Spirit Island (2017)

How To Play Spirit Island

Players are different spirits of the land, each with its own unique elemental powers. Every turn, players simultaneously choose which of their power cards to play, paying energy to do so. Using combinations of power cards that match a spirit’s elemental affinities can grant free bonus effects. Faster powers take effect immediately before the Invaders spread and ravage, but other magics are slower, requiring forethought and planning to use effectively. In the Spirit phase, spirits gain energy, and choose how / whether to Grow: to reclaim used power cards, to seek new power, or to spread presence into new areas of the island.

The Invaders expand across the island map in a semi-predictable fashion. Each turn they explore some lands (portions of the island). In the next turn, they build in those lands, forming settlements and cities. The turn after that, they ravage there, bringing blight to the land and attacking any native islanders present.

The islanders fight back against the Invaders when attacked, and lend the spirits some other aid. But they may not always do so exactly as you’d hoped. Some Powers work through the islanders, helping them (eg) drive out the Invaders or clean the land of blight.

The game escalates as it progresses: spirits spread their presence to new parts of the island and seek out new and more potent powers, while the Invaders step up their colonization efforts. Each turn represents 1-3 years of alternate-history.

At game start, winning requires destroying every last settlement and city on the board. But as you frighten the Invaders more and more, victory becomes easier. They’ll run away even if some number of settlements or cities remain. Defeat comes if any spirit is destroyed, if the island is overrun by blight, or if the Invader deck is depleted before achieving victory.

The game includes different adversaries to fight against (eg: a Swedish Mining Colony, or a Remote British Colony). Each changes play in different ways, and offers a different path of difficulty boosts to keep the game challenging as you gain skill.

Spirit Island Review

“Spirit Island is a high strategy game with a ton of variety, player choice, and replay value. It’s the mechanical Adonis of board games and has quite easily taken my number one spot. Everything about it just works incredibly well and feels good. The way it blends its thematic presence with game design is nearly flawless.”

gideonsgaming.com

“Spirit Island is definitely one of the best co-op board games I’ve ever played, but it’s not that high up on my group’s combined list. I’ve played it with seven people and three said they weren’t fans because it’s too much of a brain-burner. It really is, but I’m personally a fan of games that require a lot of analysis since that usually means the game has massive replay value (which this does). Plus, as I explained to them, you get to know the spirits and cards over time and it becomes easier to figure out what you should do each turn.

If you’re not a fan of deeper, thinky board games, you probably won’t enjoy Spirit Island. If this theme intrigues you and you enjoy highly tactical games that reward you for good planning, this is a must-try.”

Ronny Alexander, coopboardgames.com

“Spirit Island offers an experience unlike many co-operative games I’ve played. It is positively dripping in theme, from the way its spirits are represented, to its unique art style, all the way down to component quality. The difference in having invaders represented by plastic minis while using wood to signify your presence and the Dahan tokens is a subtle one, but it shows mindfulness on the part of the designer and publisher to make a distinct difference in presentation on the board to differentiate the natives and invaders. For even more versatility, the Branch and Claw expansion offers more spirits, adversaries and scenarios, as well as Jagged Earth.

Despite the complexity, Spirit Island offers enough to get a less-seasoned gamer involved without them feeling overwhelmed, given the correct amount of support. Quarterbacking is essentially non-existent: there are so many power combinations that it is impossible for one person to control everyone else’s turn. The Invader board makes it easy to identify the biggest threats and allow players to make the best use of their powers to ensure the survival of the island.”

Andrew Pemberton, board-game.co.uk

The content of this article is originally from Board Game Geek. For more information and a better understanding of the game, you can watch the videos below.