I enjoyed sinking my teeth into both games.
Just like watching movies and television series, reading books or listening to an album, it’s difficult to play a game and then its sequel and not compare the two. Recently, I had this experience with the Immortal Romance and Immortal Romance II online slots.
When comparing two peas from the same pod, I’ve found that sometimes the sequel is better than the original (Thunderstruck II). Other times, the sequel isn’t nearly as good as the first game (Sweet Alchemy 2). Then there are cases where the sequel is better in some ways than the original but not full on superior. After playing Immortal Romance II, for me, this game fits nicely into this third – better-but-not-full-on-superior – category.
Here’s why.
Immortal Romance Vs Immortal Romance II – My Experience
Haven’t heard of either of these games? I’ve included a rundown of each below to give you some background on both, including their features.
Know all about these slots? Then you’ll know what I’ll be comparing – Skip ahead!
Immortal Romance Game Facts
- Software provider: Games Global (developer – Microgaming)
- Release date: 2012
- Theme: Vampires, Dark, Romance
- Reels: 5
- Rows: 3
- Paylines: 243 (ways to win)
- Volatility: Medium
- Min Bet: $0.30
- Max Bet: $30.00
- Max Win: 12,000x
- Features: Wild Reels, Free Spins, Rolling Reels, Multipliers
- RTP: 96.86%
- Free Demo: You can play the Immortal Romance demo on bigwinboard.
🧛♀️Noteworthy stuff – Immortal Romance was originally released by Microgaming back in 2012, to much success, and continues to be a popular online slot to this day. Since it’s release, the game has been remastered (2020) and is now distributed by Games Global (which acquired Mircrogaming’s Quickfire business in 2022).
Immortal Romance is well loved and stands out from other online slots (especially for its time) for:
- Having an intriguing soap-opera-like storyline (complete with a backstory for each character you can listen to). The characters include:
- Sarah – A human scientist who wants to cure a disease and is captivated by Michael.
- Michael – A professor of genetics and centuries-old vampire smitten with Sarah.
- Amber – Sarah’s clairvoyant friend worried about Sarah’s involvement with Michael.
- Troy – Michael’s loyal “bad boy” vampire pal who isn’t wild about Sarah but is intrigued by Amber.
- Good graphics and animated sequences
- Original soundtrack (each character has their own song!)
- Wild Desire feature (that randomly occurs and can turn up to 5 reels Wild)
- 4 unique character-based Free Spins bonus rounds (you unlock features as you progress)
- Up to 12,000x win
Immortal Romance II Game Facts
- Software provider: Games Global (developer – Stormcraft Studios)
- Release date: 2024
- Theme: Vampires, Dark, Romance
- Reels: 5
- Rows: 3
- Paylines: 243
- Volatility: High
- Min Bet: $0.10
- Max Bet: $30.00
- Max Win: 15,000x
- Features: Cascading Reels, Free Spins, Wild Reels, Rolling Reels, Multipliers, Jackpots, Bloodline
- RTP: 96.30%
- Free Demo: You can play the Immortal Romance II demo via Games Global’s site.
🧛♀️Noteworthy stuff – Immortal Romance II is a continuation of the original game. Stormcraft Studios was tasked with developing this long-awaited online slot sequel (not an easy thing to do considering players had been waiting for it for 12 years!) The developer rose to the challenge and delivered a game that kept much of what players loved from the original as well as added new features.
Having been released only in May of this year (2024) Immortal Romance II is still quite new and is far from achieving the classic slots status for which its predecessor is renowned. That said, the game delivers:
- The continued interconnected stories of Sarah, Michael, Amber, and Troy, picking up where it left off from the first game (and you can listen to the same narrator bring you up to speed on their stories).
- Fresh and crisp graphics and new animated sequences
- Another original soundtrack (each character has their own song, again!)
- Cascading Reels (symbols in a winning combo disappear and are replaced by the symbols above – potentially resulting in a sequence of win from a single spin)
- Wild Desire feature (that randomly occurs, can turn up to 5 reels Wild, with the reel set expanding to 5×4 and 1024 ways to win – multipliers can also randomly increase during the feature)
- Jackpot Wheel (triggers at random and you can win one of four character jackpots or land the Wild Desire feature)
- 4 unique character-based Free Spins bonus rounds (each with different features)
- Bloodline (a progress bar that advances with each spin, allowing you to unlock different music and skins – this feature is purely aesthetic and doesn’t impact bets or wins)
- Up to 15,000x win
My Immortal Romance Gameplay Experience Compared to Immortal Romance II
What inspired me to play Immortal Romance II and compare it to the original is that I really like Immortal Romance. In fact, it’s among the first online slots I played.
Despite not being gaga over vampires, I like the theme of the game so much, in fact, that I’ve also played Immortal Romance Video Bingo and that was a favourite of mine for a while, too.
When I learned that Immortal Romance II was coming out, I was excited to play it and thought it would be fun to play both on the same day and share my comparison experience and thoughts. Here it is:
Immortal Romance
I played Immortal Romance at PlayOJO for about 20 minutes and bet $0.30 (the minimum bet) per spin, later increasing it to $0.60.
At no point during my playing session did I trigger the free spins feature or Wild Desire feature. Although I was frequently teased with 2 scatters landing on the reels. 😆
My biggest win (5 Of A Kind) occurred in the base game and activated a mini animated sequence.
By the end of my 20ish-minute play session I’d nearly depleted my bankroll.
Although this wasn’t my first time playing Immortal Romance – and I have previously triggered the Chamber of Spins (free spins) feature (Amber) before – this particular playing session was actually quite dull. But that’s gambling for ya – you win some, you lose some.
Immortal Romance II
I played at Betty for about 20 minutes, started with the $0.10 min bet for a few spins then boosted my bet up to $0.50.
During my playing session I triggered every feature of the game:
Free spins – I landed the Chamber of Spins feature twice and picked Troy the first time and then Sarah the next. Sarah’s resulted in a bigger payout, but I like Troy’s feature better (locking wild wins) and find it more fun overall.
Jackpot Wheel – I randomly scored the Jackpot Wheel twice and first won Amber’s jackpot (the smallest one) and then Sarah’s (the biggest one) the second time around.
Wild Desire – This one I landed once. I’ll be honest, I was expecting it to be a lot more exciting than it was. Triggering it and the expanded reel set is all very dramatic and thrilling, but my resulting 70 cents win…not so much. 😆
As in the case of Immortal Romance, my biggest win occurred in the base game. I landed multiple wins via the cascading feature which resulted in several consecutive increased multiplier wins. The big win triggered an animated scene with Troy that was pretty awesome too. This was easily my favorite moment of my playing session.
I played long enough that I progressed the Bloodline Bar to the point where I unlocked Amber’s theme. If you manage to play 5,000 spins, you’ll unlock “Immortality” which gives you full access to all song tracks and game skins. The cool thing is I discovered that you don’t have to try to achieve that all in one playing session. To my surprise, when I loaded the game again on Betty, it saved my Bloodline progress.
My Verdict
Atmosphere-wise Immortal Romance is the better game. It captures the dark and romantic gothic vampire mood much better than the sequel. I also think it’s better in terms of the storyline, music, and overall originality.
With the exception of Wild Desire (which I think was done better in the original slot), feature-wise, I find Immortal Romance II is the better game. The addition of the cascading wins, increasing win multipliers, and character jackpot wheel, make the game more dynamic and engaging – particularly during those long dry spells when you’re waiting to trigger the free spins feature.
Speaking of the Immortal Romance II free spins feature, I also prefer it to the original game. I like that I can pick whichever character I want and not have to progress through each character (triggering free spins 5 times) to unlock a new character feature, as is the case in the first Immortal Romance game.
Bottom line – the sequel is superior in terms of its overall gameplay and features, but ultimately stands in the shadow of the original’s brilliance.
Immortal Romance Vs. Immortal Romance II – Mia’s Final Thoughts
I genuinely enjoy playing both Immortal Romance slots, and I like different aspects about each. In terms of atmosphere, theme, overall storyline, and the soundtrack, for me, nothing beats the original game. Theme-wise, the sequel does not capture the same dark and captivating aura as the original. It’s like the Vampire Diaries compared to the spinoffs that never quite captured the same magic.
In terms of layout, gameplay, and features, however, for me, Immortal Romance II is the winner. The added perks like the Cascading Reels, Jackpot Wheel, the random increasing multiplier in Wild Desire, the fact that you can choose whichever character free spins you want (without having to trigger it multiple times to progress to the next one) are all wins for me. There’s just a lot more going on with this game, which makes it feel more interactive than the original.
Ultimately, if I had to choose one game over the other, I prefer to play Immortal Romance II. My preference aside, I don’t think the slot is superior to the first game. It does have features I like better, but, overall, it doesn’t capture the magic of the original Immortal Romance slot.
What about you? Are you an Immortal Romance fan? Which game do you like better and why? Who’s your favourite character and which free spins feature (and song track) do you like best? I wanna know! 🧛♀️
Until next time, good luck and have fun.
Mia 👩💻
*I’m not affiliated with anyone.
**All links and images in this post are for informational purposes only.
***Remember that an online slot’s RTP, options, and features are subject to change and may be different depending on the online casino and the location from where you play.
