Spirit Island Review

DarthJoJo wrote: I’ve heard a lot of good things about this game and a lot of appreciation for the twist in the theme, but the presentation actually rankles me. You’re pushing back against foreign invaders/colonizers. Cool, but you’re not the locals. You’re protective spirits. It feels like a cop out. The locals still lack any agency, to the extent any character in any game can be said to have agency. You’re not acting as them but on their behalf.

Is there something I’ve been missing in the reviews?

The only thing I'd disagree with is that last point, "You're not acting as them, but on their behalf." You're not really acting on their behalf. The Spirits themselves want to get rid of the invaders. The native peoples have learned to live in harmony with the Spirits, so the Spirits don't see their expulsion as necessary. These newcomers, though. That's a different story.

So, you could criticize the game by saying it still doesn't give the native peoples a central role or delve into their perspective. But I don't think Spirit Island makes any pretense of doing so.

The locals do fight back. Each Dahan village causes 2 damage to invaders, enough to destroy a town & increment the fear pool. The villages are also active elements of several power cards and at least one of the gods that I can think of.

Someone buy my copy.

stormseeker75 wrote: Someone buy my copy.

I'm interested. How much are you wanting for it?

stormseeker75 wrote: Someone buy my copy.

After this sea of praise, I'm more curious about why you don't like it?

MattDP wrote:

stormseeker75 wrote: Someone buy my copy.

After this sea of praise, I'm more curious about why you don't like it?

I'm still crunching on it and I have a guess.

It's a brain burn. Working out synergies and card combinations is one thing, but knowing the precise advance of invaders and deterioration/blight propagation three turns in advance adds a layer of queuing on top of the brain burn.

This can be pleasurable, but the AP factor can be substantial since the game does reward it. I can't imagine playing this with 4 players, and 3 is pushing it. But I'm keeping my copy, FWIW

Edit: Another thing. The dynamics of the game tend to cultivate a feeling of immense doom roughly 2/3 of the way through the process, similar to what I've experienced in something like Zombicide where the constantly scaling flow of threats leads players to believe that a loss is impending. However Zombicide frequently ends dramatically whereas Spirit Island can feel relatively anti-climactic: aside from a desperate power card pull, the win can be sussed out before the final couple of turns are played. I haven't tried scaling the difficulty yet, though, so this may be unique to the basic mode.

This game came back into stock
at CSI yesterday, I dithered and asked my wife if she'd get it for my birthday... and now it's out of stock again! Must really be selling.

Gary Sax wrote: This game came back into stock
at CSI yesterday, I dithered and asked my wife if she'd get it for my birthday... and now it's out of stock again! Must really be selling.

MM has stock at the moment.

Frohike wrote:

MattDP wrote:

stormseeker75 wrote: Someone buy my copy.

After this sea of praise, I'm more curious about why you don't like it?

I'm still crunching on it and I have a guess.

It's a brain burn. Working out synergies and card combinations is one thing, but knowing the precise advance of invaders and deterioration/blight propagation three turns in advance adds a layer of queuing on top of the brain burn.

This can be pleasurable, but the AP factor can be substantial since the game does reward it. I can't imagine playing this with 4 players, and 3 is pushing it. But I'm keeping my copy, FWIW

Edit: Another thing. The dynamics of the game tend to cultivate a feeling of immense doom roughly 2/3 of the way through the process, similar to what I've experienced in something like Zombicide where the constantly scaling flow of threats leads players to believe that a loss is impending. However Zombicide frequently ends dramatically whereas Spirit Island can feel relatively anti-climactic: aside from a desperate power card pull, the win can be sussed out before the final couple of turns are played. I haven't tried scaling the difficulty yet, though, so this may be unique to the basic mode.

Co-op that rewards AP sounds like it also invites the alpha dog problem. I'm guessing there is too much information on the table and part of the challenge of the game is solving the optimization puzzle each turn.

Shellhead wrote: Co-op that rewards AP sounds like it also invites the alpha dog problem. I'm guessing there is too much information on the table and part of the challenge of the game is solving the optimization puzzle each turn.

In fairness, I think the review says that the puzzle is so detailed that it's really hard for someone to boss it about. I've seen that before as an attempted solution to the alpha player problem and it can kind of work, it really depends how good your team is.

I’ve mostly played this solo, but the few times multiplayer yeah, the complexity of your own spirit does mute the alpha dog possibility a little. Plus, early on, each player is mostly (though not necessarily) confined to their own island, and that’s enough to deal with. Gradually, you’re all spread around more, interacting more with abilities, and the global situation is more dire and more in need of coordination. It’s definitely not immune to quarterbacking, but lower than many co-op games in that respect.