Hearts of Venice (WMS): Overview

If you can’t get to Venice right now but still want a slice of the city, don’t kid yourself for a moment that the Hearts of Venice slot will deliver it. There are plenty of reasons it doesn’t, and we’ll lay them out as clearly as we can.

Even if you’ve never visited, you’ve surely heard people rave about Venice. And honestly, it earns the praise. It’s a city with no cars, so you either walk or travel by boat. Think winding canals, gondolas, elegant old buildings and narrow alleys, and the way the light hits the skyline at sunrise and sunset. It’s slowly sinking into the lagoon, like a proud old statesman easing into the final chapter. It’s undeniably unique and deserves a spot on any traveler’s bucket list. Like other Hearts of Venice reviews that will inevitably appear, we’ll happily agree Venice is special—but from here, our take heads down a different waterway.

It’s difficult not to feel second-hand embarrassment for WMS when you load this one up. The first thing that jumps out is the strip of fire burning along the bottom of the screen. Is it meant to represent passionate love and everlasting romance? Or is your device trying to do you a favor by burning the game away? Get past that and you’re met with a background so corny you’ll start wondering if this was made for 18+ gamblers or 12 year old girls. Sure, it’s aiming for romance, but it lands more like the awkward panic of a first date gone wrong.

To start, you choose a bet from 40 c/p up to $/€500 per spin, which may feel steep for lowrollers but will suit highrollers just fine. If you’ve got that kind of cash to throw at a game like this, our advice is simple: spend it on almost anything else. Either way, press play to set the 5×4, 50 payline layout spinning. As you’ll notice, the reels turn to that familiar little jingle—something WMS uses often and a reminder of its land-based slot roots.

Hearts of Venice has medium-high volatility and an RTP of 96.12%. That figure is with the Hot Hot Respin enabled, though. Oddly, the overall RTP isn’t provided, which really suggests only one thing—it’s probably not great. And wait until we get into symbol values and win potential. The low symbols include a hat, poles, a golden seahorse, and a flower. Mid-tier icons are a gondola, bridge, lantern and statue, while the top end features a gondola pilot and a romantic-looking lady who pays, unbelievably, just 5 times the stake for five of a kind. With no tumble/cascade mechanic to help chain wins, that’s simply not good enough. So can the features rescue a slot with such limited upside?

Hearts of Venice (WMS): Features

In the base game, the two most frequent extras are the wild and the heart mechanic. The game logo acts as the wild and appears on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5, substituting for any paying symbol. The Heart Feature symbol can land anywhere, and once the reels stop it bursts open to reveal another symbol—anything except the wild and scatter. WMS is clearly trying to ride the currently popular mystery-symbol trend.

Next up is the Hot Hot Super Respin Mode, which is the awkward moment our flaming companion jumps in and literally sets the reels on fire. He “helps” in the same way Clippy the Paperclip used to help before Microsoft got rid of him. Two respins are triggered when reel 1 is stacked with heart feature symbols. During the respins, reel 1 and any other wilds and heart symbols stay locked. After the two respins finish, the heart symbols pop to reveal the same symbol and any resulting wins are paid.

Hit 3 scatters to award 10 Free Spins. In this feature, extra wilds and heart feature symbols are added to the reels. Also in this round, landing 3 scatters adds 10 additional free spins to what remains. One decent touch here is the bonus guarantee. If the total win at the end of the feature is under 10x the total bet, the game will still pay 10x the total bet.

Hearts of Venice (WMS): Verdict

WMS Gaming is famous for decades of experience producing physical slot machines, and Hearts of Venice feels like something lifted straight from a cabinet and dropped online. Sometimes that approach works; here, not so much. If you were in a land-based casino and Hearts of Venice was the only machine available, you might be forgiven for setting a limit and taking a quick punt. With the noise and energy around you, it could be tolerable for a handful of spins. Possibly.

As an online slot, it’s a total waste of time and an outright trainwreck. With countless better games just a click away, why would anyone choose this? It’s genuinely hard to come up with a solid reason to play Hearts of Venice. If we’re being extremely charitable, it has a bit of charm—mainly thanks to that bizarre Clippy-style character. But the money just isn’t there to make up for the sluggish pace and flat feel. The symbol values are awful, and a full screen of the top lady pays only 250 times the stake.

If you’re after a romance-themed slot, you’d be far better off trying something like Immortal Romance. Even if vampires aren’t your thing, it delivers speed, drama, excitement, and strong payout potential—everything Hearts of Venice lacks.