Review: Spirit Island

 "The Fool Doth Think He Is Wise" - A Spirit Island Review

The Basics

Spirit Island is a co-op settler destruction game in which the players are spirits working in concert to scare colonizers away from their island before they completely corrupt it or set up a permanent settlement. Each spirit has its own unique abilities and play styles and will gain new powers as the game develops. If any one Spirit is destroyed, too much Blight is on the land, or the Settler Deck runs out of cards, the players lose. The players win if they earn every single Fear card or if they meet a victory condition based on the current Terror Level.

I've made clear in other posts just how much I adore this game, but there's one thing in particular to which I'd like to draw everyone's attention: there are a ton of games out there about settling or colonizing lands. One of the most famous board games is Settlers of Catan (widely known as Catan), after all! Some of the games are more honest than others about the premise and mechanics (I really enjoy playing Puerto Rico, but the game calls components "colonists," and the fact is they're historically slaves, and not colonists), but that's a whole other post. Let me be clear that I'm not condemning those games, nor am I saying "they should never be played!" Again, it's a complicated issue that I'll discuss in another post at another time. But I absolutely adore that we have a game that very specifically has the players combat colonists because they're destroying the land and its people, not "civilizing the savages who lived there before." That's always been a bullshit narrative white people have leaned on, and this game makes no bones about it. I really appreciate that.

In the middle is the island on which the action is happening, and the Spirit Boards are set up all around it.

The Specs

Player count: 1-4 (you can play solo, and I have, but it is quite a lot for only one player to keep track of)

Playing time: 90-120 minutes (possible, but a stretch; unless all of the players are locked into the rules of the game and what their spirits can do, deliberation extends the game, as does set up)

Age: 13+

The Expansions

It's worth noting off the bat that you don't need to own the expansions (there are two of them: a smaller box and a bigger box, but there are also some special promo spirit packs), but everything included the expansions is good stuff. Yes, the game gets bigger, but it doesn't feel bloated or unnecessary. But I also don't want to say the expansions make the game better because I don't think they do, necessarily. I think they make the game more enjoyable because there are infinitely more choices with all the new content. But the gameplay, in my opinion, is already immaculate in the base game. The new content in the expansions doesn't really introduce much in the way of new mechanics, which I appreciate. There are some little things, but mostly it's new Spirits, new tokens, and new powers.

It is worth noting that the Jagged Earth expansion expands the maximum player count to 6. I will say to start with the base game. But if you like it even half as much as I do, you'll definitely want to buy all the expansion material they offer. The promo Spirits add to the game as well, rather than feeling like whimsical content like so much promo content for other games often feels.

If you haven't already read any of my little strategy posts about Spirit Island, you should head over there and read about why Heart of the Wildfire is absolutely my favorite of all the Spirits...

Gameplay

I'll be upfront about this, because my enthusiasm and love for the game often blinds me to this reality: this is the most complicated co-op game I've ever played. I obviously don't want to scare you off of it because I think the game is brilliant, but even at the simplest level (with low complexity Spirits and no scenario or adversary parameters), there is quite a lot of information, abilities, and ramifications to hold in one's head.

That said, I really think the gameplay is very elegant. There's a Spirit Phase, in which players take actions to gain energy, choose which powers to use, spread presence on the board, and other things. It's basically a prep phase, but each Spirit has different Growth options during this phase, so even this is asymmetrical. Then, once everyone is prepared, there's the Fast Powers phase, during which any "fast powers" employed by Spirits are resolved in any order the players like. Some of these will be Innate Powers printed on your Spirit board, others will be cards you play. The effects are wildly varied, from things as small as moving a single Explorer or gaining 1 Energy to effects as massive as killing all Invaders on a single land and adding Blight to it. After these are all resolved comes the Invader Phase, during which the Invader deck decides on which land type the Invaders will Ravage (do damage), Build (create more buildings), and Explore (send out more Explorers, setting up future Builds and Ravages). The only facedown card in the deck will be the Explore card. So players cannot anticipate where the Explorers will land, but we always know where they will Ravage and Build. This is some of that information you need to keep in your head to which I referred earlier. Because after the Invader Phase comes the Slow Power Phase. During this phase, any chosen slow powers will resolve in any order the players choose. After this phase, the turn ends and we go back to the Growth Phase.

My Thoughts on Gameplay

I think there are two things that make this game very tricksy, and I love it. The first is the choice to place the Invader Phase between when Spirit powers are resolved. The speed at which powers are resolved means if players have enough foresight, they can anticipate when a threat will arrive and destroy it at the right time. If not, the players are stuck on their back foot, trying in vain to hold off the relentless and unending tide of Invaders. Until one has a real handle on fast and slow powers, it can be easy to believe one has a handle on an unfolding situation, only to discover they're actually a phase behind. Then all hell breaks loose and the player is unable to do anything about it. So the interactions here are really, really cool and satisfying. I say that because if you anticipate a build will happen and decide to play a slow power that destroys said build, or perhaps ensures it can do no damage next turn, you've effectively handled next turn's Ravage in that land before it could happen. Such action buys you breathing room so you can continue planning ahead or pivot to an emergency or to help another Spirit handle business on their island board.

Whenever we, as humans, solve a puzzle, we get a hit of dopamine as a reward. It feels good to figure something out, right? There's the potential for this in EVERY TURN of Spirit Island. In my personal experience, it feels really good to unlock a sequence of play that sets me and the other players up nicely to have a good turn. It's especially satisfying when the other players also feel good about my choices. And since it's a team game, we're all more likely to be in that same boat of needing everyone else to succeed.

Now of course, not all will go as planned. The second element of the game that makes it tricksy are the Fear Cards and the Event Cards. The former have always been part of the game, but the latter were not introduced until the first expansion (Branch and Claw). As the Spirits generate more Fear (in the Invaders, to be clear!), Fear Cards are revealed with effects that benefit the players. The more cards revealed, the higher the Terror Level becomes and the easier it is for players to win the game. But the secondary effect of higher Terror Levels is that the Fear Card effects become more powerful. These happen right before the Invaders actions, so they can upset player plans, but are more likely to disrupt Invader actions. Event Cards are drawn right before the Fear Cards are revealed, and they have unpredictable effects on the game. They're often a mix of bad and good, but sometimes, the bad can be REALLY bad, and punish players whose plans were relying on slim margins for error breaking their way. For instance, if I played powers that *just* barely defended a land from the exact amount of damage I was anticipating, and the Event Card informs me that the Invaders each do one more damage this turn, now all my plans for defense are meaningless. The Invaders do more damage, the land gets a Blight token, maybe my Presence there is destroyed... In this game, it's very easy for bad things to cascade and multiply.

Given that we, as players, can anticipate everything the Invaders will do besides the Explore step, I really appreciate the bit of randomness the Event Deck generates. With such a mechanic in a game, it can often feel as though the cards are designed to intentionally sabotage the players. But the design team at Greater Than Games manages to integrate this mechanic in a way that feels as thought they're trying to challenge the players rather than simply screw them over. It can be a delicate balance, but this game walks that line ridiculously well (again, in my opinion).

The amount of work GtG put into balancing the powers and the Spirits is just astonishing. The result is that the synergy between different Spirits in countless combinations in addition to the abundance of different Scenarios and Adversaries means this game has infinite replayability. It's really kind of insane!

Wrong fandom, but I stand by my choices.

Solo Play

I'll be completely honest about this: it's really hard to solo this game. I love it, and I'm generally happy to play board games in solo mode. But there is SO much to hold in one's brain while playing Spirit Island that it's all too easy to miss a step of the game or get frustrated because one was anticipating a Ravage that isn't going to happen yet, or thought one had one more round before a devastating Build. I've tried solo-ing the game while controlling two different Spirits, and it's just so much to keep track of that, for me, it became a chore rather than fun.

Components

I mostly think they're fantastic. The aesthetic of the game is excellent, and the components contribute to that. They're solid, which I appreciate. I'll admit that there are quite a lot of them, so it can feel overwhelming. But honestly, they all add to the game rather than subtracting from it. And the only way I'd maybe eliminate some tokens would be to have a Fear wheel or counter of some sort instead of the tokens. But that's a ridiculously nitpicky thing for me to point out.

The only complaint I have is there seems to be just one artist who doesn't really seem to have a handle on the feel of the game. With a game this big, it makes sense there are multiple artists. I also love the decision to recruit multiple artists because different Spirits and powers invoke different aesthetics, and I appreciate the product that results from such choices. But there is just one artist in particular who, I think, does the game a disservice because their work is so very different from everyone else's and, again, feels as though the artist isn't operating within the feel and aesthetic established by the game. Another criticism that many may call nitpicky, and that's fine. It's not like it stops me from playing the game, obviously! But because everything else about the game feels so incredibly spot-on (seriously verging on perfect), this particular artist's work just stands out like a sore thumb.

Final Thoughts

^^This. Literally to the 1 millionth degree.

Owing to how much brainpower I have to use in each play of this game, I can only play maybe two games before needing a break. But this has been my favorite board game for the last two or three years, and it's not even close. I'm always happy to see it come to the table, and as much as I play it, there's still SO much more I want to explore within it. So many Spirits I've yet to play, so many Scenarios and Adversaries to try out... The game is gorgeous and creative, I love the narratives it creates... Honestly, Spirit Island gives me everything I want from a gaming experience. The skill level is definitely a bit higher, but I find it incredibly engaging and just a wonderful play.