I can forgive Branch and Claw not being included in the core box for the simple reason that this is one of the best priced games on the market. Branch and Claw sells for approx $24 US, the base game $63 and Jagged Earth which is jam packed with a ton more content for$49. Great value when compared to many other top-tier games. Agree that it's a fantastic solo and good 2 player game. I have not played at a count higher than that, but regardless, I don't see this game leaving my collection anytime soon. Great work on the review, much enjoyed!
I was pondering between this and Robinson Crusoe as a “semi-solo” experience the other day. After a while or thinking I decided to get Robinson Crusoe mainly because of the theme and I was told that Robinson Crusoe is easier to invite other players and plays a bit quicker those times I want to play the game with someone (trying to get my fiancé into the hobby). The stories the game creates of Robinsons horrible, and sometimes funny, fate will probably have me return to the game from time to time. Seems like a made a good choice based on your reviews. Your videos are great, keep up the good work mate! Cheers!
Great honest review, and I love your channel. I disagree on some things with this one, as Spirit Island is among my favorite games. I do know it's not for everyone though and I play it solo the most. I find I can usually find a way to wiggle out of a loss with the right power cards or just enough fear generation, and I enjoy the constant pressure of the invaders. It felt much harder the first few games but once you are familiar with the game you learn how to make those slow powers do work for you. I agree somewhat on the multiple players thing. If people have played before and are fine playing a little more fast and loose focusing on their own board first then I think it's fine. With an AP player though you'll be there forever.
Love your channel and style. You bust my ribs regularly. Never played 3, or tried two handed, this is my solo puzzle and very occasional wife pop in. That bit where you mention everything seems hopeless is a bit of design genius, that creep of power that snatches you out of the jaws of defeat is baked in hard. Happens too often to be chance. I think you hit something most gloss over: cooperative games are not inherently social and often suffer for the addition of more grey matter at the table. Brilliant channel, stop when you're dead.
Yes! Snotling sorcery, a smile from the man. Ever consider doing your thing all over Eurotrash, GW style boxed games. Just imagining your take on some games that could use a bit of a kicking. The savagery that could be unleashed upon Talisman, untold. @@BoardGameBollocks
@@BoardGameBollocks Oh shit, did you ever. Wow, that takes me back, was that weird puzzle board a UK thing? Masterfully done as usual, now do Blood Bowl as I'm sure you're wrong! :D
i totally agree with this review. I love this game in the app , so i bought it thinking id enjoy it with others. Then i played it a couple times, and i felt like i just rather play it solo
I love this game solo. I do play it with a friend who knows the game and we have fun, so I think it depends on who you play with. But anything 3 players and beyond, I can't see being fun. Do you play it solo with 2 spirits?
The Spirit Island playthrough by BGG GameNight is a particularly hilarious example of 4-player. None of them want to be there, I kept thinking ‘somebody save them’! I’ve played 12 times solo always with 2 spirits, and have B&C and JE expansions. It took me 7 self-forced games to somewhat appreciate the game, there is a kind of planning involved once you get the feel for particular spirits, and then sometimes you can get some card-play combos happening, but really the whole game feels like you’re squishing a transparent hot-water bottle filled with small mushrooms. The ‘tortoise and hare’ lesson that it teaches is just annoying. Games always end in un-climactic fashion; either you can tell you’re going to lose and you want to give up, or you win simply because the win conditions became easier, which is never satisfying. It’s an ok game overall but very overrated. AP is not the issue for me, this should be a game I like (e.g. my solo tastes: Fields of Arle, RftG, MK, Trismeg., Underwater Cities, GH, TAL, S.E. 4X).
I respect and appreciate your willingness to give a negative review to a big game. We've had good experiences with up to 6 players. We leave some decision space unexamined by not evaluating possible combinations among Spirits, but I think that's just fine. It's OK to delegate sections of the board to specific players for both upkeep and game play. Just call the committee meeting when it makes sense. I've also had the feeling that the game is clearly lost in the middle. But sometimes it's an illusion and we ended up winning games that looked unwinnable.
Yes, sometimes it seems like all hope is lost, but as the game goes on you can use more major powers which let's you take out more towns and cities; that not only unlocks Fear cards (which lets you take out even more Invaders) but also decreases the win condition. So even if the Invaders start to flood the board it provides opportunity to take them out almost as fast
You can only play those major powers of you have enough dosh and it always seems to be in short supply. It seems the game is won/lost at a point that is obvious at which it falls flat. Our experience is this: do stuff, watch it get torn down, get swamped, do stuff, watch it get torn down, get even more swamped, lose. Shame really.
@@BoardGameBollocks If you all out on generating fear, usually those tier 3 fear cards are pretty brutal and can swing a game in your favour when all seems lost.
@@BoardGameBollocks First, if you're playing with several people you HAVE to communicate and have a collective strategy for each round. Most people dump on this game around this point because its easy for someone to take on the role of an alpha gamer, and that tends to ruin it for everyone else. It is still viable at a higher player count, but it tends to make for a very LONG game. I tend to play solo with 3 or 4 spirits. A higher player count does not make the game harder (or easier); it just means there is more depth to every decision. Bottom line, if everyone is just doing their own thing then you're gonna have a tough time. Also, around 5:00 you mentioned how the Slow powers aren't as good. If you're always prioritizing the Fast powers then that may be part of the struggle. The Slow powers tend to deal more damage or take out towns and cities where the Fast powers are usually about taking out an explorer or pushing stuff around; you'll never generate Fear that way. It is counter-intuitive but the Fast powers are actually more defensive because it is usually just about trying to prevent the invaders from building in the first place. You have to concede to that with the Slow powers, but then you get to hammer them afterwards. Finally, there's the Spirit choice. They're all so different as each has strengths and weaknesses but you need a decent balance. If 3 people pick spirits with high degrees of defense, control and utility then the 4th had better choose Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares or Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves and be focused on generating Fear to balance it all out, otherwise you'll be hard-pressed to generate the 16 fear tokens needed just to unlock 1 card
If the criteria is whether or not it's a good game to play with other people the very simple answer is no. However it's one of the best solo games IMO. If I was stranded on a desert island and could only have 1 game it would be Spirit Island Also, about Branch and Claw, there were several stretch goals that came together to give backers a free mini expansion during the original KS. They collectively became Branch and Claw, but it was specifically left out of the retail core game to keep it more accessible due to the added complexity and cost. I think it was a good move, and for not much more it adds a ton: 4 new token types, doubles the size of the fear, minor and major power decks, adds several brights cards, the introduction of events phase (and deck of cards) and 2 spirits. IDK about you, but it took me at least 3 or 4 games before I could get done and know I didn't make a mistake that essentially resulted in cheating. If all the components from Branch and Claw were included as part of that initial discovery I probably would have thrown in the towel. Does B&C make the game better? Absolutely! Should it be included as part of the core game, absolutely not! Side note, there is a digital port on Steam and it is fantastic.
Good video. Definitely not for everyone. But it's my favourite game. Love it solo. Love playing it with up to 6p who know what they're doing. Really disagree that it doesn't work past 2 players. Have had some super fun shared narrow victories. Look after your own board first and only worry about other boards afterward. Huge variety and very scalable difficulty.
I agree this game's biggest problem is its complexity and it's too much for more than 2 players so in that respect, I would also vote no as a multiplayer game and would never agree to play it as such. But I definitely wouldn't dismiss it as a solo or 2 player game. It's one of the best brain burn puzzles to solve with so much variety in the spirits and ways to vary the difficulty using the optional scenarios and adversaries the replay value is immense. Feeling swamped is how this game plays but you'll lose if you constantly look to resolve ravages, which is the new players' instinct. You have to prevent builds and create empty regions, which will give you the breathing room to turn the tide. Most players make the same mistake to begin with. I certainly did. Thought the game was impossible, unwinnable and it is until you realise what you need to do but every victory comes after a period of seemingly overwhelming expansion by the invaders and that's what makes the game satisfying (even if you can see the victory coming a turn or two in advance). While not for everyone, the game as a solo or 2-player experience, once you get over the initial inevitable anhiliations, deserves its reputation. Definite top 10 for me and many others but its good to see a critical review highlighting where it's not so good. I highly recommend the app, great implementation and takes away the fiddliness of checking/placing new invaders and the setup time. Really good way to play solo.
I love the game, but I also love the honest review. I personally enjoy the complexity and everything the game does. I enjoy games where lots of people are playing and I love that the games teaches me "winning is not always possible". Sometimes you just get destroyed out of nowhere with blighted island effects or low blight limits. But even though I enjoy it and disagree with the multiplayer or "not worth it" part - this review showcases a more important side as to why this game might not be for everybody. Since the ranking on boardgamegeek can mislead some people and other games might be a better start
Really great review here, clearing through all the hype to give an honest opinion of what it feels like to play. I heard so many great things about it and at the UK Games Expo this last weekend we participated in a first time play through demo, I am so glad we did. It's massively complex which is not necessarily bad, but for first time players coordinating your sprirts (we played 3 player) was quite the chore and you really do have to be on point with your plan as you start getting your arse kicked really hard from the off. It's a game i think if your really persevere with and play many times to learn what you can do and how the spirits can work together you may come to love it as lots of people have. However, wanting to play a game so many times that can be really demoralising is the real challenge here. Lastly for us the price was an issue. We are not against paying top dollar for a game but for me the overall feel of the counter/miniature quality did not justify the £60+ price tag for the base game. It felt like it was £10-£15 pounds over-priced in our opinion.
agree that after 2 it is such a brain burner but I've got to say some of my best games have been in a 3P situation - however, all three of us are seasoned spirit island players who know the spirits and the synergies hands down.. I can't imagine how hard it would be if you're playing 3 player with others that only have somewhat of a grasp on it, I just wouldn't even attempt to set it up if that were the case - that being said I do prefer it as a solo controlling two spirits, the game will take less than an hour and it's a very satisfying game should you pull off the victory
Love the solo experience but definitely agree that the game would be a pretty awful time with more than 3 (which is really pushing it). I think the only way this game could reasonably be played at 4 is if each player regularly plays the game and knows exactly how the components interact. I appreciate your review and opinion, and hope you get some fun out of the investment. Have you ever heard of/played Atlantis Rising Second Edition? That's an asymmetric co-op that is lighter and more manageable than S.I.
Your point on losing can be said about ANY cooperative game: if you feel that there is nothing you can do, it sucks. In Spirit Island, however, you can just lower the difficulty. There's Difficulty levels 1-10 In my experience 3 players requires less AP than two and 2 less then 1. Why? Because you'll have more tools to deal with fires on the board. If one player doesn't have the tools to do something, there's more chance of another player having the tools and ther more players there are more tools. So Multiplayer is WAAAAAY better than solo. Checking every region is really easy and intuitive. And if you cannot do that just go from lowest number to highest number on lowest board to highest board (A-F)
Just watched your review of Spirit Island and again, I could not agree more, played this with my better half a couple of times and felt that it was a bit of a mess. Hated the game and flogged it straight away to another victim of popularism and made some money. Great review.👍😁
Glad you managed to get some joy out of the game solo. Personally enjoy the game solo/two player anything over that and the game just slows down to a painful crawl. Referring to the Dahan as Mushrooms made me laugh 🤓
I’m sorry for your issues you had. I found 2 and 3 is the sweet spot. But getting “overwhelmed” is part of the fun of the game. The game progressively gets “easier” as you have more spirit out there, better cards, and an easier win condition. When it comes to adding stuff to the board, we make it where each player is responsible for their own board. So the ravage, build, explore, etc, we go in a circle with each person doing their board. Makes it easy to keep track of. Plus you can simplify it as needed. You can use it without the event cards, without the specific opponents, without the extra tokens etc. you can make it just the base game without the choice if cards with the prebuilt hands. So it can scale in complexity for how comfortable you are with it. I started with the simplest version and slowly built up. I’ve only lost solo games so far. I can see why you don’t like it, but just like movies, we all have different opinions. Still appreciate your thoughts on this game. Personally, I love it! Lol
You’re saying the game get easier the more spirits you have? I’d imagine that’s like banging your head against a bed of nails covered in salt…in fact I’ll take that any day. The game isn’t complex at all. The problem is getting the game to work with more than two players. I’m my experience it almost always falls apart. People like different things…wouldn’t have it any other way.
@@BoardGameBollocks no the game Doenst get easier with more spirits haha. I mean the game gets easier as you move forward in the game. Because you get more major powers, you have more of your own spirit in the board which means more access to more spaces for those cards to effect. You can use more of your innate powers as you can play more cards. And the win condition gets easier to achieve as you bring in more fear. So the beginning of the game is like you can barely do anything, and by the end destroying cities is like cake.
@@BoardGameBollocks I watched the live play through. Honestly the branch and claw expansion would change your dramatically in a good way. It adds tokens that stop invaders from attacking during ravage, tokens that stop building during building, tokens that stop exploration, and tokens that injure invaders. Plus the event deck that will trigger a lot of that stuff. So while fear cards help you as you get those, they may not come up a lot. But the event deck happens every round. So you may start to feel overwhelmed then you can put a truce token under a city and not get blight there that round. Or you get to place a toke to stop the next explore in a land, etc. It really helps control the wild situations. Also all 4 if you played the very very basic spirits. None of them do anything to crazy. When you get to bigger player counts, you need to use the more complex spirits because they do so much more. There’s a spirit that has a card to allow other spirits to place more spirit in their turn, making them stronger faster. There’s spirits that gain a ton of energy quickly and you can get a bunch of major powers which are way better. The more complex spirits usually add more options and flexibility to what you can do and your innate powers become stronger. Etc
Playing with 3-4 players is fine if you have a very good team. Otherwise playing duo is great imo since you've got shitload of stuff to take care of and with another person you're much more fault proof.
Spot on with this review. Played a good few times solo, enjoyed it. Got the game on Steam, liked the experience better. The other night at a regular board game evening, played this as a 4 player experience, OMG it was awful. Bogged down with way too much AP, and 2 of the other guys were experienced with the game. Really bad time, pretty sure the other players didn't want to admit it sucked... I'm going to sell my copy along with the expansions and just play solo on Steam, happy days. Great review, totally overrated on other sites imo... Nearly 10k subscribers, nice work BOSS!
It's my favorite game (playing at 2 with my wife) so I greatly disagree with your review. Each spirits really do play differently and have strong thematics. And there is, most of the time, a path to victory if you can handle the big puzzle. Difficulty is also highly tunable (1-10+ difficulties) depending of your mood and which invader you want to push back from your shores.
@@BoardGameBollocks normally I'd say I totally understand your points and find it hard to disagree with then. But seeing as I've already spent £50 on it I'm going to insist you're wrong for the sake of my ego. Seriously though, good review fella. Unpopular opinions are always important to hear.
I've played Spirit Island up to 5 players multiple times and every single time it has been amazing. If you had said that you don't like it as a multiplayer experience? That would be fine, but ... saying: "It doesn't work as a multiplayer experience" is blatantly wrong.
Seen too many BGG reviewers use their reviews of this game as a platform to launch into a lecture on colonialism etc.. no thanks, I’ll pass. Good review though, as always.
I got banned for reasons I’m not going into here. Someone else adds links to these videos. Can’t say I miss it or even think about it until someone utters the acronym.
When Spring comes (just seven weeks) the wise gardener must beware the infestation of SLEUGS like this. I rejected this steaming pile when it was first being hyped and all the Priscilla Poodles and sheep-rearers were wetting themselves over its supposed ‘anti colonial ‘ theme. Yeah, maintain your worshippers in superstition and isolation, good one. There’s a reason some of us used to sing ‘no saviours from on high deliver’. That board is butt-ugly, the spread of tableaux off-putting and both you and some defenders agree is that it’s only merit is to play solitaire, either formally or implicitly. Non, merci.
Saying what you really feel rather than what you think people want to hear...is why I keep watching
I can forgive Branch and Claw not being included in the core box for the simple reason that this is one of the best priced games on the market. Branch and Claw sells for approx $24 US, the base game $63 and Jagged Earth which is jam packed with a ton more content for$49. Great value when compared to many other top-tier games. Agree that it's a fantastic solo and good 2 player game. I have not played at a count higher than that, but regardless, I don't see this game leaving my collection anytime soon. Great work on the review, much enjoyed!
This game isn’t worth £130 in my opinion even though I was dumb enough to pay it…but that’s on me.
That seems pretty pricey…
If anyone is unclear; it's > that way.... NOT, < that way.
I was pondering between this and Robinson Crusoe as a “semi-solo” experience the other day. After a while or thinking I decided to get Robinson Crusoe mainly because of the theme and I was told that Robinson Crusoe is easier to invite other players and plays a bit quicker those times I want to play the game with someone (trying to get my fiancé into the hobby). The stories the game creates of Robinsons horrible, and sometimes funny, fate will probably have me return to the game from time to time. Seems like a made a good choice based on your reviews.
Your videos are great, keep up the good work mate! Cheers!
👍🏻
Robinson is fun but man is it tough.
Robinson definitely easier on group play. Spirit island the better game all together though... imo
Great honest review, and I love your channel. I disagree on some things with this one, as Spirit Island is among my favorite games. I do know it's not for everyone though and I play it solo the most.
I find I can usually find a way to wiggle out of a loss with the right power cards or just enough fear generation, and I enjoy the constant pressure of the invaders. It felt much harder the first few games but once you are familiar with the game you learn how to make those slow powers do work for you.
I agree somewhat on the multiple players thing. If people have played before and are fine playing a little more fast and loose focusing on their own board first then I think it's fine. With an AP player though you'll be there forever.
Very refreshing to see a more critical review of this game.
Love your channel and style. You bust my ribs regularly. Never played 3, or tried two handed, this is my solo puzzle and very occasional wife pop in. That bit where you mention everything seems hopeless is a bit of design genius, that creep of power that snatches you out of the jaws of defeat is baked in hard. Happens too often to be chance. I think you hit something most gloss over: cooperative games are not inherently social and often suffer for the addition of more grey matter at the table. Brilliant channel, stop when you're dead.
😂
Yes! Snotling sorcery, a smile from the man. Ever consider doing your thing all over Eurotrash, GW style boxed games. Just imagining your take on some games that could use a bit of a kicking. The savagery that could be unleashed upon Talisman, untold. @@BoardGameBollocks
I’ve done a review of Talisman. Search the playlists
@@BoardGameBollocks Oh shit, did you ever. Wow, that takes me back, was that weird puzzle board a UK thing? Masterfully done as usual, now do Blood Bowl as I'm sure you're wrong! :D
i totally agree with this review. I love this game in the app , so i bought it thinking id enjoy it with others. Then i played it a couple times, and i felt like i just rather play it solo
I love this game solo. I do play it with a friend who knows the game and we have fun, so I think it depends on who you play with. But anything 3 players and beyond, I can't see being fun.
Do you play it solo with 2 spirits?
Yea
Duder, you are awesome! You're like the Jason Statham of board game reviewers!
I was his stunt double on transporter 2
@@BoardGameBollocks LOL! Best reply ever!
The Spirit Island playthrough by BGG GameNight is a particularly hilarious example of 4-player. None of them want to be there, I kept thinking ‘somebody save them’!
I’ve played 12 times solo always with 2 spirits, and have B&C and JE expansions. It took me 7 self-forced games to somewhat appreciate the game, there is a kind of planning involved once you get the feel for particular spirits, and then sometimes you can get some card-play combos happening, but really the whole game feels like you’re squishing a transparent hot-water bottle filled with small mushrooms. The ‘tortoise and hare’ lesson that it teaches is just annoying. Games always end in un-climactic fashion; either you can tell you’re going to lose and you want to give up, or you win simply because the win conditions became easier, which is never satisfying. It’s an ok game overall but very overrated. AP is not the issue for me, this should be a game I like (e.g. my solo tastes: Fields of Arle, RftG, MK, Trismeg., Underwater Cities, GH, TAL, S.E. 4X).
We felt the same way. If I want to get battered I’ll play Robinson Crusoe. At least that one tells some kind of story.
I respect and appreciate your willingness to give a negative review to a big game.
We've had good experiences with up to 6 players. We leave some decision space unexamined by not evaluating possible combinations among Spirits, but I think that's just fine. It's OK to delegate sections of the board to specific players for both upkeep and game play. Just call the committee meeting when it makes sense.
I've also had the feeling that the game is clearly lost in the middle. But sometimes it's an illusion and we ended up winning games that looked unwinnable.
Yes, sometimes it seems like all hope is lost, but as the game goes on you can use more major powers which let's you take out more towns and cities; that not only unlocks Fear cards (which lets you take out even more Invaders) but also decreases the win condition. So even if the Invaders start to flood the board it provides opportunity to take them out almost as fast
You can only play those major powers of you have enough dosh and it always seems to be in short supply.
It seems the game is won/lost at a point that is obvious at which it falls flat.
Our experience is this: do stuff, watch it get torn down, get swamped, do stuff, watch it get torn down, get even more swamped, lose.
Shame really.
@@BoardGameBollocks If you all out on generating fear, usually those tier 3 fear cards are pretty brutal and can swing a game in your favour when all seems lost.
How did you get to those? We usually get slaughtered way before that.
@@BoardGameBollocks First, if you're playing with several people you HAVE to communicate and have a collective strategy for each round. Most people dump on this game around this point because its easy for someone to take on the role of an alpha gamer, and that tends to ruin it for everyone else. It is still viable at a higher player count, but it tends to make for a very LONG game. I tend to play solo with 3 or 4 spirits. A higher player count does not make the game harder (or easier); it just means there is more depth to every decision. Bottom line, if everyone is just doing their own thing then you're gonna have a tough time.
Also, around 5:00 you mentioned how the Slow powers aren't as good. If you're always prioritizing the Fast powers then that may be part of the struggle. The Slow powers tend to deal more damage or take out towns and cities where the Fast powers are usually about taking out an explorer or pushing stuff around; you'll never generate Fear that way. It is counter-intuitive but the Fast powers are actually more defensive because it is usually just about trying to prevent the invaders from building in the first place. You have to concede to that with the Slow powers, but then you get to hammer them afterwards.
Finally, there's the Spirit choice. They're all so different as each has strengths and weaknesses but you need a decent balance. If 3 people pick spirits with high degrees of defense, control and utility then the 4th had better choose Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares or Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves and be focused on generating Fear to balance it all out, otherwise you'll be hard-pressed to generate the 16 fear tokens needed just to unlock 1 card
Great review. I will be curious to read the comments over the next few days.
If the criteria is whether or not it's a good game to play with other people the very simple answer is no. However it's one of the best solo games IMO. If I was stranded on a desert island and could only have 1 game it would be Spirit Island
Also, about Branch and Claw, there were several stretch goals that came together to give backers a free mini expansion during the original KS. They collectively became Branch and Claw, but it was specifically left out of the retail core game to keep it more accessible due to the added complexity and cost. I think it was a good move, and for not much more it adds a ton: 4 new token types, doubles the size of the fear, minor and major power decks, adds several brights cards, the introduction of events phase (and deck of cards) and 2 spirits. IDK about you, but it took me at least 3 or 4 games before I could get done and know I didn't make a mistake that essentially resulted in cheating. If all the components from Branch and Claw were included as part of that initial discovery I probably would have thrown in the towel. Does B&C make the game better? Absolutely! Should it be included as part of the core game, absolutely not!
Side note, there is a digital port on Steam and it is fantastic.
I dont play video games unfortunately
Good video. Definitely not for everyone. But it's my favourite game. Love it solo. Love playing it with up to 6p who know what they're doing. Really disagree that it doesn't work past 2 players. Have had some super fun shared narrow victories. Look after your own board first and only worry about other boards afterward. Huge variety and very scalable difficulty.
I agree this game's biggest problem is its complexity and it's too much for more than 2 players so in that respect, I would also vote no as a multiplayer game and would never agree to play it as such. But I definitely wouldn't dismiss it as a solo or 2 player game. It's one of the best brain burn puzzles to solve with so much variety in the spirits and ways to vary the difficulty using the optional scenarios and adversaries the replay value is immense.
Feeling swamped is how this game plays but you'll lose if you constantly look to resolve ravages, which is the new players' instinct. You have to prevent builds and create empty regions, which will give you the breathing room to turn the tide. Most players make the same mistake to begin with. I certainly did. Thought the game was impossible, unwinnable and it is until you realise what you need to do but every victory comes after a period of seemingly overwhelming expansion by the invaders and that's what makes the game satisfying (even if you can see the victory coming a turn or two in advance).
While not for everyone, the game as a solo or 2-player experience, once you get over the initial inevitable anhiliations, deserves its reputation. Definite top 10 for me and many others but its good to see a critical review highlighting where it's not so good. I highly recommend the app, great implementation and takes away the fiddliness of checking/placing new invaders and the setup time. Really good way to play solo.
I love the game, but I also love the honest review. I personally enjoy the complexity and everything the game does. I enjoy games where lots of people are playing and I love that the games teaches me "winning is not always possible". Sometimes you just get destroyed out of nowhere with blighted island effects or low blight limits. But even though I enjoy it and disagree with the multiplayer or "not worth it" part - this review showcases a more important side as to why this game might not be for everybody. Since the ranking on boardgamegeek can mislead some people and other games might be a better start
Really great review here, clearing through all the hype to give an honest opinion of what it feels like to play. I heard so many great things about it and at the UK Games Expo this last weekend we participated in a first time play through demo, I am so glad we did. It's massively complex which is not necessarily bad, but for first time players coordinating your sprirts (we played 3 player) was quite the chore and you really do have to be on point with your plan as you start getting your arse kicked really hard from the off. It's a game i think if your really persevere with and play many times to learn what you can do and how the spirits can work together you may come to love it as lots of people have. However, wanting to play a game so many times that can be really demoralising is the real challenge here. Lastly for us the price was an issue. We are not against paying top dollar for a game but for me the overall feel of the counter/miniature quality did not justify the £60+ price tag for the base game. It felt like it was £10-£15 pounds over-priced in our opinion.
I paid £35 for it in a bargain bucket and I think that was fair
agree that after 2 it is such a brain burner but I've got to say some of my best games have been in a 3P situation - however, all three of us are seasoned spirit island players who know the spirits and the synergies hands down.. I can't imagine how hard it would be if you're playing 3 player with others that only have somewhat of a grasp on it, I just wouldn't even attempt to set it up if that were the case - that being said I do prefer it as a solo controlling two spirits, the game will take less than an hour and it's a very satisfying game should you pull off the victory
A refreshing critical review, one to many 'fan boys/girls' out there. Good to see it plays well solo, albeit with the need of one of its expansions.
Excellent. Been wondering about this one
Love the solo experience but definitely agree that the game would be a pretty awful time with more than 3 (which is really pushing it). I think the only way this game could reasonably be played at 4 is if each player regularly plays the game and knows exactly how the components interact. I appreciate your review and opinion, and hope you get some fun out of the investment. Have you ever heard of/played Atlantis Rising Second Edition? That's an asymmetric co-op that is lighter and more manageable than S.I.
I played the first edition on years ago but do t remember a whole lot except the weird shoes board.
Your point on losing can be said about ANY cooperative game: if you feel that there is nothing you can do, it sucks. In Spirit Island, however, you can just lower the difficulty. There's Difficulty levels 1-10
In my experience 3 players requires less AP than two and 2 less then 1. Why? Because you'll have more tools to deal with fires on the board. If one player doesn't have the tools to do something, there's more chance of another player having the tools and ther more players there are more tools. So Multiplayer is WAAAAAY better than solo.
Checking every region is really easy and intuitive. And if you cannot do that just go from lowest number to highest number on lowest board to highest board (A-F)
Played it loads and it was shite every time. Soz…
@@BoardGameBollocks So you have no counter arguments?... Figures.
You’re here for an argument? No thanks. Have a nice day.
@@BoardGameBollocks I was here for a discussion. But you clearly aren't willing to discuss, just judge. Have a nice day, too!
My channel, my rules. Don’t like it? Leave 👋
Just watched your review of Spirit Island and again, I could not agree more, played this with my better half a couple of times and felt that it was a bit of a mess. Hated the game and flogged it straight away to another victim of popularism and made some money. Great review.👍😁
Glad you managed to get some joy out of the game solo. Personally enjoy the game solo/two player anything over that and the game just slows down to a painful crawl. Referring to the Dahan as Mushrooms made me laugh 🤓
I’m sorry for your issues you had. I found 2 and 3 is the sweet spot. But getting “overwhelmed” is part of the fun of the game. The game progressively gets “easier” as you have more spirit out there, better cards, and an easier win condition.
When it comes to adding stuff to the board, we make it where each player is responsible for their own board. So the ravage, build, explore, etc, we go in a circle with each person doing their board. Makes it easy to keep track of.
Plus you can simplify it as needed. You can use it without the event cards, without the specific opponents, without the extra tokens etc. you can make it just the base game without the choice if cards with the prebuilt hands.
So it can scale in complexity for how comfortable you are with it. I started with the simplest version and slowly built up. I’ve only lost solo games so far.
I can see why you don’t like it, but just like movies, we all have different opinions. Still appreciate your thoughts on this game. Personally, I love it! Lol
You’re saying the game get easier the more spirits you have? I’d imagine that’s like banging your head against a bed of nails covered in salt…in fact I’ll take that any day.
The game isn’t complex at all. The problem is getting the game to work with more than two players. I’m my experience it almost always falls apart.
People like different things…wouldn’t have it any other way.
@@BoardGameBollocks no the game Doenst get easier with more spirits haha. I mean the game gets easier as you move forward in the game. Because you get more major powers, you have more of your own spirit in the board which means more access to more spaces for those cards to effect. You can use more of your innate powers as you can play more cards. And the win condition gets easier to achieve as you bring in more fear.
So the beginning of the game is like you can barely do anything, and by the end destroying cities is like cake.
Hmmm…seems like the game gets harder for us. Have a look at our live Playthrough and see. It was a nightmare.
@@BoardGameBollocks I’ll have to check that out lol.
@@BoardGameBollocks I watched the live play through. Honestly the branch and claw expansion would change your dramatically in a good way. It adds tokens that stop invaders from attacking during ravage, tokens that stop building during building, tokens that stop exploration, and tokens that injure invaders. Plus the event deck that will trigger a lot of that stuff.
So while fear cards help you as you get those, they may not come up a lot. But the event deck happens every round. So you may start to feel overwhelmed then you can put a truce token under a city and not get blight there that round. Or you get to place a toke to stop the next explore in a land, etc.
It really helps control the wild situations. Also all 4 if you played the very very basic spirits. None of them do anything to crazy. When you get to bigger player counts, you need to use the more complex spirits because they do so much more. There’s a spirit that has a card to allow other spirits to place more spirit in their turn, making them stronger faster. There’s spirits that gain a ton of energy quickly and you can get a bunch of major powers which are way better. The more complex spirits usually add more options and flexibility to what you can do and your innate powers become stronger.
Etc
Sorry this one didn't land for you. This is a favorite of mine but I'd rather eat glass than play it with any more than two other people.
I’ve eaten glass quite a bit over the last month or so.
Nice to see a critical review. Don't necessarily agree with all your points, but a great watch regardless. Keep it up 😀
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Playing with 3-4 players is fine if you have a very good team. Otherwise playing duo is great imo since you've got shitload of stuff to take care of and with another person you're much more fault proof.
Spot on with this review. Played a good few times solo, enjoyed it. Got the game on Steam, liked the experience better. The other night at a regular board game evening, played this as a 4 player experience, OMG it was awful. Bogged down with way too much AP, and 2 of the other guys were experienced with the game. Really bad time, pretty sure the other players didn't want to admit it sucked... I'm going to sell my copy along with the expansions and just play solo on Steam, happy days.
Great review, totally overrated on other sites imo... Nearly 10k subscribers, nice work BOSS!
Cheers mate 👍🏻
Only "angry reviewer" that is not a shill. Well played mate.
It's my favorite game (playing at 2 with my wife) so I greatly disagree with your review. Each spirits really do play differently and have strong thematics. And there is, most of the time, a path to victory if you can handle the big puzzle. Difficulty is also highly tunable (1-10+ difficulties) depending of your mood and which invader you want to push back from your shores.
I’m sure I said the game is ok with 2…🤷
I finally traded this game away. I do less admin at work...
Lazy bast…
It definitely has its problems and the game clearly isn't for everyone.
And it definitely gets much harder to play as a whole with more players.
I've bought this but only played it once so I will be very annoyed with you if this is a bad review.
Umm…🤔
@@BoardGameBollocks normally I'd say I totally understand your points and find it hard to disagree with then. But seeing as I've already spent £50 on it I'm going to insist you're wrong for the sake of my ego.
Seriously though, good review fella. Unpopular opinions are always important to hear.
👍🏻
100% agree.
I've played Spirit Island up to 5 players multiple times and every single time it has been amazing.
If you had said that you don't like it as a multiplayer experience? That would be fine, but ... saying: "It doesn't work as a multiplayer experience" is blatantly wrong.
It’s not wrong. It’s just my opinion. Go watch the dice tower or something…tw@t
Seen too many BGG reviewers use their reviews of this game as a platform to launch into a lecture on colonialism etc.. no thanks, I’ll pass. Good review though, as always.
The theme disappeared after 5 mins. Turns into an ugly abstract puzzle. Might be all that Ketamine in the 80s
😁 probably a good idea to just get off BGG to be honest. I hang around in the hope they’ll ditch the woke bollocks at some point
@Dr. D yep, sick of it mate
I got banned for reasons I’m not going into here. Someone else adds links to these videos.
Can’t say I miss it or even think about it until someone utters the acronym.
@Dr. D it’s like a microcosm of the world, unfortunately - ‘agree with us, shut up or get kicked out, your choice’
When Spring comes (just seven weeks) the wise gardener must beware the infestation of SLEUGS like this.
I rejected this steaming pile when it was first being hyped and all the Priscilla Poodles and sheep-rearers were wetting themselves over its supposed ‘anti colonial ‘ theme. Yeah, maintain your worshippers in superstition and isolation, good one. There’s a reason some of us used to sing ‘no saviours from on high deliver’.
That board is butt-ugly, the spread of tableaux off-putting and both you and some defenders agree is that it’s only merit is to play solitaire, either formally or implicitly. Non, merci.
I’m trying to picture a Priscilla Poodle in my mind…A canine Elvis impersonator perhaps? Or Mike from Neighbours dog before he got famous?
I know her when I see her...just remember that you cannot say Priscilla Poodle without “ill poo”.
😮
holy shit this is by far the most racist comment i've ever seen on a board game video