Dead Canary Slot Review 2024

Dead Canary from Nolimit City takes us once more to the mines first dug way back when in Fire in the Hole xBomb. Not long after that, we returned for a new adventure in Misery Mining where a tale was told about a dwarf’s noble quest to find the world’s best beer. It was a noble quest indeed, and while we’re big fans fans of liquid gold, we’re not sure we would have gone to such lengths ourselves to obtain an ice cold beverage.

Unwavering dedication is burned deep into the very principles of this dwarf, and it’s a trait shared with Nolimit City too. Dead Canary marks their final slot of 2022, and what a year it’s been for them with release after release that grabs attention, interest and a few gasps like only Nolimit City can.

Dead Canary marks a turning point for our favourite dwarf. Having found the perfect brew, he’s now on a quest for true love, and to find it he’ll have to get out of the mines by whatever means necessary. His journey out will require a metric f&*! tonne of explosives, and if he needs to sacrifice a few canaries on the way out then god dammit he will.

Join us in this Dead Canary Slot Review and bear witness to the Dwarfs journey for everlasting love. Flexible morals will come in handy as you send the feathers flying, and a disdain for canaries wouldn’t hurt either.

Dead Canary – The Base Game and Features

Dead Canary is a 3-4-3-4-3-4 reel area that starts with a 3-3-2-2-1-1 configuration. 3 of the rows are blocked by barriers by default.

One blocked row will open after a win, xBomb explosions if they’re adjacent to the barrier or a Wild Mining Feature.  There are bottom row multipliers, and these are unlocked whenever the barrier is removed and the symbol is destroyed, or if the removed barrier reveals a Scatter Symbol.

Wild Mining Feature

Wild Mining is triggered in the base game when 3, 4 or 5 of the same kind of paying symbols align diagonally when there is no winning combination.

The triggering symbols are removed before creating a Wild Symbol in the middle of the symbol alignment.

• 3 Symbols – 1 Wild Bomb
• 4 Symbols – 2 Wild Bombs
• 5 Symbols – 3 Wild Bombs

Wild bomb explosions increase the win multiplier by 1 for the next collapse.

All other symbols explode with the exception of xBomb Symbols. Scatter symbols will get blown away, but they’ll reappear in a random position on the next collapse.

xBomb Wild Multiplier

An xBomb Wild Symbol substitutes for any symbol except Scatter Symbol. An xBomb explodes symbols in a cross pattern next to it, except Scatter symbols and other xBombs and will increase the win multiplier by 1 for the next collapse.

xBet

At the cost of an extra 40%, players are guaranteed a Scatter symbol, and the first barrier will be unlocked.

The payout of symbols are unaffected, but Nolimit City’s xBet feature has proved to be popular in recent games.

Dead Canary – Free Spins

Dead Canary offers two Free Spins mode in usual Nolimit City fashion, and unsurprisingly, one is a standard bonus and one is a super bonus.

The first of the bunch is Canary Free Spins, which can be triggered by three scatter symbols.

Canary Free Spins

Canary Free Spins starts with a 4-3-4-3-4-3-4 area with 4 locked vaults at each corner.

These vaults are locked in Free Spins, but collect coins and multipliers from the three neighbour position can be opened by xBomb explosions. When the vault is unlocked, everything within that vault is collected and awarded as a win at the end of the round.

Scatter Symbols start with 1x multipliers and can collect coins, multipliers, upgrades, the Rat and the dwarf enhancer.

Silver Cage Scatter Symbol: Collects in an x-shape 1 position from itself

Gold Cage Scatter Symbol: Collects in an x-shape from the entire row

Scatter Symbols start with 3 hit points, and the collected wins will only be awarded if the birds die. xBomb and gas makes the Scatter symbol lose one hit point, and when the bird dies it will resspawn in its cage.

Here is a detailed explanation of what all of the symbols in Canary Free Spins does:

• Coin Values – When Collected, the value of the coin is added to the Scatter Symbol that collected it
• Bomb – Bombs explode, affecting its neighbour positions in an x-shape. The explosion removes 1 hit point from Scatter Symbol and opens up vaults. Bombs reset the number of spins to 3
• Multipliers – Can double or triple the collected value of Scatter Symbols and vaults
• Gas – Gas affects all birds adjacent to the gas symbol and reduces the Scatter symbol hit points by 1
• Dwarf – The Dwarf symbol may be picked up by one scatter symbol. When collected, he becomes a persistent collector and collects for each spin from all other scatter symbols until the Dwarf dies. The Dwarf adds 1 hit point to the affected scatter symbol
• Rat – The Rat symbol can be picked up by one scatter symbol. When collected, he becomes a persistent payer, sharing his collected value to all other Scatter symbols for each spin until the  Rat dies. The Rat adds  hit point to the affected scatter symbol.
• Upgrade – The Upgrade turns silver cage scatters into gold cage scatters. It also adds 1 hit point to the affected scatter symbol.

Dead Canary Slot – Bonus Buy

Those within bonus buy territory may buy their way into the action with 3 options.

• Canary Free Spins – 68x the bet
• Golden Canary Free Spins – 500x the bet 
• Lucky Draw – 284x the bet 

Dead Canary Slot – Our Verdict

Who thought that killing innocent, exotic, blameless and adorable canaries could be so fun? We didn’t, yet here we are.

We’re not about to run into the local pet shop TNT in hand, but we shall be running head first into the mines to blow tropical birds to kingdom come when Dead Canary releases in late December. Fire in the hole xBomb and the loosely inspired follow-up Misery Mining is some of Nolimit City’s best work in our opinion. The Wild Mining Feature is simple, yet its very effective at putting into motion a chain of events that could spell great things for players, and very bad things for the avian community, as it happens.

Dead Canary is not really comparable to Misery Mining in many ways, but that’s how we’d expect Nolimit City to roll. It’s got very obvious ties to games before it but its an imaginative game in its own right, with features and reel configurations that we haven’t yet seen from any Nolimit City game, let alone the other mining slots.

If you do make comparisons to the older games, then a notable improvement to mention would be the presence of the xBet Feature. It hasn’t always been around, but we’re quite glad that its a staple of each and every Nolimit City slot of late. The price is small yet it can drain the balance noticeably faster than it would if deactivated, but it’s very worth it for a much more frequent entry ticket into the Dead Canary Free Spins round.

The best part about the xBet Feature is how Free Spins seems so close to happening. It’s not always the case, of course, but it just feels like a constant hot mode. When you do get to the bonus rounds, then you’ll really see the value of blowing up some birds to smithereens. It’s not always action-packed, but if the stars align with Rat and Dwarf symbols then it can become a very explosive game.

In terms of potential, the highest possible win here is a huge 65,000x, which is big even by Nolimit City standards.

Overall, it’s definitely well-worth a spin, and that’s an understatement. We don’t think Nolimit City has hit the nail on the head with every recent release, but Dead Canary certainly feels like where Nolimit City thrives, and players could well thrive by playing it.