Christopher posted an announcement of a separate and lighter version of Spirit Island coming October 2022 to Target
Wow, so much new Spirit Island all at once!
I, for one, hope that GTG will release the five Horizons Spirits as a Promo Pack. From what I could Parse from that post, Horizons is just the Spirit Island Base Game, but with cheaper components and different Spirits, but (unlike Sentinels Definitive Edition) it doesn’t improve any existing content. I definitely don’t want to buy a lower-quality version of a game I already have in order to get new content.
I’m tempted a) for the new spirits, and b) three new colors of presence, and c) new card backs for the invader deck. Plus I’m going to have to introduce my currently 5yo and 3yo to the game at some point, so why not?
Also, it looks like there will be at least some repeats of Minor and Major powers, based on zooming in.
Okay, now that I’ve got my disgruntled consumer rant out of the way, time for speculation!
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Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot: It seems like both (for thematic reasons) and (for mechanical and thematic reasons, because what is a more hostile terrain than a bunch of monsters hiding underneath your feet?) would be appropriate of this Spirit, but I’m almost certain that Horizons won’t have any tokens (or Events, for that matter). We do already two -centric Spirits anyways, so it’s not a huge loss. I like the idea of a self-buffing Spirit; it seems kind of like a Spirit version of SotM’s KNYFE. I bet this Spirit would be friends with Vengeance. Likely Elements:
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Sun-Bright Whirlwind: First of all, the front side of Whirlwind’s Spirit Panel (as shown in the announcement) reads, “You start with your 4 Unique Power Cards and 0 Energy.” Now, this very well could just be a handy reminder (although I don’t really see how that’s necessary), or it could mean that there might be a Spirit who starts the game with some amount of Energy already, or perhaps one or more Minors or Majors. Anywho, this Spirit seems like Shadows but without the . Likely Elements:
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Fathomless Mud of the Swamp: A Spirit solely dedicated to stopping Builds is something new, and it looks like it’ll probably also have some good -relocation ability. Mud will likely interact in some way with Wetlands. Likely Elements:
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Eyes Watch from the Trees: I’m concerned if the designers will be able to distinguish Eyes enough from Thunderspeaker, but they probably will, in part because this Spirit also does and . This Spirit will likely interact will Jungles in some way. Also, super creepy. Likely Elements:
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Rising Heat of Stone and Sands: I’m guessing that Heat’s damage is gonna be a “slow burn” over time (pun intended). But Shroud also has accumulating damage as its gimmick . . . Well, but Shroud really just uses that damage for , not destruction. And I think Heat will likely interact with Sands somehow. Likely Elements:
The only Element that I’ve predicted none of these Spirits will focuses on is Moon, but it seems likely that Eyes would have that as a tertiary focus.
Having playtested this, I’m excited!!! Not only am I looking forward to playing with these, but having this as a demo set is going to be so much better than my current demo set. Plus, I’m looking forward to using this to introduce the niblings to Spirit Island!
Oh, me too, definitely. All five of these Spirits look real nifty.
Not so much, for me. What’s wrong with the existing Invader Deck Back? And aren’t six colours of enough?
Yeah, I can make out Shadows of the Burning Forest and Cleansing Floods in this image:
And I don’t see any other Minor or Major Powers in any of the post’s image, so I think it’s safe to assume that they will all be reprints of Base Game cards.
No. Because sometimes you need thematically appropriate colors for your spirits.
Weirdly, couldn’t get the page to load images yesterday. But now that I’ve seen it, I like what I see and I feel like I’m in the same camp as Godai. Don’t think I’d do anything with the lower quality pieces or repeated power cards, but more Spirits and more presence colors is a good thing! And probably worth 30 bucks.
also mud otter mud otter mud otter
It broke their site yesterday with all the visitors so it’s not that weird.
Yes. : )
Yeah, I couldn’t load the page at one point yesterday. Yay, I guess? Spirit Island is apparently popular enough to break GTG’s website?
Don’t think I’d do anything with the lower quality pieces or repeated power cards, but more Spirits and more presence colors is a good thing! And probably worth 30 bucks.
I’ve run the numbers, so let’s see how the maths work out.
As I’ve expressed previously, I also have no use for reprinted Power Cards and poor-quality pieces, and I don’t really need more .
So that leaves the Spirits. Horizons will have 5 Spirits, and a price of $30.*
$30 Ă· 5 Spirits = $6 / Spirit
Now, to compare that to previous Spirit Island products.
Promo Pack 1 is the only Spirit Island product published thus far that contains only Spirits and their Unique Power Cards. It has 2 Spirits, and costs $15†to buy from GTG’s webstore.
$15 Ă· 2 Spirits = $7.50 / Spirit
So, this suggests that, disregarding all the other content in Horizons, it is actually a better deal than Promo Pack 1, Spirit for Spirit. Each Horizons Spirit costs $1.50 less than each of the the Promo Pack ones, and you’re getting the other stuff too.
So, it turns out that Horizons is actually mathematically worth your money even if you just keep the Spirits (and , I guess). You were right, @TakeWalker!
(The Spirit Island Base Game, Branch & Claw, Promo Pack 2, and Feather & Flame all also cost more $/Spirit, but that is likely because they also include other game components, and I can’t really break up their prices into Spirits and non-Spirits. Jagged Earth however, costs only $7 / Spirit, though, which is still more than Horizons, but actually less than Promo Pack 1, even though it contains plenty of non-Spirit material.)
So, what I will most likely do is wait the two years until the Target exclusivity agreement expires, and then if GTG releases a pack of just the Spirits, I’ll buy that. But if they don’t, I suppose I’ll just have to buy Horizons and just throw out all the reprinted/lower-quality stuff.
*US currency, as of 2022.
†It actually costs $14.95, but I’m rounding because prices that are ¢5 short of a dollar are stupid.
It’s a cool idea, and I hope that it accomplishes its goal of making Spirit Island a more well-known game. I won’t be able to buy it myself, for reasons of not living in the United States, but congratulations.
Regarding Mud Otter and Wind Kitty, I would guess that some fans might be miffed by their cuteness, but that doesn’t bother me personally.
Oh my… Does the core game really go for $90 MSRP? I’m all for collecting games with nice pieces, but that’s a pretty good chunk of change (he says, having already planned to back all of SotM Definitive Edition).
IMO, $30 is pretty reasonable for a jumping in point. I don’t mind cardboard pieces so much, as long as liquids remain in their containers near them. I may have to try this out myself.
Of course, the other complication, for me at least, that I realized today:
I haven’t played my physical copy of SI in over a year. <.< I have no one to play with. So this still may not be a good investment. I’ll just hope these fellows get added to digital one day.
Tangentially, I recently started listening to the Kindred Spirits Podcast, and just this afternoon I’m listening to an episode where you were quoted, Takewalker.
Oh really? Who what where?
Kindred Spirits Podcast, episode 15ish, the one about Lightning’s Aspect cards.