Greater Than GamesHorizons of Spirit Island (Standalone) | Board Game | Ages 14+ | 1-3 Players | 90-120 Minutes Playing Time

I’m constantly on the lookout for two player co-operative games as my wife and I often while away the occasional dull winter afternoon at the gaming table and it is nice to have a variety. Following our less than satisfying experience with ‘Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion’ I’ve tried to avoid games with a high degree of complexity – I’m always tempted by them though and some are still on our ‘games to be considered’ list. One such game was ‘Spirit Island’. Many reviews of the base game state that, while an excellent game, it is complicated, hard to learn and games can go on for ages. Enter ‘Horizons of Spirit Island’.Described as a simplified version of the base game with streamlined gameplay, it seemed an obvious choice. Don’t be fooled by the description; it is still a complicated game with a lot of steps in each round so, even after several playthroughs we still have to work through the rule book to make sure we don’t miss anything. Once you’ve played a couple of times and become more familiar with the mechanics, it is an excellent strategy co-op experience – we’ve even won our last two games without adopting any house rules.It is an interesting game and the only one of its type in our constantly expanding collection. Each player selects a spirit to play & is dealt some starting cards. The game board is set up with initial invaders, spirit presences, native inhabitants and blight. It is too complicated to describe the gameplay in any detail as I would just be copying from the rulebook but suffice to say that each round consists of players selecting and paying for cards to play, performing the corresponding actions (hopefully damaging/defeating invaders in the process), invaders damaging the land & pressing further into new territory and finally natives fighting back. The eventual aim is for the spirits and natives to defeat the invaders. That is very much a precis – there’s a lot going on and even now that we are more familiar with the mechanics and rules, games can easily take 3+ hours over a couple of afternoons. That is not to say that it is a slow & tedious game. There is a lot of strategic co-op planning ahead and analysis paralysis is not too prevalent so the rounds always seem to have a decent pace.The rulebook is very good, the board is clear & well laid out, the component quality is good and it is not much of a table-hog. With a good choice of spirits, each with different abilities and the randomness of card draws, replayability is excellent. All-in all, a splendid game - not simple but engrossing and satisfying.Rulebook: 10/10 Complexity: 8/10 Component quality: 9/10 Replayability: 10/10 Gameplay pace: 6/10

I’m new to complex board games but loved this so much, was accessible for me and a young teen. We have gone on to buy the main base game now but I am glad I got this to try it out first and we still have the spirits and items to use if we want to.

Great game! Arrived quickly and very enjoyable