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.
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.