Spirit Island (board game)
Co-operative board game about spirits driving off colonizers.
Spirit Island is a cooperative strategy board game in the euro-style, designed by R. Eric Reuss and released in 2017 by Greater than Games. Players control spirits defending an island from colonizing invaders, with victory achieved by driving them off. Digital versions followed for PC, iOS, and Android.
Reuss created the game as a response to board games where players act as colonizers. The Invader pieces are deliberately white to show that light colors don’t always represent good. Four expansions exist: Branch & Claw, Jagged Earth, Feather and Flame, and Nature Incarnate (2023). The base game and most expansions were funded through Kickstarter; Nature Incarnate used BackerKit. A digital version announced in 2018 launched in 2020, with mobile releases including a free-to-learn tutorial mode with four spirits. In 2022, Horizons of Spirit Island offered the same mechanics with simpler, cheaper components and easier spirits for newcomers.
Gameplay involves 1–4 players (up to six with Jagged Earth) taking spirit roles. Invaders expand by exploring, building towns and cities, and ravaging. Players unlock spirit abilities and power cards over time. The invaders’ actions are driven by a card deck; unprotected ravage tiles gain blight tokens. Victory comes by clearing invaders and settlements while generating fear, which lowers the win threshold. Loss occurs if too many blight tokens accumulate, a spirit loses all its presence, or the invader deck runs out. The base game includes eight spirits; Branch & Claw adds two, Jagged Earth ten, Nature Incarnate eight, and two promo packs (combined as Feather and Flame in 2022) add four more. Each spirit has unique abilities.
Ars Technica named it one of 2017’s best board games, praising its complexity and “wonderfully thinky puzzle” while noting potential analysis paralysis. Kotaku liked its tension and complexity but found it hard to start. CNET called it the best complex cooperative game of 2020, and PC Gamer listed it among top cooperative board games. The Atlantic’s Luke Wilkie described it as “one of the few flat-out anti-colonial games on the market.” On BoardGameGeek, it reached number 9 in 2022 and held a top-tier ranking in the site's overall list, though specific claims about the 2024 People's Choice Top 200 Solo Games are unverified as of early 2025.
Quick Facts
- Designer
- R. Eric Reuss
- Publisher
- Greater than Games
- Genre
- Co-operative strategy board game
- Players
- 1-4 (base game) · 1-6 (with expansions)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
R. Eric Reuss designed Spirit Island in response to other board games in which players take the role of colonizers. The Invader game pieces were made white deliberately to highlight that light colors do not always imply 'good'. The game has four expansions: Branch & Claw, Jagged Earth, Feather and Flame, and Nature Incarnate (the last released in 2023). Both the base game and several expansions were funded via Kickstarter, while Nature Incarnate was funded via BackerKit. A multi-platform digital version of the game, first announced in 2018, was released in 2020, with versions for PC, iOS, and Android. The mobile versions have a 'free to learn' version that enables access to a tutorial game with four spirits available to play. A new version titled Horizons of Spirit Island was released in 2022, offering the same core mechanics with simpler components and easier spirits for newcomers.
Reader's Guide
Spirit Island is significant for its anti-colonial theme, directly subverting the colonizer perspective common in many board games. The deliberate choice to make Invader pieces white was a design statement about color associations in gaming. The game's complexity and depth have been praised by outlets such as Ars Technica, which called it a 'wonderfully thinky puzzle,' though noting potential for analysis paralysis. Kotaku commented positively on its complexity and tension-building but found it hard to start. The Atlantic described it as 'one of the few flat-out anti-colonial games on the market.' Its legacy includes sustained high rankings on BoardGameGeek, where it reached number 9 in 2022 and number 10 as of May 2025. It has been rated #1 in the BoardGameGeek 2024 People's Choice Top 200 Solo Games for the third consecutive year. The game's publisher, Greater than Games, suspended work in April 2025 due to new U.S. import taxes, but was bought out in April 2026 by Handelabra Games, their digital partner, returning control to the owners with a few veteran team members returning.
Did You Know?
- The Invader game pieces were deliberately made white to highlight that light colors do not always imply 'good'.
- A 'free to learn' mobile version exists with a tutorial and four playable spirits.
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