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I do love a co-op game, but many of them have an often-fatal flaw. The flaw is that you are on the back-foot for most of the game and are mainly on fire-fighting duty throughout (there is quite literally a co-op game about fire-fighting out there which I believe is getting a Legacy make over, so there you go). You never get to really give it back to the Forbidden Island/Desert/Sky/Jungle/Shopping Centre, give it a slap and tell it stop its nonsense or there will be more where that came from. Winning is often about surviving and damage limitation, rather than ‘winning’, per se (don’t get me wrong, I enjoy these games, really I do).
Then along comes Spirit Island, a great hulking beast of a game where a group of… Island Spirits see off a bunch of thinly-disguised European colonists (Invaders) from their island BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY – this might include and go beyond purging the land with living flame, unleashing devasting earthquakes and tsunami or releasing a deadly plague that attacks anyone of a European persuasion. Well, that’s more like it, stick it to the man, even though the man is essentially… me. Oops (that’s your response to centuries of colonial misdemeanours? ‘Oops’?).
The latest Spirit Island release is Horizons of Spirit Island, and is not a dumbing-down of big daddy Spirit Island, it is simply the ipod Nano to its ipod Classic (one for the youngsters there). You are going to get the same crunchy co-op feel and the same crunchy colonials and their slightly chewier towns and cities, just in a smaller box. No new mechanics; no new environments; just like the original, but petit. You do, however get some new spirits and a bit of a helping hand, so it’s not a complete bust if you already have the big box version.
Island Life… and Deeeeeeath!
I thought I would start by trying to explain what happens in Spirit Island/Horizons of Spirit Island but… look, it’s a big ask. As I said above, Horizons is not ‘My First Spirit Island’, it is full-fat Spirit Island in a smaller box and with less plastic; to go into ‘how to play’ would take another article, so I’ll save that for another time and another article. Let us just say it is a co-operative game at the heavier end of the weighting, with plenty of power and player synergy. Now, to what you get.
Horizons is for two or three players, so rather than have the jigsaw-style construction of Spirit Island, they have gone for a double-sided board, one side for each player count. This means that on one hand you get less variety but on the other it takes less time to set up.
As said earlier, there is less plastic, which I think is a thoroughly positive thing, but it does mean that most of the components are made of cardboard – your Spirit’s presence tokens are the only non-cardboard item in the box, and they’re made of wood (which is essentially pre-cardboard). The cards are of top card-stock quality, the components are okay… standard, but the spirit boards feel a little slim.
You do get five new Spirits, each with their own asymmetric strengths and weaknesses and all with their own cool look and post-rock band names (why isn’t there a post-rock band called Eyes Watch From The Trees? I mean, if you can have Teeth of the Sea…) – my favourite is Sun-Bright Whirlwind, the phantom wind cat (though their second album was a little disappointing). All five of them are fairly straightforward to play, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t enjoyable – I mean, everyone loves Sandworm things, don’t they?
As expected, you get a rule book, a complete rule book (I’m looking at YOU, Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs – yeah, I like that you trim the fat, but half the fat you trim is actually meat when it comes to the rule book), but you also get a ‘first play’ guide that will take you through your early games.
From my previous comments, you may have realised that playing this game is not going to be a 5-minute-teach-and-we’re-away thing, so having a book to guide you through those first few rounds and even suggest which actions to take and cards to draw will certainly help you to find your feet. Until they get bitten from under you by a Sandworm thing.
The Spirit You Can Buy
If you already own a copy of Spirit Island and have got this far in the review, you will probably be saying, ‘I’ve already got all of this, why would I need any of this?’ To be honest: you don’t. Sorry it took you 800 or so words to get to that. This game is more for those who like the idea of Spirit Island, but don’t want to drop a substantial amount of money on it only to realise… it’s not for you. Or people who want a complex game without a complex price. People like me, basically.
I will admit that it is nowhere near as flash as Spirit Island, and I know that for some this will be a deal breaker – my friend, for instance, enjoyed the game Raiders of Scythia but not as much as Raiders of the North, specifically because of the coins. The cardboard components can be a bit bulky and fill up the spaces on the island, but they can be stacked. That said, being less flash does have the advantage of making it smaller, though, which means you might be more likely to get it to the table as it is more portable – it is still a cracking game, and surely increased exposure of a good game is a good thing. The starter guide is a handy addition, though it can assume that you know too much, like the procedure for setting up Invaders – it is good on the whole, but probably best read in conjunction with the rules (don’t expect to be able to ‘wing it’ straight from the box – trust me on this). The Spirits are fun and work well together and are easy to get the hang of, but there are no expansion Spirits for it. Yet. And it all still feels very satisfying when you send the Invaders packing – don’t let your leaky rowboat bump you in the butt on the way out.
In summary, if you’ve always fancied the look and theme of Spirit Island but don’t feel you can justify the price of the full game, give this a go. You don’t want the Eyes Watching From the Trees to look on you with disappointment, do you?
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