Immortal Romance II exclusive interview: Stormcraft Studios discuss epic vampire slot sequel

It’s the most hotly anticipated slot release of 2024 – so we decided to find out exactly why everybody’s getting so excited about Immortal Romance II.

Immortal Romance II is out now, exclusively on 32Red

Yes, this summer the vampire strikes back. In an exclusive chat with Stormcraft Studio’s Terence Igesund, the Executive Producer tells us what to expect from this supernatural sequel.

Why do you think the original Immortal Romance slot was such a hit?

There are many reasons why the original Immortal slot was such a success. For starters the world was crazy about vampires at the time so the timing of the release would definitely have played a part. Add to that, the game was a derivative of our Thunderstruck II slot which was hugely popular and the first online slot ever to save the player’s game state which created massive opportunity for bonus feature progression.

That said, the game itself was lovingly crafted into a unique gaming experience through the introduction of compelling characters with intriguing narratives, which culminated in us writing and composing an amazing soundtrack to support each of the characters’ free spin features.

Is it a daunting task to work on the sequel for such a popular game?

Absolutely! I had always intended to create a follow up game, which is why I left Sarah’s narrative on such a cliffhanger. The plan was to wait for the game performance to start to wane to a certain level, and then revitalize the brand with an exciting sequel. Well… Immortal Romance continued to live up to its name and never showed any signs of dying off, still appearing into the top 10 rankings from time to time.

I had the character narratives and game storyline ready to go for years, which helped expedite the writing and composition of the new soundtrack as well as the creation of the cinematic win animations. The real challenge was deciding on the game mechanics. We needed to ensure that the game features were on trend, and considering how quicky trends change in the online industry, this proved to be a moving target which forced us to pivot several times on the game mechanics. We are pleased with where we eventually landed, and the game demo at the ICE tradeshow in London was very positively received by operators and the streamer community.

Can you tell us what influences you’ve been inspired by as you’ve worked on this sequel?

At a mechanic level we were inspired by playing the top performing online as well as landbased slot games. From a creative perspective, the visual experience was determined some time ago, which was probably influenced by several gothic romance novels, movies and tv series that I had consumed over the years. Writing the soundtrack for the game was probably the highlight of the journey for me personally, and I spent many hours with my sound designers, listening to hours of music as we refined the songs for each character and crafted the moody background tracks for the base game.

What key features should players be excited about in this new release?

Immortal Romance II is literally dripping with features and we paid careful attention during the balancing of the maths to ensure a high level of entertainment for the players. What this means is that there is always going to be something happening on screen. Players can look forward to several collection mechanics, lots of exciting anticipations, plenty of feature choices, and a variety of ways to customize their gaming experience.

Can you tell us how Immortal Romance II builds on the original in terms of style, gameplay, and anything else you think is noteworthy?

We spent quite some time considering what we wanted the player experience to be. There needed to be familiarity as well as innovation, a feeling of confidence as well as curiosity to explore all the features in the game. So, with that in mind we chose to keep to the original’s 243 Ways but introduce Rolling Reels throughout the entire game, which is closely coupled to all the new Wild multiplier features and functionality that we have introduced.

The overall visual quality of the game has improved dramatically from the original, with Sarah, Michael, Troy, and Amber also having gone through a significant stylistic make over. Based on industry feedback, we decided to commit the time and effort into once again creating unique Free Spins feature mechanics for each of the 4 characters, enhanced with their own original soundtrack. Each character’s song is a vehicle for the Immortal Romance narrative, so listen carefully to the lyrics to gain a deeper insight into what is happening in their Cinematic Big Win videos.

Saving the best for last, the Wild Desire feature. We knew this feature needed to be next level so we listened to all the online requests and added a Multiplier! This multiplier starts at 1x and can be increased up to 3x in the base game. There is more than one way to trigger Wild Desire, from base game by landing 2 mouthwatering Blood Drops symbols as well as in the Jackpot Wheel feature. At the start of the feature, the reels expand into 1024 Ways. If you are lucky enough to fill all those reels with Wilds, you will be rewarded a fantastic 15,000x win!

How do you go about bringing something fresh to a slot? It must be challenging to come up with something that stands out from the crowd.

Stormcraft’s core values include Craftsmanship and Entertainment, and these are the key differentiators that set us apart from other slot manufacturers. We spend time thinking about and curating the player journey to ensure that we deliver a memorable experience that is worth returning to.

We’ve already seen a number of spin-offs of the original Immortal Romance. Can we expect similar games based on Immortal Romance II, and are there any intriguing ideas in the pipeline already that you can talk about?

Mmmmm… I have to be careful how I answer this one. I can neither confirm nor deny… that the intriguing tale of Immortal Romance will continue to unfold in the future as the brand franchise expands.

Are there any other exciting details you can tell us about this new game that will surprise players?

Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you about the Bloodline feature. Well, it’s more of a gamification device that tracks your number of spins and rewards you at certain spin milestones along your journey with additional musical and visual themes to customise their gaming experience. We also snuck a Wild Desire purchase unlock in there as well.

If you don’t already know, the soundtrack for Immortal Romance II will be added to Stormcraft’s Spotify account as well as all other major music streaming sites. You can also find the original Immortal Romance album there as well as the Thunderstruck soundtracks, so go check it out.

Immortal Romance II is out now exclusively on 32Red from May 1st 2024 for a limited time, before going on general release. Visit 32Red Casino to check out a wide range of table games and slots.