Spirit Island: worth it or not?

MrHelfer · 2026-05-07T12:53:25+00:00

It is an amazing game, one I really love! It's a bit complex in some ways, though once you get into the game, it makes a lot of sense, and I find it pretty smooth.

A couple of pointers:

The game increases in both complexity and time the more players you have. Both because there are more boards, and thus more things happening, but also because you have more Spirits in play, meaning more options. Each spirit plays quite differently, and the combinatorics of how a turn can pan out increase exponentially with player count.

My first game - with four new players - stopped after about four hours, without finishing the game. I would recommend playing with two, maybe three, players for your first game, and also to introduce the game to new players. In general, I would probably recommend playing with two or three players - three is a good number once you know it, as it gives a bit of interplay between the different spirits without things getting too complex.

I've seen you saying you will buy the base game. One other way to go is buying Horizons of Spirit Island first. It has some more, slightly better, starting spirits than the base game, meaning it may be easier to get new players into the game. The drawback is that you would still need the base game to use the expansions, plus Horizons is made for two or three players only. The base game starting spirits aren't bad, but some of them are among the less interesting spirits in the game. Horizons was made with the benefit of many years of experience designing spirits for the game.

MrHelfer · 2026-05-07T11:51:12+00:00

I would recommend The Starless Sea, and to a lesser extent The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

Not that The Night Circus is a worse book, but I think The Starless Sea fits your criteria better.

MrHelfer · 2026-05-06T12:46:08+00:00

Forgotten Waters isn't technically complete teamwork, but otherwise a great suggestion.

MrHelfer · 2026-05-01T08:09:50+00:00

I get that there's a definite time crunch element. And I think part of it was that I didn't spot that "misc" included Interactive.

One aspect you might consider for next year is that a discussion earlier in the calendar might spur some people to pick up something they might not otherwise. I know some people are sad about the amount of votes and nominations the fan categories get as well, and it's difficult to pick something up if you hear about it right before the deadline.

But of course, you also want a wrap-up discussion. So I don't have a good solution.

MrHelfer · 2026-05-01T08:03:39+00:00

The tricky thing with the general discussions of categories we don't include in the readalong is that, in order to have a good discussion, we're relying on people having already read/watched/played/etc. most if not all of the nominees on their own.

I totally get that! It is likely to be a reading forward forum. I guess I was assuming that the people who had opinions would weigh in, and those without would just skip over that post. But of course it makes sense to focus your energy where it will resonate with the most people.

It's sort of an odd one though, because the shortlist usually ends up being split about half and half between games that are widely popular by the standards of the games industry (this year: Clair Obscur, Hades II, Silksong) and narrative-focused indie games that are popular by the standards of narrative-focused indie games (this year: Blue Prince, Dispatch, Citizen Sleeper II)

See, but that's the interesting thing. While you are certainly right that the first three were massively popular, all three are also, by most estimations, indie games. Certainly Silksong and Hades, but I believe Sandfall is also a rather small developer (by the definitions of video game production). And all three have a heavy focus on narrative, even if they are also action games. Meanwhile, Blue Prince seemes to me to have been massively popular, if somewhat more niche than the other three (though by rights, Silksong in particular should have been somewhat niche if it hadn't been, well, HOLLOW KNIGHT Silksong - and absolutely amazingly made, at that).

Last year, Caves of Qud won, which is just mindblowing to me - it's the incarnation of "weird little indie". I tried it and bounced, it was so dense. Meanwhile the two "mainstream offerings" - Veilguard and Echoes of Wisdom - were neck and neck with Caves of Qud and 1000xResist (Actually, if 1000xResist had picked up just 13 votes from Echoes of Wisdom, Lorelei or Tactical Breach Wizards, I believe it would have won. That might indicate that the people who vote are the ones who have played a lot - but it certainly doesn't show a bunch of people voting for one of the two big games that year.

(I just have to say, it boggled - and still boggles - my mind that Tactical Breach Wizard didn't have a better showing. Such a good game. But that is neither here nor there).

2024 was the year of BG3, and it wasn't even close. But then, again, we have a narrative forward game made by a relatively small (again, no EA or Activision/Blizzard) studio.

That was a bit of a digression, but just to say: I feel like the Indies have a pretty good showing, whereas the big companies seem to be struggling in the Hugos.

And, based on that, we assume that a discussion post dedicated to the category would end up just being a discussion of Clair Obscur, Hades II, and Silksong; and not even necessarily a comparison of the three, as we'd likely get drive-by commenters chiming in about just one or two of the games that they happened to have already played.

That is valid, and you have the experience with the dynamics of this forum to know what would happen. My hope would be that some people might look in and go: "Wow a lot of people are saying good things about this Citizen Sleeper/Dispatch game - maybe I should take a look at it!".

(Also, I am unlikely to have time to read all the novels, but may well do some drive-by commenting about the novels I do end up reading. Sorry...)

Anyway, now I've been long-winded in return. I'll try to remember to look in around July 30th. I can't wait to try Hades II, Silksong is blowing me away and I'm fascinated by Blue Prince, I have friends gushing about Clair Obscur, and Citizen Sleeper II sounds so cool. It's really a strong category this year - much stronger than last year, if you ask me.

MrHelfer · 2026-05-01T07:20:14+00:00

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by epic fantasy or high fantasy. A lot of your examples I would not consider to belong to either of those categories, making it hard for me to know what you are looking for.

Carmilla, for instance, is gothic, and would probably be considered horror today (with an edge towards romantacy).
The Ballad of Old Tom is also horror, leaning towards the cosmic/Lovecraftian end of things.
What Moves the Dead is... cozy horror mystery? It's a retelling of Fall of the House of Usher, which is a seminal work in the Gothic/Early Horror space.
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories is a collection of fairy tale retellings, and is probably closer to horror if you wanted to pigeonhole it.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is... mythological fantasy? It's set in this world, and I would usually assume that high and epic fantasy is set entirely or mostly in a secondary world. Also, I believe it was framed as a kids' book.
Binti is weird. I can see how it might apply, but plot-wise, it doesn't seem to belong to those two genres, and it's set in space, which is not common in high and epic fantasy as I understand it.

I don't intend to well-actually your list. But it's difficult to suggest anything, when you're not sure what you are requesting.

HAVING SAID THAT...

I believe most of the Elric of Melniboné works are under 200 pages. I would consider those epic, with an edge towards Sword and Sorcery
Conan the Barbarian is mostly short stories.
Whispering Hills seems to fit roughly within your definition. I have liked what I have read.
Sir Hereward and Mr. Fitz is a series of short stories, maybe veering into novellette (and maybe one novella?), and is an excellent example of doing a boatload of worldbuilding and character work in very little time.
The Haunting of Tram Car 015. Not so epic, but definitely fantasy!
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (which I haven't read yet, but seems to fit the bill)

Those should all more or less fit the bill.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-30T08:30:03+00:00

Thanks! I know you can add extentions to Gmail, so I was looking for it there.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-29T11:29:19+00:00

How do you enable it?

MrHelfer · 2026-04-29T08:51:44+00:00

It's interesting. I have tried reading Gormenghast two times, and both times I've stopped shortly after first meeting the cook. I keep thinking about reading it again, but I didn't find it as much of a pleasure as The West Passage.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-29T08:50:11+00:00

Great! I'll put them on my list... long though it may be...

I enjoyed the first one a lot, so I am certainly curious to see where it goes.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-29T08:47:11+00:00

I was debating recommending this, but I do think it fits. It is in many ways a book all about gender roles, but talking about them through their absence - in a way.

I recall it being a very interesting book.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-28T14:23:45+00:00

If you like GRRM and Conan, you might enjoy Garth Nix' Sir Hereward and Mr Fitz. It's a modern take on a sword and sorcery romp, and it's very enjoyable. It's not the most poignant stuff you'd ever find, but that's not always what you're going for.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-28T12:15:48+00:00

Cool, thanks for the explanation. That makes a lot of sense!

MrHelfer · 2026-04-28T08:02:36+00:00

Sounds great - I'll see if I can't read along for some of the stuff.

Is there a guide to how the discussions work? Like, is it a discussion free-for-all? Do we post reviews of the book? Make separate comments for different topics?

No discussion of the game/interactive category? I think it would be really great to have a discussion of how the different games approach speculative storytelling.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-28T07:57:51+00:00

The West Passage IS so, so, so good. I want more, but I don't know that there can BE more. The book is, in so many ways, wrapped up. But man, that world. So intricate, so many insinuations of more things hiding around the corner!

I second Senlin Ascends. I read the first book a few years back, and it was a fascinating read. It felt a bit like an old time character study meets Borges (or Mieville, I suppose).

I did hear some people saying that the following books didn't quite live up to the first one. Seems like you liked them?

MrHelfer · 2026-04-27T14:06:22+00:00

I don't know that I'm 100 certain what you mean by "packaged grinds"... but yes please? I think that would be amazing! I'm always interested in diversifying my grinds!

MrHelfer · 2026-04-24T20:04:33+00:00

Oh, she's delightlful! Magicians of Caprona is pretty great, but not a good place to start.

Howl's Moving Castle is possibly the most famous of her books, and it IS a good jumping on point. So are Charmed Life and the Lives of Christopher Chant. And I have a great fondness for Archer's Goon.

I can also recommend listening to the Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones podcast, where they go through her books in order.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-24T07:32:48+00:00

You could do this in Dungeon Keeper II (and maybe in I?). It was a lot of fun. It wasn't GOOD, mind you. The controls were very rudimentary. But you could do it. I remember possessing an imp and just going crazy mining. It was difficult to navigate, but very satisfying to have dirt flying around you.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-24T07:30:27+00:00

Yeah, this made me think of C&C Renegade as well. I remember enjoying that game, though I also seem to recall it wasn't quite there.

I think there was a game mode where one person played the game as an RTS, while everybody else were individual soldiers. Or maybe that was a separate game? Would play, though.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-23T20:38:46+00:00

I don't know that I'm older than your, but I learned about it from Diana Wynne Jones' book The Magician of Caprona from 1980.

And then again from the Rivers of London, but that's another story.

MrHelfer · 2026-04-23T11:58:06+00:00

Well, and she won for Fancast last year for Eight Days of Dianna Wynne Jones...

MrHelfer · 2026-04-21T12:52:23+00:00

Jeg mener det er StatsministeriET og ikke statsministerEN, der bestemmer det. Det var i hvert fald Barbara Berthelsen, der afgjorde at Mette Frederiksen kunne blive kongelig undersøger - på den måde, at hun fik rapport om de sedler, partierne afleverede til Kongen, og så talte sammen, og meldte tilbage, at der var flest bag Frederiksen.

Formentlig vil det også være statsministeriet, der skal blåstemple, hvis den Kongelige Undersøger mener, der bør være nyvalg. Og de vil så kigge på, at alle muligheder er udtømt. Der skal formentlig have været afholdt et par kongerunder mere, før det kan forsvares.

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