Circle of Life Slot (Hacksaw Gaming)

The Circle of Life slot has 5 reels, 4 rows and 14 fixed paylines. Winning combinations are simply made when 3, 4 or 5 of the same symbol appear on a payline, from left to right (adjacent) and beginning from the leftmost reel. Only the highest win per payline will be awarded.

Playable from 10p a spin, the max bet ranges up to £5 a spin in the UK (or up to £2 if you’re under 25). Like with all Hacksaw games, use the arrows to change your bet/stake. Non-UK players can benefit from Autoplay (up to 1,000 auto spins) and Turbo/Super Turbo mode functionality.

The Circle of Life RTP is 96.33%: this is above the 96% slot game average but in line with other Hacksaw Gaming titles. You may also find 94.19% and 92.33% RTP alternative versions at your chosen slots site so check the Paytable if you want the highest RTP version. For reference, the Circle of Life demo (above) uses the 96.33% RTP setting.

Labelled as very high volatility (5/5), the hit frequency rate is 23.53% meaning a win will land every 1 in 4.25 spins on average. Additionally, Circle of Life benefits from 15,000 x bet max win potential: this can be won in the base game and several bonus features. There is no max win probability info though.

With a gothic theme, the Circle of Life slot is about life and inevitable death. Following on from Life and Death (released in March 2025), the subject matter may be a little heavy but it focuses on how we fall, fade and rise again.

Anyway, the first thing you’ll notice is the black and white colour tone. Hacksaw has created many slot games with this style, including The Count, Reign of Rome and Hand of Anubis. With an eerie yet moving soundtrack, you’ll see faceless females either side of the reels, 2 hands at the bottom of the screen and a Yggdrasil (tree of life) in the backdrop. It gives the game a rather divine feel.

On the reels, you’ll see standard A, K, Q, J and 10 royals as well as a heart-shaped vegetable, a sun, eye wrapped by a snake, hand holding an apple and winged face. The winged faced symbol is the best paying, awarding 1, 2 or 5 x your total bet for 3, 4 or 5 in combination.

Circle of Life comes with a Tree Wild symbol that substitutes for all paying symbols above: 5 wilds on a payline awards a 5 x bet payout. The other symbol to look out for is the FS Scatter, which is key to triggering the 3 free spins features. Which one you play depends on how many Upgrade symbols that land.

Circle of Life Mobile

With Hacksaw Gaming deploying HTML5 technology for all their slots, Circle of Life can be enjoyed on mobile, tablet and desktop devices. Prefer playing on the go? It is compatible with iOS and Android smartphones, in Portrait Mode.

Circle of Life focuses on Tree Wilds that contain multipliers up to 100x. When part of a win, it expands to give you respins. With multiple Trees available, multipliers combine with respins continuing as long as its part of a win. If a Tree expands to take over the whole reel, you activate the Circle of Life where you can benefit from additive or multiplicative multipliers. There is also 3 free spins features which offer enhanced versions of the base game extras.

Tree of Life

As mentioned there is a Tree Wild symbol that can land on all 5 reels. When it lands, the Tree Wild will reveal a multiplier value between 2x and 100x. If the Tree Wild is part of a winning combination, the Tree Wild expands into a Tree of Life and a respin is triggered.

When a Tree Wild symbol is part of a win, the win is subject by the multiplier shown. If multiple Tree symbols are part of the same win, their multiplier values are added together and then applied to the win. When a respin is awarded, the winning Tree Wild symbols remain in place and expand upwards by 1 row into a Tree of Life with all other positions respinning. The Tree of Life continues to expand by 1 row with every respin, until fully expanded. Once this happens, the Tree of Life is removed from the reels on the next respin or next spin.

Circle of Life

When a Tree of Life has fully expanded from the bottom row to the top row, the Circle of Life feature is triggered on that Tree of Life.

The Circle of Life spins and reveals a multiplier or a skull: the multiplier on which the arrow lands will be combined with the Tree of Life multiplier:

• Additive Multiplier (2x, 3x, 5x, 10x, 25x or 100x): the 2 values are added together which applies to the Tree of Life.
• Multiplicative Multiplier (2x): the Tree of Life value is multiplied by the Circle of Life value.

The Circle of Life then continues spinning and landing on multiplier values until the arrow lands on a skull. There is 1 final respin with the Tree of Life removed from play.

Spreading FS Scatters

When 3 or more FS Scatters appear on the reels at the same time, each FS Scatter expands across the whole reel after wins have been awarded. Each position the FS Scatter covers represents a number of free spins (1, 2 or 3), with the total determined by adding up the numbers by each FS Scatter.

When you trigger a free spins feature (or buy one outside the UK), there is a chance FS Scatters will transform into Upgrade symbols, upgrading you to a more lucrative free spins feature:

• 3 expanding FS Scatters + 1 Upgrade symbol = upgrade to Eternal feature
• 3 expanding FS Scatters + 2 Upgrade symbols = upgrade to Rebirth feature
• 4 expanding FS Scatters + 1 Upgrade symbol = upgrade to Rebirth feature

Free Spins features

Circle of Life comes with 3 free spins features. Below are all the details:

• Origin feature: Triggered with 3 expanding FS Scatters, it works like the base game. When a Tree Wild is part of a win, the Tree of Life becomes sticky on the next free spin and remains until no longer part of a win. With a fully expanded Tree of Life removed for the next free spin, respins cannot be activated. Every expanding FS Scatter awards 4 to 12 extra free spins.
• Eternal feature: Triggered with 4 expanding FS Scatters, it is like the Origin feature with the addition of a reel being activated when a Circle of Life is triggered on that reel. Remaining activated for the whole feature, you are guaranteed a Tree Wild symbol landing on that reel on every free spin, unless it already had a Tree Wild or Tree of Life. Every expanding FS Scatter rewards you with 4 to 12 extra free spins.
• Rebirth feature: Triggered with 5 expanding FS Scatters, it keeps the mechanics of the Eternal feature with reels 2 and 4 activated from the off. You cannot win additional free spins in this feature though.

Bonus Buy

Available to players outside the UK, there are 4 Bonus Buy options, with all the details presented below:

Circle of Life Slot

Rating: 4.2/5

Circle of Life focuses on Tree Wilds with multipliers up to 100x that expand and combine. Fill a reel to trigger the Circle of Life for additive or multiplicative multipliers. There are 3 free spins features which build on the base game mechanics for up to 15,000 x bet max win potential.

Chris Taylor

With a unique outlook, the Circle of Life slot looks superb as it has a dominant black and white colour scheme with splashes of colour with the Tree of Life and various bonus features. Oddly intriguing, it’s a slot game that will make you question your life choices.  

Central to the action is the Tree of Life feature: a Tree Wild contains a multiplier up to 100x and expands by 1 row is part of a win. With a free respin awarded, multiple Tree Wilds can land to give you combined multipliers and the opportunity for big wins.

If you land a Tree Wild on the bottom row and it expands all the way to the top row, the Circle of Life feature comes into play. Spins to reveal a multiplier or skull, you’ll benefit from an additive or multiplicative multiplier: this is where the big win potential comes from. Being highly volatile, expect a skull to land more often than not.

With 3 free spins features, expanding FS Scatters is a new concept which sees you begin with many more free spins than the regular 10 or 15 for example. Like the base game, you’ll benefit from sticky Tree of Life mechanics, guaranteed Tree Wilds and activated reels for even higher win potential.

With 15,000 x bet max wins, Circle of Life offers the same win potential as its predecessor, Life and Death. Focusing on expanding wild multipliers with respins, Hacksaw Gaming blends already-used mechanics in a fresh way to make the game appealing and worth playing.

Immersive and beautifully designed, maybe adding a splash of colour to the higher value symbols would make it a tad easier to distinguish from the low value royal symbols. That aside, the Circle of Life slot is another good production from Hacksaw with a fresh twist on expanding multiplier wilds.

If you want more Hacksaw slots with unique wild mechanics, there are plenty to choose from, including Jaws of Justice, Strength of Hercules and Donut Division.

The Circle of Life slot review was written by Chris Taylor from our OLBG Expert team who has written over 10,000 slot game reviews in an iGaming career spanning over 2 decades.

Chris Taylor

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Chris Taylor is an industry veteran originally from Gibraltar. Having worked in the online gambling industry since 2004, Chris loves slots and has reviewed over 10,000 online slot games. Running a slots-focused website for 13 years, Chris is the go-to guy for everything slots-related.