A Specific Review - Spirit Island (the Base game)

I was late onto the scene of cooperating games. I remember trying out Lord of the rings back in the day but while it was cute its premise didn't make much sense to a young mind. "How is a game where there are no real opponents a game, who will check that we're following the rules even? This doesn't make much sense." I thought and yeah, I was young but the sentiment kept with me while my family and various other playing groups tried out games like Pandemic or Hanabi and the likes. I was glad that they were having fun but it just wasn't board gaming to me. The issue with the rules checking was a real one even when I got older. When every player is an opponent to each other everybody has an incentive to make sure that the rules are followed properly so the playing field stays leveled - when your opponent is only the game itself, why would anyone care if you make some rule details easier for your group? Would the "green disease" of Pandemic get mad? Oh, boohoo boohoo. At the same time, the actual players are the losers because the gaming experience has been much less tense and what is a loose victory over an inanimate game worth in the end? It doesn't even feel very good. 

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So, while I became more and more a board gaming nerd of sorts I stayed away from a rising classic like Spirit Island for the longest time. It wasn't worth pursuing a game, while apparently  amazing, still not in my general wheelhouse. "It's not you, great classic, it's me" was a certain outcome I thought.

I'm not sure when I came around on cooperates or which game it was that opened it up to me but now I can realize that while the pure "game" element as in "I win, you all loose -" indeed is diminished in cooperates (which older me thinks is a blessing rather than a curse, a bit too many games with a bit too many sore losers turns you in that direction) they can be viewed as a form of "board games simulators". Co-ops are an awesome way to introduce someone to board games or a specific genre within them. I was hesitant to Carcassone for the longest of times, but after being able to beat Mist over Carcassone together with R I suddenly understood how this particular game was meant to play. Co-ops are fine, they just explore a rather different field of the board gaming experience. You can indeed change the difficulty at any time if you are in such a mood, but you are there to learn something and to be a better general player so why not try to make it as difficult as you are able to? 

In short. I was finally ready to pursue Spirit Island, a game which now had risen up to canonical heights in the board gaming world. 

Theme

The theme of Spirit Island is rather straight forward. You are playing as spirits, inhabiting an island in a fictional time line of the Earths history. To this island arrives different invaders from a slightly different Europe than in our own time line and it is your job to protect the island and its human inhabitants, the Dahans, and try to make the invaders go away. The theme is very immersive I must say and when playing an offensive spirit I can find myself happily mumbling "kill, my darling, kill, kill kill" when planning my next moves. The lore goes deep and even if it's not the particular point of the game it invites you to role play certain parts if that is up your sleeve. Neat. 
 
But also problematic in a sense. You see, I realize that the theme is a reaction to the many euro-centric games where your role is to play as the settlers and conquer islands or other regions, disregarding any feelings from original inhabitants - but it doesn't change the fact that I happen to be a Christian, white dude and my own country is actually one of the possible adversaries to choose from. So I should play as a pagan spirit and actively terrorize people away while killing as many of my country men as I might? Oh. It's not the biggest problem for me, to have Sweden as an adversary just make me so giggly I might need to check if my patriotic vein still exists within me, and when it comes to the spirits I don't think they are supposed to be gods per se, but creatures living in a spiritual dimension still having the same needs as the Dahans, just on different scales. The killing and active fear mongering is still a bit icky when the immersion is so strong - but hey, I can enjoy action and war movies, what is different when it comes to playing one of those out? 

The problem I'm portraying isn't really for me but for the older generation in my specific playing groups. My folks are skilled board gamers, they devour Terraforming Mars as if it was a game of Uno, and I would really like to show the exquisite game mechanics of Spirit Island to them but the theme simply won't do. Even if they can be open minded enough to stomach the theme it just won't be fun for them to play as pagan spirits out on a killing spree on christian blood. A particular theme can never be for everyone, that's just a part of it, but it is still sort of a bummer with a game on this classic scale.

Mechanics

The mechanics of Spirit Island are indeed really nice. It feels like a polished version of Pandemic with a tonne of a lot more interesting decisions at your disposal. The tempo of the game takes a while to get used to. When playing properly - without beginners aid - the invaders is always a step ahead of you and you need to both be putting out fires and preparing for the next waves of white dudes pouring out onto the map. Even for experienced board gamers this way of thinking takes a while to adjust oneself into - the game as an opponent feel like a swift and merciless enemy. If you don't get what they are on about they will hit you, and hit you hard. My first few games felt like I had been overrun by a rhino - we just had no chance and I had zero ideas what I was doing.

This leads into my biggest gripe with the game, which is that it is so surprisingly high in information density. Surprisingly because I had the impression that this was a classic in the same domain as Carcassone or Dominion is a classic. Accessible for everyone and while incredibly deep in strategic scope, the entry level to begin playing is held fairly low. Not so with Spirit Island, it's complex right at the start and everything you want to do within the game requires that you are able to have a holistic overview of the entire workings of the game and in the beginning this is just very difficult to pull off. R, for instance, can't do it. She is a brilliant board gamer and give her reign in a game like Carcassone (no info density at all after you have grokked the rules) and she will kick your ass to Bahamas and back if you're not careful - but Spirit Island is just game over for her already at the very start. All the rules, all the different combinations of heroes and abilities simply turn her brain to mush and she just can't enjoy it. I thought Spirit Island was supposed to be for nearly everyone in this regard, but it's really not. It's not the heaviest of games either, to be fair, there are some real monsters out there - but this might be the heaviest classic I've played so far. 

Level Progression

With that said, let's go to the aspect of the game I love the most, which is its splendid power or level progression. First of all, even if the game is complex, it absolutely makes an effort in trying to ease you in. There are several ways to "noob" down your first few games a bit or two - you can give yourself a legit head start, you get to use card recommendations when drafting your card gains is too much to think about and a few other things. And at the other end there doesn't seem to be an end to how difficult the game can make itself for your enjoyment. The level progression in a game like Pandemic felt in comparison so much more flat and uninteresting. Ok, so you do the same thing as the earlier levels just with less time basically. Got it.

That is not how Spirit Island ups their game difficulty. As your adversaries gets stronger they change the feel of the game and to beat them you can't only play more efficient, but sometimes you might have to change your whole play style. I'm still a beginner so I haven't seen the "bosses" of Sweden, Prussia and the others but I will try until I beat them, my gut feeling tells me. Also, the game doesn't only expand upwards in difficulty but is giving you a range of options to variegate your gaming experience even if yo'd like to stay on a given difficulty level - This through how different the Spirits function in respect to one another and which synergies that come off in their different combinations and the different scenarios available to try out. I like also that the amount of spirits you use isn't connected to how many players you are at the table. A single player can try to manage four spirits at once and four players can decide to focus on a single spirits fight against the invaders and the game is still functioning "correct". A co-op of this scope is like a giant puzzle where the challenge isn't about locating certain pieces with your eyes but finding certain solutions through discussions and tactics. Yes, sometimes indeed you're feeling like you're a group of officers heavily arguing about the next moves of the war over a map of the battle terrain. It's quite awesome. 

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I think that was all I had to say about this great game. As a base game alone I'm baffled by all the content. I can stay here for quite some time still finding new stuff to explore. Yes, there are tonnes of expansions by now and my curiosity is absolutely activated - but I'm not forced by the Base game to pursue expansions just to make the game "work", no the Base game feels very much complete.  

All in all. Spirit Island absolutely deserves its place as a classic and perhaps being the co-op of co-ops. Just be aware that it's quite more complex than one might expect, but if you're up for the challenge complexity- wise this game really cannot fail you. 

It's that fun!