Dark romance is having a moment, which is great news for anyone who’s ever looked at a healthy relationship and thought, “Bit boring, isn’t it?” The genre has exploded by replacing flowers and dinner dates with stalking, kidnapping, and men whose biggest personality trait is probably an active restraining order. Turns out red flags aren’t a dealbreaker if the guy is hot enough and the book cover has black roses on it.

Which brings us neatly to the Crown of the Undying slot from Foxhound Games, which takes the whole “dangerous, cursed and weirdly attractive” aesthetic and turns it into reels. Basically, it’s dark romance with multipliers.

Biceps and poor decisions

Betting on the Crown of the Undying slot offers betting from just $0.10 a spin. If you’re betting at the $35 a spin limit, you’ll have a shot at up to $350,000 in winnings thanks to a 10,000x maximum multiplier.

With high volatility, the slot won’t offer much in the way of small, consistent win opportunities. The Crown of the Undying slot’s expected RTP is 96.26%.

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The slot’s gameplay features cluster wins with cascading reels. This means that winning combinations are created when five or more of the same symbol cluster together, touching horizontally or vertically. 

Cascading reels will remove symbols from a winning cluster, allowing new symbols to fall into the empty spaces. This process continues for as long as new winning clusters are formed.

The Multiplier Bar is linked to cascading reels and contains nine stacks. Each standard winning cluster adds one stack to the bar. Every time you collect three stacks, the Multiplier Wheel activates and awards a random Multiplier between 2x and 100x. The selected Multiplier is then applied to your total win.

The Mark is placed in random positions on the reels at the beginning of each spin. Winning clusters that include The Mark add three stacks to the Multiplier Bar rather than the usual one.

The Mark can also activate the abilities of the three high-paying character symbols. An ability is triggered whenever the corresponding character lands on The Mark.

• The Archer – Three wild symbols are fired onto random positions on the reels.
• Priestess – Converts a random symbol into a Sarcophagus Wild Symbol. If the Sarcophagus Wild reaches the bottom of the playing grid, it awards a prize based on the symbol that was converted. Low-paying symbols provide prizes between 10X and 20X, while high-paying symbols can award between 30X and 500X.
• Knight – Three swords are summoned. One sword is guaranteed to land on the same reel as The Mark. The swords clear symbols from their affected positions, with Wild and Sarcophagus Wild Symbols remaining on the grid.

Once a character has activated its ability, it changes into an undead version and cannot trigger the same ability again.

When a scatter lands on the reels, it is immediately removed from the playing grid and added to the Scatter Stack Indicator. Collecting three stacks during the same spin triggers a round of the Reign of the Usurper free spins. You can also trigger a round of free spins with the buy bonus features.

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Any multiplier or multiplier stacks collected during the base game are not carried into Reign of the Usurper free spins. During a round, the bonus introduces persistent multipliers that remain active throughout your free spins.

All three character abilities are also upgraded during free spins. The Archer places five Wilds anywhere on the playing grid, the Priestess creates a Sarcophagus that is two positions tall, and the Knight clears the entire playing grid.

Is the Crown of the Undying slot one for the BookTok girlies?

If you’re familiar with the dark romance genre, the inspiration behind the Crown of the Undying slot will be clear. That said, if you’re not, it’s probably just going to feel like an edgy, slightly emo slot with some great bonus features.

This does feel like something Hacksaw has done a few times before, but there’s still plenty here to enjoy. The special ability symbols, along with the bonus features and their accompanying animations, really elevate the slot.

I give this one 9.5 out of 10. The missing half point is really just my prejudice against dark romance.

If you’re looking for a few of those Hacksaw slots I was referring to, I recommend Death Becomes You, Dark Spiral, and Immortal Desire.