Greater Than Games | Spirit Island: Base Game | Cooperative Strategy Board Game | 1 to 4 Players | 90+ Minutes | Ages 14+

Pros:1. Excellent physical product QUALITY. The game boards, cards, pieces, etc, are sturdy and feel quite solid. The craftsmanship that went into this game is at a much higher level than what I anticipated.2. FUN game. The game has entertained me for hours on end by now.3. Can be played by a SINGLE PLAYER. No one I know has time or desire to play a board game with me, or anything else really, so having a game that can be played by oneself is quite nice.Cons:1. COMPLICATED rules. It will take you ~2.5hrs of reading the manual and inspecting all of the game components, to learn how to play.2. Each game seems far too LONG. Maybe I just need to get better at the game, but It seems to take far too long to reach a conclusion (1hr for 1 player; 2.75hrs for 2 players; 4 hrs for 3 players) Why??3. HIGH PRICE may be off-putting to some people. I assure you all, the game is worth the price. Once you hold the silky smooth manual, the hefty boards, and the solid spirit boards, you will understand where the money went in the manufacturing process.Overall:An EXCELLENT albeit COMPLICATED game that may be enjoyed by a single person (or a group) with an interesting premise and a seemingly rare co-op mechanic.Rating: 9/10

Spirit Island is one of those board games that will never leave the table once you get a consistent group going. It is a co-op game in which players each assume the role of a nature spirit defending an island against an invading force (which can either be nameless or customized to represent various historical empires). Every game follows a similar pattern of feeling hopelessly outmatched at the beginning, slowly growing in power, and finally turning the tide, and that power fantasy feels great every time. You will not win every game of Spirit Island, but you will always have edge-of-your-seat fun. And since the game is co-op, you can share that thrill with your friends.Though many factors help the game's replayability, including randomized board layouts, invasion patterns, and card draws, what I love most about the game is the selection of spirits to play as. The base game comes with 8, and it can be expanded even further with the two expansions. Each spirit has a completely different playstyle, especially when working in tandem with different teammates. As a result, spirit island will feel very different every time you play it. But if that variety still isn't enough customization for you, you can also play against different enemies or even custom scenarios included in the game that modify the rules.The only major downside to spirit island is the complexity of the rules, which makes it quite heavy for anyone unaccustomed to the "crunch" of heavy board games. I would not recommend it as your first game, or for someone looking for quick, light fun. But for anyone who loves strategy, customization, and amazing game design, spirit island is an unparalleled experience.

I don't write a ton of reviews here, but this is one I felt like I had to write and add to the push. I bought this on a spur of the moment purchase based largely on it appearing highly in a random "top coop" game list and hearing about the theme intrigued me. I didn't think much of it at the time it was mostly an impulse purchase.However, I got it a couple weeks back and it has made it to the table a lot since then. I played it a couple times solo to get a feel for it as I like to understand a game before trying to introduce others to it to fumble through. I only intended to play a round or two solo and started by trying to play two spirits and just go through the motions for two characters at once (not a great idea as I found out especially first time), then tried it on its "solo" mode and after a couple rounds of that ended up playing a full game through because it was pretty fun as a solo game. Only other game I have actually actively played solo is Mage Knight so that was a bit of a surprise there. Probably would not buy it for that reason, but I think it is somehting I could see doing from time to time if it isn't getting on the table much at some point.I then played it with my wife, who really liked the game and immediately asked about when we could find a way on the table again, and she has brought up playing it a couple times since then. I have had a few different friends I have played with and all have made a repeat showing for the game as well. After just spending the day playing a few games of it with my wife and another friend I really got to recommend this game.What I like:1. Theme. The theme of this game is very compelling to me, lots of games are about the "Age of Exploration" in one way or another (colonizing, exploring, trading, etc), but I have never played a game that went from the perspective of the natives. In this game the Europeans colonizing all over the place are the bad guys that need to be beaten. And they are love-craftian demons that are plaguing the land and need to be dealt with. The game really conveys the theme surprisingly well for a more "euro" type game.2. This game is all about hand management. This game is about knowing what your options are and figuring out the best way to manage those resources. You don't have to get "lucky" to manage to pull the right cards at the right time, they are all available to you or at least you control when and where they are all available to you. You need to plan out not only your current turn but what your other turns are going to be based on the remaining cards or decide when you are going to "reclaim" your cards and start over. If the idea of planning out a 2-3 turn strategy of using your cards (and potentially trashing those plans based on what happens) this game isn't for you. But if you love a game like Mage Knight I would say this is pandemic meets the Mage Knight card system and you will love this game.3. It is a really quality co-op game. Personally I am a fan of co-op games, while a competitive game I can sometimes enjoy I much more like a game where we are working for a common goal together because I don't get as much enjoyment for "besting" someone else as I do figuring out a good solution together. What I really like about this one is that there is enough going on that you really do want to figure out how to best use your resources, but it doesn't lead to the "alpha" issue where one person just plays everyone's turns. For the most part you will play your cards with minimal heavy influence from neighbors and mostly just talk about I can handle these areas and these areas but have can't handle any of this and trying to figure out the best way to spread out your resources. But I have not run into too much of a problem with telling someone what cards to play.Overall, I can't recommend this game enough, hopefully this gives you enough information to know if this will scratch your personal tastes as well.