss below. We first suggest however to check out the paytable:

 

Symbol Payout for 3 Payout for 4 Payout for 5
Red Clan Icon 0.1 0.2 0.5
Blue Clan Icon 0.1 0.2 0.5
Green Clan Icon 0.1 0.2 0.5
Orange Clan Icon 0.1 0.2 0.5
Red Clan Warrior 0.2 0.4 1
Blue Clan Warrior 0.2 0.4 1
Green Clan Warrior 0.2 0.4 1
Orange Clan Warrior 0.2 0.4 1
Wild Substitutes for all high & low paying symbols and pays up to 50x.
Clash 3 Clash symbols activate the Clash feature.
Conquest 3 Conquest symbols activate 10 free spins.

Bonus Features

In addition to the wild symbols, every feature of Warrior Ways revolves around the battle between the four clans. It starts with the Duel feature, then grows into a Clash feature and finally there is the free spins round called the Conquest feature. Here’s what’s waiting for you:

Wild Symbols

Warrior Ways wilds appear anywhere on the grid and can substitute for any regular symbol. In addition, you can also win a combination with only wild symbols, where a combination of 5 wild symbols gives you a payout of 50x your stake.

Duel Feature

The Duel Feature is triggered when a VS symbol lands between 2 warriors from different clans. The VS symbols therefore only appear on reels 2, 3 and 4. In the Duel Feature both warriors receive a random multiplier of between x1 and x100. Then, when there is a winner of the duel, all members of the losing clan on the playing field are replaced by members of the victorious clan. The VS symbol is also replaced by the victorious warrior’s clan symbols.

Clash Bonus Round

The Clash feature is activated when 3 Clash symbols land on the grid. You will first need to enter the collect phase. During this phase you get 3 respins which are reset to 3 every time a VS or a Clan Multiplier symbol lands on the grid which might look familiar if you’ve played Hacksaw’s Chaos Crew.

Clan multiplier values are accumulated above the clan-specific reel, and an Epic Clan Multiplier can land on the middle reel 3. If this happens, this will boost all accumulated clan multipliers by x2 and the feature comes to an end when you run out of respins. The Clash phase of the feature then starts and you get the same amount of free spins as the collected number of VS symbols. A Duel is guaranteed per free spin, and the different clan warriors take on the respective reel-specific multiplier you accumulated in the Collect phase.

When there are no more spins left in the Collect phase, you will proceed to the Clash phase. The amount of VS symbols you have collected in the Collect phase is also the number of spins you will get in the Clash phase. In addition, you are guaranteed a Duel feature with every spin. During the Duel feature in the Clash phase, the warriors play with the accumulated multipliers from the Collect phase.

Warrior Ways Free Spins

The free spins round in Warrior Ways is also called the conquest feature as it leads to the battle between the clans to the ultimate climax. You get 10 free spins to start the round if you land 3 or more Conquest symbols on the playing field whilst you get another 1 extra free spin for every Conquest symbol that lands on the grid after that.

During the free spins round of Warrior Ways, the banners of the clans are shown on both sides of the playing field. Every time a clan loses in a duel, the clan’s banner is partially destroyed. If a clan loses 2 times, their banner is fully destroyed and all symbols of that clan are removed from the grid. You also get an extra spin for every banner you destroy.

Bonus Buy

Finally, there is the chance to buy the Warrior Ways bonus rounds which works as follows:

  • For 100x your stake you get access to the high variance Clash feature with a maximum RTP of 96.44%.
  • For 400x your stake you get access to the Conquest feature, or the free spins round, with an average volatility and a maximum RTP of 96.51%.

Payout Metrics

Warrior Ways is played on 5 reels, 4 rows, and comes with a total number of 1024 ways to win. Winning combinations are created by matching 3 or more symbols from left to right, starting from reel 1. Playable from $0.10 to $10 per spin, you will always begin with the minimum bet amount when the game starts. The Warrior Ways RTP is set at a convenient 96.33%, which is above average and quite typical for a Hacksaw game as many tend to be well above the 96% RTP average. The hit frequency is officially set at 27%, which basically means that just over a quarter of all spins made will lead to a winning combo on average. The max win is 10.000x the bet, which is about the value you’ll find with a lot of other pokies from Hacksaw Gaming. Volatility is listed as high and rated as 4 out of 5.

Summary

We don’t know whether Hacksaw’s designers are as diverse as their thematic choices, but we have enjoyed their latest releases that show a “dark side” of their otherwise very cute and cosy productions. The audio is a perfect match to the retro-futuristic visual part, adding a tense and very much enjoyed ambiance. The pokie definitely reminds us of their previous release Chaos Crew, at least when the Collect phase appears in the Clash Bonus. The Clash phase and the Conquest Free Spins are also very entertaining, as the symbol removal feature can make a great dent with a total of 1024 win ways. Closing in on the 10,000x potential will require some solid multipliers with such low value symbols, but in general this is yet another innovative and highly amusing Hacksaw production.