Spirit Island, released in 2017, has rapidly become a beloved board game, captivating players with its unique theme, exciting gameplay, beautiful artwork, and top-notch components.

The base game provides a wealth of content, including many spirits, adversaries, scenarios, and varying difficulty levels, ensuring lasting enjoyment. However, the expansions for Spirit Island take the game to another level, with Jagged Earth standing out for its introduction of unique spirits and new mechanics.

Jagged Earth increases the game’s complexity but allows for a gradual introduction of changes. New components and spirits are marked with specific icons indicating their level of complexity.

Let’s explore the more significant changes in this expansion one by one.

Events

Events, first introduced in the Branch & Claw expansion, make a comeback in Jagged Earth. Represented by a deck of cards, they bring both favourable and unfavourable outcomes for players. While optional in the base game, Jagged Earth makes events mandatory, adding an element of randomness to the game. Some players may not prefer this, but I personally find that events add excitement and tension, making them a welcome addition.

New Tokens

Jagged Earth adds five distinct tokens that significantly impact gameplay. Four of these tokens were previously introduced in Branch & Claw, while the fifth, called Badland, is exclusive to this expansion. Let’s take a closer look at these tokens:

• Badland: This token increases damage inflicted on both invaders and Dahan by 1.
• Beast: It doesn’t have a direct effect, but poses a threat to invaders through specific card and event effects.
• Disease: Prevents the next build action in a land
• Strife: Placed under an invader figure, this token blocks that invader’s damage during ravage.
• Wilds: Prevents the next explore action in a land

These tokens bring strategic depth to the game as players can use cards and spirits to add and manipulate them on the board, leveraging their benefits to control the invaders. However, it is important to be careful in managing the damage to the Dahan.

New Spirits

Jagged Earth introduces ten new spirits, each with its own distinct playstyle and level of complexity. Among them are some of the most complex spirits for the game, offering a greater challenge compared to the base game. One of these spirits is even designed for customization during gameplay! If the base game spirits are already challenging for your group, Jagged Earth may not be the best expansion. However, if you’re looking for more complexity and a greater challenge, the new spirits in Jagged Earth are excellent.

More Variety

In addition to the previously mentioned content, Jagged Earth adds even more variety with two new island boards, numerous minor and major powers, adversaries, scenarios, and fear cards. This significant increase in variety makes Spirit Island even more long-lasting than before.

Final Thoughts

Jagged Earth is an amazing expansion for an already fantastic game. It adds more complexity, which may not be suitable for players who find the base game complex enough. However, for those looking for more depth, complexity, and variety, Jagged Earth is a must-have addition to their collection.

Disclaimer: We received a review copy of this expansion. Also, there may be an affiliate link in the links included at the end of this article.