review
join forces against explorers
Spirit Island
Nature spirits versus invaders
The urge to discover the unknown, is a common factor among a lot of games, albeit all pursuing wildly varying goals. Before the playful interpretation of the race to the moon, shortly before the 50th anniversary of that event, which we also present in this issue, we try to to hinder the explorer/invaders in their goal to plunder the resources of our island idyll and to lay waste to it - and thereby, maybe, even, as a consequence to stop the building of any rocket in later - times .... no, this is taking us into the realms of philosophy. Let’s rather start to play!
The time of the spirits has arrived!
On a far-off lonely island, we are spirits that live in harmony with nature. But invaders from beyond the seas disturb our peace and threaten the Dahan people, the indigenous population of the island, and with them the threaten us. Can we spirits get strong enough in time to spread enough terror among the invaders to frustrate colonization?
Before the setup of the island and the positioning of invaders, Dahan and our own Sacred Sites we must choose the Nature Spirit we represent. We are assisted in this by the individual spirit boards; they describe the spirits and hold information if the character of the spirit is more offensive, less location-bound, terror-inspiring or more defensive. Lightning’s Swift Spirit and Ocean’s Hungry Grasp are more of the first, Vital Strength of the Earth and A Spread of Rampant Green are more of the latter. Most mobile are Thunderspeaker and River Surges in Sunlight, and the most terror is instigated by Shadows Flicker Like Flame, and especially Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares who should only be played after you have a few games under your belt.
The whole game is also about fear or, to be more exact, to provoke fear, because this allows us to reveal Fear cards, which harass invaders very substantially and provide very important strategic assistance for us in the not only at the beginning hard to master undertaking of fending off the invaders. Furthermore, with them the victory condition gets simpler in time, from complete expelling to winning, when all cities have been destroyed.
This is achieved on the one hand by playing abilities, this however, costs energy and abilities must first be acquired. On the other hand, you can destroy villages and cities. There are, however, contrary to other conflict games, no standard attacks - you can only retaliate when an area has been ravaged. This ravaging can cause hurtful losses for the Dahan and as they - again different to other games - do not propagate, and, as on the side of the invaders, more of them arrive in every round, clever planning and well-coordinated strategic actions are necessary. Our advantage: We know in which areas - swamp, desert, forest or mountains - there will be building, followed by ravaging, in the next round. So, you can, for instance, by playing the card „Exhaustion and Etiolation“ enhance the defense in a region so that the Dahan are protected and can retaliate without losses. The region is also protected, which is especially important, as - if the invaders cause two damages - the region is turned takes Blight. If there is already Blight, it cascades into an adjacent region. Setting aside the fact that this also endangers sacred sites and presence, the game is lost when too much Blight had to be placed - regardless if this destroyed cities or villages and our abilities had maybe reached their peak.
Use abilities well and combine them well, spread out to the crises centers, block supplies and keep an eye on the Dahan - only with his can the island return to an idyllic state. Team spirit is in demand!
For the advanced game, three historic scenarios are included. Three colonialization powers - Brandenburg-Preussen, England, und Sweden, are not only considered in a historical sense, but are integrated into scenarios and can be “simulated” - fascinating, thrilling and challenging!
Spirit Island is a highly complex, extremely beautiful cooperative conflict and development game for fans of complex games who are not irritated by intense studying of rules and long duration of the game. It is to be regarded more as an epochal creation, as it basically includes two expansions - thereby guaranteeing enduring allure, as the rule problems in the first games usually disappear within the third or so play. The topic is implemented harmoniously, also as regards to the mechanisms of the game, which are very well coordinated, too. Exceptional, also as a solitaire game!
Thomas Bareder
Players: 1-4
Age: 12+
Time: 150+
Designer: R. Eric Reuss
Artist: Team
Price: ca. 60 Euro
Publisher: Pegasus Spiele 2018
Web: www.pegasus.de
Genre: Cooperation, conflict
Users: For experts
Special: 1 player
Version: de
Rules: de en es fr hu pt ru
In-game text: yes
Comments:
Highly complex
Attractive solo variant
Very beautiful design
Intense rules studying
Long duration
Compares to:
Cooperative conflict games
Other editions:
Greater than Games (en, released), Ace Studios (pt), Arrakis Games (es), Gèm Klub (hu), Hobby World (ru) - all announced
My rating: 7
Thomas Bareder:
Do you like highly complex, very beautiful games with lots of rules to study? Then you should try Spirit Island, an attractive addition to the genre.
Chance (pink): 1
Tactic (turquoise): 3
Strategy (blue): 3
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 0
Communication (red): 3
Interaction (brown): 3
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0