Blood Queen slot review

Blood Queen brings the player into the dark world of hunting vampires, where these deadly hunters of the night stalk for their prey. Players are invited to visit this place where they are also treated to stacked Wilds, sticky Wilds and free spins.

Developed by Iron Dog Studios and released in 2017, this game isn’t one of the newest slots that are out now but it still holds up well graphically. The action takes place on a 5-reel, 3-row playing field that houses both low- and high-paying symbols. The background gives us a hint at what looks like it could be a graveyard, featuring rolling hills and gloomy trees with a huge full moon behind them.

The symbols that you’ll be playing with are partially made up out of different characters, including several monstrous-looking vampires as well as more human-looking symbols. These become animated when part of one of the 30 paylines. This includes the vampire hunter drawing his wooden stake or the monster vampire lunging for an attack.

Listening to the music all sets the mood quite well too. There is a dark orchestral song playing in the background that swells and recedes as the game continues. Getting wins offers a brief jingle that was a little too joyous to really fit the setting but it wasn’t long enough to really ruin the mood that the music created.

Symbols

Blood Queen features a selection of symbols that can be divided into the usual low and high variety. The high-paying symbols are the different items and characters which were all created especially for the game. Meanwhile, card letters are used to fill up the rest of the game. These are somewhat decorated to fit the theme a bit better but they still look out of place in this rather dark and dreary game.

Players that are looking for something that will reward them more wins will be glad to know this is a Medium Volatility slot. That means that you will be able to gather a decent number of smaller wins as you play. It’s not constant but it is frequent enough to help keep your funds somewhat stable. For the big wins, you do need to trigger the free spins mode, however.

It is possible to change your bet to a value between £0.30 and £60 per spin, in order to get bigger wins or lose fewer coins, depending on how you look at it. It would pay off to be able to play for a longer time as the maximum win is 6,000x your bet which will only be feasible when activating the free spins mode.

When it comes to the symbols, they all look distinct and are beautifully hand-drawn. Their animations also add a lot of character. The symbols in the game involve:

• Couple (Scatter): Get at least 3 scatters on the screen to activate the free spins mode.
• Wild: Wilds substitute all regular symbols in the game, except the Scatter symbol.
• Blood Queen: Max. 1,000 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
• Vampire Hunter: Max. 800 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
• Blood Gem: Max. 600 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
• Vampire: Max. 400 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
• Stakes: Max. 200 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
• Ace: Max. 100 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
• King: Max. 80 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
• Queen: Max. 50 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
• Jack: Max. 40 coins with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.

Features

Blood Queen also comes with a selection of features that will spice up the gameplay somewhat. I didn’t think these features were particularly original but they don’t have to be to add something to the gameplay. In general, I believe most players will be familiar with most individual parts.

• Wilds: Wilds substitute all regular symbols in the game, except for the Scatter symbols.
• Stacked Wilds: Wilds that appear during the base game will expand to fill the entire reel.
• Free Spins: With 3 Scatter symbols on the screen the free spins mode is activated. Players can receive up to 50 free spins this way. At the start of this mode, players pick the blue vampire hunter or the red blood queen.
• Sticky Wilds: Picking the blue vampire hunter means that the free spins mode will have Sticky Wilds. Any wild will stay on the screen.
• Expanding Wilds: Also happening when the player picks the blue vampire hunter, a sticky wild will expand. First, it will add 1 sticky wild above or below it. After that, it will add 2 wilds to either its left or right. After that, all wilds disappear.
• Walking Wilds: If the player picks the red blood queen, any wilds on the screen will fill the reel and then move to the left with every spin. More than 1 walking wild can be on the screen at the same time.

It’s probably already obvious to everybody that this slot focuses heavily on wilds in their different iterations. During the base game, you can expect any wild to become stacked and fill the entire reel it appeared on. This does help create wins but their payouts are often not high enough to count as a big win. It is possible for multiple wilds to appear on the screen at the same time.

When you manage to get 3 or more scatter symbols on the screen the free spins mode is activated. This part of the game is definitely where the big wins are most easy to get. Not that you’re guaranteed any of course, but in my experience, I often ended up with multiple times my bets in return.

The free spins mode is most notable for its choice between either sticky, expanding wilds or walking wilds. In my time playing the game, they both performed about as well.

In Conclusion

Blood Queen is a very admirable slot by a smaller studio. It really dedicated itself to the vampire idea and managed to squeeze a lot of atmosphere out of the setting. There are symbols that fit the bill perfectly and are animated on top of that. The background and music improve on the theme as well.

If we’re looking at the gameplay, I thought it was perfectly fine. It’s definitely a slot intended for people who enjoy the Wild mechanic as that is the most prevalent one. The free spins mode offers a small choice between two types of wilds, which helps keep it interesting. Fortunately, it isn’t too hard to activate this game mode so you will be able to test both multiple times in a session.

I would definitely recommend players give this slot a try as long as they’re not looking for an old-school fruit machine or a very modern slot. This game simply doesn’t look to reinvent the wheel but rather improve on it.