For this assignment, I played my all-time favorite board game, Spirit Island, designed and published by R. Eric Reuss in 2017. Spirit Island is a cooperative game where players take on the roles of powerful spirits, with the goal of defending their island from invasive colonizers.
Spirit Island can be played by 1-4 players. This time, I played with one friend for about an hour. I used the “Lightning’s Swift Strike” spirit, and my friend used the “Vital Strength of The Earth” spirit. We did not have the physical game, so we downloaded the game’s official mobile app and played it online.
Figure 1. Game Setup.
Spirit Island incorporates several of the 8 types of fun:
- Challenge: The game is significantly challenging as players must strategize and coordinate their efforts to fight off the invading colonizers.
- Fellowship: This is a cooperative game – the sense of camaraderie in working together to protect the island is a key aspect of the fun in the game.
- Discovery: The game offers a rich world to explore, with various spirits (more in expansion packs!), powers, and scenarios – yielding limitless strategies, interactions, and combinations – making each game feel fresh and exciting.
- Fantasy: The game immerses players in a fantasy world where they become powerful spirits defending their mystical island.
Figure 2. Spirit board of “Lightning’s Swift Strike.”
Figure 3. Spirit board of “Vital Strength of The Earth.”
Spirit Island has intricate mechanics that drive its gameplay. Firstly, each spirit possesses distinct abilities. For example, my chosen “Lightning’s Swift Strike” spirit had starting powers to destroy Towns and Cities, and the ability to turn “Slow” powers into “Fast” powers, which allowed me to destroy many invaders before they deal damage to the island. Fear, another vital mechanic, served as a gauge of resistance and allowed the spirits to grow stronger as fear levels rose.
Figure 4. I relied heavily on this specific power of “Lightning’s Swift Strike” to turn “Slow” powers into “Fast” powers.
Spirit Island’s cooperative dynamics encouraged us to collaborate closely, strategically planning our actions and coordinating our spirit powers. The mechanics tied to our chosen spirits gave rise to an offensive play style for me (“Lightning’s Swift Strike”) and a defensive play style for my friend (“Vital Strength of the Earth”). As the invaders’ actions escalated in complexity and threat, it forced us to adapt strategies on the fly. It worked out perfectly – we complemented each other and was able to win the game by reaching Fear Level 3 and destroying all the Cities (which my spirit was good at doing) on the island.
The aesthetics of Spirit Island played a crucial role in immersing us in the game’s theme. The illustrations of the spirits, power cards, and the island itself evoke a sense of wonder, as well as connection to nature. As I played, due to the beautiful aesthetics, I felt immersed in the narrative of defending the island from ruthless invaders.
The objectives of Spirit Island include:
- Explicit skills: I gained a conceptual understanding of the game’s fantasy world and learned specific techniques to attack and defend against invaders.
- Implicit skills: I gained overall problem-solving, strategy, and reasoning skills.
- Self-efficacy: As the game progressed, I gained confidence in my ability to utilize my chosen spirit’s innate powers to slowly destroy all the Towns and Cities on the board.
- Aesthetic: I feel close to the other people I played this game with.
Overall, I think Spirit Island is more than just a game – it is an immersive journey into a world where nature’s spirits unite to defend their home 🙂 What I loved the most about this game is its steep learning curve and how challenging it is to devise the right strategies at any given point during the game. One bad move, and the invaders will damage the island to the point where it becomes too difficult to save. As I explored the MDAO of this game, I realized how the cooperative play and immersive aesthetics combine to create an experience that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally engaging. I definitely would like to play this game again with more people in the future!
