What Is Cursed Seas?

Cursed Seas sails into deep teal waters where a cursed captain hunts sunken treasure while avoiding a terrifying kraken looming above the reels, all rendered against old, faded-paper backdrops that reviewers consistently praise as among Hacksaw Gaming's most visually stunning achievements. It's a moody, gothic pirate take that stands apart from more cheerful treatments of the genre, backed by an eerie soundtrack that ties the whole cinematic presentation together.

The grid runs on a 5-reel, 4-row layout with 26 fixed paylines, where winning combinations must contain at least 3 matching symbols, start from the leftmost reel and land on adjacent reels. Pirates, captains, guns, flags, compasses, anchors, skull and crossbones and lanterns fill out the reels.

Cursed Chests and Cursed Areas

Cursed Chests are the game's signature mechanic, capable of revealing multipliers worth up to 200x directly during regular base-game play — and when several land within the same spin, their values add together rather than simply picking the highest, giving even a modest base-game sequence real upside potential. Reviewers draw a direct connection between this Cursed Area concept and the Portals to Muspelheim from Hacksaw's earlier Stormforged, a clear evolution of an idea the studio has been refining across releases.

Sunken Treasure and Dead Men Tell No Tales

Two bonus rounds sit behind the game's scatter trigger. Sunken Treasure Free Spins focuses on persistent Cursed Areas combined with a growing global multiplier that applies to every subsequent win throughout the round — though some reviewers note it's a touch less captivating than comparable free spins rounds elsewhere in Hacksaw's catalog. Dead Men Tell No Tales is the genuine standout: a hold-and-win style bonus where players build individual reel multipliers using special Skull and Kraken symbols, with the total sum awarded once the round concludes, creating real tension with every landing symbol.

Bonus Hunt FeatureSpins costs 3x the stake to make a bonus round five times more likely to trigger naturally. Direct buys cover Sunken Treasure (100x, RTP 96.26%) and Dead Men Tell No Tales (200x, RTP 96.33%), with the volatility on both bonus games rated high and the FeatureSpins option rated very high.

RTP, Volatility and the Realistic Odds

Default RTP is 96.22%, with 94.24%, 92.21% and 88.38% configurations also available depending on the operator. Volatility is rated high (4 out of 5), reflecting a math model built for sporadic but potentially substantial payouts rather than steady base-game returns.

The 12,500x max win, safeguarded to end the round automatically if exceeded, is achieved most reliably during a strong Dead Men Tell No Tales sequence with high-value Kraken and Skull symbols. Bets run $0.10 to $100 per spin.

Our Verdict

Cursed Seas stands as one of Hacksaw Gaming's most visually accomplished releases, and the atmospheric gothic pirate presentation genuinely elevates what could otherwise be a fairly standard treasure-hunting slot into something that feels cinematic. Dead Men Tell No Tales in particular is a genuinely thrilling hold-and-win experience that gives the studio's usual toolkit real fresh energy, and having Cursed Chest multipliers add together rather than pick the highest gives the base game meaningful upside even outside a bonus trigger. Sunken Treasure feels slightly less distinctive by comparison, but the overall package earns its place among Hacksaw's stronger 2023 output.

Where to play it

We recommend Gamdom for playing Cursed Seas with real money: 15% Rakeback for 7 Days.