Blood Lust

Blood Lust Slot: Overview

The phenomenally popular Twilight series of books and movies certainly has a lot to answer for. As well as softening up the vampire legend, they somehow managed to make them all hip and sexy in the process. Since then, plenty of bandwagoners have embraced the oddly romantic side to these creatures of the night. Or day - remember how Edward didn't disintegrate in the sunlight but sparkled instead? In slots, it's not uncommon to see vampires combined with romance, which is the route Swedish developer ELK Studios has chosen to go down with their latest vampire-themed game Blood Lust. This approach has worked well in the past, is it just as successful with Blood Lust?

In look, Blood Lust is kind of similar to previous release Crusader. Not in subject matter, but more in its heavy graphical styling and atmosphere. The stats driving both of these games are fairly close as well, such as the 96% RTP, the 23.5% hit rate, and volatility rating. Potential is bang on the same as Crusader, which we will cover shortly. For now, step one is selecting bets which are available from 20 p/c up to $/€100 per spin – manual or auto. Once that is settled, it's time to step into Dracula's dark and ancient world with its spired castle in the background, gnarled trees, and dark lighting. It's all quite pleasing to the eyes, as they usually are with an ELK product. The music is also suitably sweeping and adds an extra touch of drama to the proceedings.

The aim of the game is lining up winning combinations of three or more matching symbols left to right. Ornately styled, there are 5 reels, 4 rows and 99 paylines on which to do so. When it comes to symbols used in the game, they start with 4 low pay jewelled card suits – clubs, hearts, diamonds, and spades. They glow as if infused with some ancient power, or some such.

On the high pay side, the golden vampire looks like a precocious teen rather than an ancient denizen of the night. Then again, Edward was 104 years old when he attended high school, crushing on a fellow student Bella. Anyway, this symbol is none other than Dracula and is worth 40 times the stake for five of a kind. He is followed by two doe-eyed lady characters and a green-hued slacker vampire.

Helping with the wins is a golden wild which can substitute for any regular symbol. Wilds are also worth the same amount as the premium Dracula symbol. The paytable is completed by two more special symbols that bring features back from dead.

Blood Lust Slot: Features

The first special symbol to be aware of is the Boosted Respin symbol which appears only on reel 5. Just one of these candle covered symbols is required to trigger the feature. When active, one symbol type is chosen at random and held in place while the other positions are respun. Any bonus symbols are also held in place which increases the chance of triggering the bonus game or hitting better wins with the chosen symbol.

Next up is the Boosted Stacks feature. Each reel has stacks of identical symbols and at the start of each spin symbols are randomly chosen to fill these stacks. This can also work out well, but keep in mind that different reels can have different symbols on their boosted stacks.

Finally, if 3 scatter symbols land in view they trigger the Free Spins bonus game. Now, where they land on the reels forms a rectangular zone and each tile in this zone adds 1 free spin each. This could be from 4 at the lowest to 15 at the most. During free spins, the three lowest premium symbols appear above the reels with a meter associated with them.

When these symbols land they are counted and their meters fill up. When full, they add free spins and are transformed into the Dracula symbol for the remainder of the feature. The bonus game has the chance to work out quite well since scatters retrigger free spins with no technical limit to how long the round can be extended.

Blood Lust Slot: Verdict

Chalk up another vampire-themed slot where the 'baddies' are hot, and the ladies can't help but fall for their pale, steely-eyed charms. As far as this style of slot goes, Blood Lust has its good points, such as the high standard of the artwork, and the sound effects which combine to create a fairly immersive environment to try your luck. The features have their moments too, especially re-triggerable free spins. Though they won't spin for eternity like Draculas undead form, they have their limit in the form of a win cap.

On the flipside the game lags in two key areas. The first is potential, which ELK again has capped at 2,500 times the stake – their seeming go-to figure unless they are trying to make a statement. It's not enough to put off anyone who really digs these sorts of games. Then again, if this genre is your jam, it is hard to pass up tried and true classics like Immortal Romance. The second issue is that while the symbol transformations and respins are all good, there isn't a whole lot new to get too excited about here.

At the end of the day, Blood Lust is a rather mediocre slot. Whilst there are some positives aspects, these are all on the shallow side. Let's just say Blood Lust's shelf life won't be anywhere near that of Dracula's.