In order to promote discussion on Lemmy, I’m doing micro-reviews for my favorite boardgames by genre. Please join in, provide your reviews, flame me for my terrible taste or to suggest a category for tomorrow!
Today’s game is Spirit Island
TL;DR
Score: 9/10
Positives:
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Gorgeous artwork
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Theme fits great in the game
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Very thinky
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Tons of difficulty adjustments and scenarios
Negatives:
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The upkeep of this game is very high
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Prone to Analysis Paralysis
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Quarterbacking/Alpha gaming is nearly impossible but it’s still really important to discuss how to approach each turn; Not everyone enjoys that
The Review
In Spirit Island you play as a magical spirit of the island. Your task is to protect the land and its native tribes from the colonizing invaders. The objective of the game is to wipe the colonizers or inflict so much fear they give up. If the colonizers spread too much or you run out of time, you lose the game.
Image credit to Richard on bgg, source here
This game is really special. The artwork is absolutely amazing and fits the theme really really well. The Spirits feel REALLY different from eachother, they totally change the way you play the game. Some Spirits are more focused on defending the land from colonist attacks, others are really good at killing enemy units and others play more of a supporting role.
At the start of game you are very weak. You have very limited range, and your starting cards are probably not very powerful. It quickly starts to feel like it’s an impossible task and you’re going to lose. Part of the island is going to be permanently corrupted and it’s going to feel bad.
It’s nearly impossible to be an alpha gamer in this game because your decisions are already too complex, you would be totally overwhelmed if you tried to control everyone else’s. That said, while all actions can be performed simultaneously, it’s very important to communicate your intentions with your team mates. Say you can wipe 1 of 2 possible areas. It’s important to communicate that ability with your team mates because maybe someone else is more restricted than you and can only deal with 1 of those areas. Not everyone enjoys this interaction but I truly believe it’s key to success.
As the game goes on you will be spreading your influence across the island and acquiring new and more powerful cards. You will start to feel like a god and the game starts to feel easy. It’s quite an interesting arc, really. The game comes with a ton of difficulty adjustments but the arc always seems to be the same: you start miserable and thinking the game is impossible but you clutch it out and win when game is nearly over.
I really love the hard decisions in this game. You want to save the entire island, you want to kill every colonizer, you want it all to be perfect. That’s not going to happen, the game is designed for that not to happen. You’re going to have to make sacrifices and try your best to deal with the threats while gaining some much needed power. I love that aspect of the game. The Spirits are really unique with clever little names. My favorite spirit is “Ocean’s Hungry Grasp” and it’s so fun because your gameplay neatly simulates the ocean waves. It’s amazing.
The one thing that knocks a point out of this game is the “invader phase” upkeek. Spreading colonizers and disease is a REALLY boring step and very prone to errors. It doesn’t seem too much in the first couple of turns but it really starts to become a dreadful task that you perform every single round. For this reason, I really don’t recommend the first expansion. You need to add even more stuff to add to the board and has yet another upkeep step. There’s a Steam adaptation of the game which probably solves this problem but I tend not to enjoy digital adaptations of boardgames.
Context Information
Number of Plays: 15
Suggested player count: 2-3 players, 4 is fine if everyone knows how to play and no one suffers from AP
Average playtime: 2.5 hours
Win-rate: 93.3%
Honorable Mentions
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Aeon’s End: The New Age - Really fun deckbuilding game with the unique novelty that you DO NOT shuffle your deck. Once you play all your deck you simply flip it, no shuffle. Great game. There are a ton of Aeon’s End games, I played The new Age and The Outcasts. I recommend The new Age, felt like a better game.
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The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine - Trick tacking games are played a lot in Portugal. Every family owns a deck of cards and everyone can play “Sueca”. This game feels like cooperative “Sueca” and we had a blast playing it. I also played a bit of the second one but I find the simple design of the first one a lot better.
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The Shipwreck Arcana - Forgot to mention this one! This is a very clever cooperative deduction game. Small box, small prize, amazing game. It’s a solid 9/10 for me as well.
I absolutely love Spirit Island!
As someone who owns both the board game and the Steam adaptation, I still prefer the board game. I find that the PC game is great, and it’s reasonably polished. It’s good for when I want to get straight into playing the game without fiddling with the setup/teardown and turn upkeep.
That said, you don’t get the same experience as the board game. The charm and production quality of the game and its components don’t translate seamlessly into the virtual variant. The mechanics & rules may be the same, but I find that the PC and board game present themselves as distinct and separate products.
Haven’t tried Spirit Island yet! To be honest, the big price tag kind of scares me from casually trying it(esp since I hear the consensus is you want the branch & claw xpacs too to really make it great).
It might be cheating since it is only sorta a board game, but my favorite is the Arkham Horror LCG. So much content, each campaign has its own quirks and twists, and the deckbuilsing is incredibly deep, especially with the experience leveling up system. One of my favorite board games overall
It’s crazy to see how much boardgames have increased in cost. I bought my copy for 60 euros, the same shop now sells it for 95 euros.
Even if you feel like Branch & Claw is something you’d enjoy, you should probably play a couple of games without it. I wouldn’t discard the game because of expansions, the base game feels complete and is as challanging as you want it to be!
I played Spirit Island for the first time on Tabletop Simulator and it felt kinda cluttered and too hard to anticipate what happens next. But playing it at a real table with all the little pieces was completely different. We played many times with 4 players since and added the expansions only after a while. The base game is completely fine in my opinion and doesn’t feel incomplete.
I didn’t really get into AH LCG. I only played it in TTS and felt like I had little control over the game. There were so many random elements that could affect all subsequent games that we abandoned it in frustration. And isn’t the price much higher with all the campaigns than SI?
And isn’t the price much higher etc…
Haha, I did have that exact thought when I was posting 😅 Although imo the barrier to entry is lower for the base game, and once I know I like a game I don’t mind spending, so that’s my idea behind it.
I did bounce off AHLCG the first time, and even sold it off. The “starter decks” they give you are god-awful and it really does feel like you’re at the mercy of random bullshit, but once you learn enough to deckbuild half decently (or look up the “better starting decks” published on Arkhamdb) the game feels much more rewarding, and the amount of nonsense you can get up to is amazing. There’s still the occasional bad luck (it is Arkham after all), but the game and strategy feels much more in your hands.
Didn’t even think of trying Spirit Island on TTS, maybe I’ll give that a go to see how I like it!
Eh, I have the original AH LCG, are there even enough cards to do that much of a different starter deck?
Definitely. I’m not gonna pretend just the core gives you much in the way of options, but the starter decks are truly god-awful and can be vastly improved just by taking out some wtf cards and replacing them with stuff good for your role (eg Daisy should not have knives)
I’ll need to take a look at the cards again. AH does take some time so I think we’ll start anew and see how to configure the decks. Thanks for the insight!
I totally get what you mean by lower entry barrier. In the end, that’s also by design for LCGs. But the completionist in me looks at the price tag for the whole collection in horror (no pun intended). Maybe after what you wrote I still give it another try, so thanks for sharing your experience.
When you play SI for the first time on TTS, I highly recommend playing with someone who knows the game already. Scripts in TTS are nice and all, but it’s even harder to understand how everything works when they are doing stuff so fast that you cannot follow.
Hm, I’m not sure if I was subconsciously influenced by this post, but I dug out Spirit Island yesterday again, got into the rules and played a solo round. It was a lot of fun, but I was totally overwhelmed by the invaders. To the extend, that I googled commonly made mistakes in the hope I did something wrong: I didn’t :/
Two spirits are more prone to have blind spots in their abilities. Three is kinda the sweet spot as you’re still close enough to everyone to cover for each other but also have a very nice spread of abilities. But juggling multiple spirits isn’t easy.
You’ve likely already googled tipps and tricks. Just keep at it and you’ll get the hang of it.
Played a single spirit with which I had the feeling that with a bit of luck I would’ve made it. Might be that it was just a bit of bad luck and bad strategy…
The problem with a single spirit is that the different spirits have different strengths and with just one you’ll be missing something. Like, for example, there’s the storm thing that is super powerful and destroys buildings, but it doesn’t do much against single explorers, and if you don’t have a way to contain those somehow even with your superior building destroying powers you won’t be able to keep up.
That is, it’s actually harder with one than with two.
We often play with 3 and it’s a beautiful game at that count.
Awesome! I’ve been playing Spirit Islands frequently for the past three or so months. I’m really enjoying the different thematics of all the spirits, their aspects and their unique powers. The spirits names are quite unique and awesome as well: “River Surges in Sunlight”, “Many Minds Move as One”, “Lure of the Deep Wilderness”, etc., they’re kinda mysterious but still good at explaining the idea behind a spirit.
The artwork you praise so much is a bit overhyped as far as I’m concerned. There’s some really nice pictures, but there’s also some that are just kinda dull. The big variety of scenarios, nations and spirits is more interesting to me. I do feel like the more complex spirits also have the fancier artwork though. Which is a bit unfair haha.
My personal favourite coop game is Magic Maze, followed by Pandemic: Fall of Rome, The Shipwreck Arcana, So Clover and Top Ten. But Spirit Island is also pretty high on my list, especially when I’m looking to fulfill the itch for a longer, more complex coop game.
I absolutely love Shipwreck Arcana, that’s a great mention. Best surprise game or something like that :P. Such a small box and such a fun game. It’s hard to find people that are into it but with the right crowd that game is fantastic. A solid 9 for me as well!
I’ve been wanting to try Top Ten, can you expland your thoughts on it?
We play up to five players and it’s entirely fine at that count. Then again maybe our opinion that a highly rewarding game like Spirit Island doesn’t have to be over in 90 minutes may be an outlier.
One of the morst important factor in Spirit Island is that everyone MUST be able to play without handholding. And once you’re beyond the 3 player mark there’s no more room (nor necessity) to discuss island-wide tactics. Some quick words on strategy are alright but the turn to turn tactics are best dealt with when every player figures out what they could do or contribute to and the negotiates bilaterally.
I also disagree with the upkeep being an issue. It doesn’t take a whole lot of games to get familiar with the VERY easy formula. Seriously, out of everything in Spirit Island the invader turns are probably the easiest. Everyone can just do their own island board and you’re done in a jiffy.
One nice thing about the expansions is that most additions are completely optional. You can play with them if you like or ignore them.
It’s definitely a game that’s a bit tricky to get new players into. The rules are a bad teaching tool and you absolutely should play with MAX 3 players at the easiest setup imaginable when onboarding newbies. Because you ARE gonna have to handhold them.
Thanks for posting! I’m almost only play cooperative games (no one in my group is too much of a fan to compete against each other), so I’m always on the hunt for more of these. Luckily, I own all three games you’ve mentioned, but only spent time on AE and The Crew. This definitely motivates me to open up Spirit Island and give it a go!
I actually own the Target exclusive Horizons of Spirit Island - from reviews, it seems like it’s a streamlined version of the original, with lower quality pieces. Have you tried this, and what are your thoughts on it?
Pretty neat! What’s your favorite co-op game so far?
Have you tried this, and what are your thoughts on it?`
I haven’t tried it but I have considered getting it. My SO didn’t enjoy Spirit Island and it kinda breaks my heart. I was hoping that she would enjoy a streamlined version of the game but she disliked it so much that I don’t wanna force it.
Let me know your thoughts when you open your Spirit Island!
Horizons has the exact same rules minus blight cards and adversaries. The spirit designs are far, far better for new players than the original “easy” spirits. They corral the player into using them correctly, where the original easy spirits still had a super low skill floor.
I bought horizons just to integrate those new spirits into my regular collection. Their design is so flippin elegant. And their sheets being flat card stock instead of cardboard is a plus, not a minus - the original game frankly should have done the same to save box space. I replaced all my spirits with the foils they sold just to fit everything in a single box.
Black Orchestra is a great coop game. The major complaint that people feel is that the game is a bit too random since really your win/lose comes down to a couple die rolls. I feel that doesn’t take away too much from the game. It’s a blast.
The Captain Is Dead is a pretty fun co-op game. I think the difficulty fluctuates a bit but it’s great for beginners since it’s very simple in what you can do. The enemy rounds go very quickly and setup takes less than a minute or 2.
I desperately want to play a full series of The Crew. It’s a small trick taking card game where you work together to accomplish some goals. It’s the perfect game for me but I can’t find 4 consistent players. Very similar to Time Stories in that regard.
For Time Stories, the art is great; the theme is great! I simply can’t find 4 consistent players. I feel you have to play this game 3 or 4 times in a row (maybe 1 night 4 weeks in a row). Our set of players fluctuates a bit too much.
Dead Men Tell No Tales is a BRUTAL coop game. I don’t think we’ve ever beaten it. It’s super hard but we are gluttons for punishment.
A Fake Artist Goes to New York is absolutely my favorite game of all time. It’s a 2 vs many game. Rounds are fast (5 minutes or so) and it’s perfect for drunken revelries. You need 5 players minimum. It’s a lovely “dessert” game.
Flash Point: Fire Rescue is a very rewarding coop. You get to drive a firetruck around and save people from a burning building. It’s also got a lot of expansions. Some of the fire expansions rules are a bit complicated to understand but you’ll get the hang of it after a few games.
I haven’t played it but Forbidden Desert seems to the best of the Forbidden series. I really enjoyed Forbidden Island and Desert seems to add just a bit more without ruining the base game.
The LOOP has been super fun. I really enjoy this game. Lots of quirkiness, lots of prioritization. It’s easy to agree on what the most important thing is. It’s a whole other matter to actually do it.
I also really like Flash Point! The dice rolling can get a bit tedious but the theme and mechanics play well together. A bit like in Spirit Island.
Since Fake Artist is your favourite, do you already know about the games Spyfall, or Suspicious? They’re a bit similar in that you have to try to fit in, but without the drawing aspect.
Awesome post, thanks for the list.
Oh man, I’ve been really looking to get Spirit Island. As mentioned, the problem with a lot of co-op games is that they can be solitaire games split up into a number of players, so I’ve read that Spirit Island is one of the games that overcomes that. How does it fair with just two players? Thinking of picking it up at some point to play with my wife, so your review is helpful here too!
Not OP, but Spirit Island is one of my favourite games too. I think it’s great at most player counts, but I like it the most at 2p. You can help each other out, fill in each other’s weak spots, but it doesn’t get as overwhelming as at larger player counts. And yes indeed, the decision space in Spirit Island is so big that alpha gaming is not easy (once you’ve played it a lot that gets easier, though), which makes it a great actual co-op game.
Just chiming in to say the game is fantastic at 2 players. My favorite player count is 3p but 2p is still amazing.
Big fan of SI there is a digital version on Steam that can help you learn while not having to juggle all the rules
What are your thoughts on Legends of Andor?
Never tried it, sorry!
I wish I had backed the new expansion. I hadn’t played my spirit island copy for a while so I skipped the expansion, but in the past 3 months I have played it tons.
