Horizons of Spirit Island

Horizons of Spirit Island is set up by placing the two-player side of the main board in the center, placing the blight pool, fear pool, and invader decks in their respective areas, and setting up the initial invader and native Dahan tokens according to the quick start guide. Each player chooses one of the five asymmetric spirits, taking their corresponding player board, presence tokens, and starting power cards. Make sure all energy and damage tokens are readily accessible in bowls for easy management during gameplay.

The main objective is entirely cooperative: players act as elemental spirits defending their island home from invading settlers. You win the game by eliminating all invader cities and towns from the board, which becomes progressively easier as you advance through the fear levels. Conversely, you will lose if the blight pool is completely depleted, if any single spirit has all of its presence tokens wiped off the board, or if you fail to win before the final card of the invader deck is resolved.

Every round of the game is structured into sequential phases. First, the Growth Phase allows players to select growth options on their spirit boards to place presence, gain energy, draw cards, or reclaim cards. Next, the Spirit Phase involves paying energy costs to play fast and slow power cards from your hand. Fast powers resolve before the invaders act, while slow powers resolve after. The Invader Phase follows, where invaders explore new territory, build cities and towns, and ravage the land, causing damage and blight. Fear cards are also resolved during this phase based on accumulated fear.

Because Horizons of Spirit Island is a cooperative game, there are no individual scores or competitive victory points. Success is measured strictly by the team's ability to achieve the victory condition of clearing the island of invader structures. Reaching higher terror levels lowers the victory threshold, shifting the focus from wiping out every single invader to simply destroying towns and cities.

The game concludes immediately when a win or loss condition is met. Victory is achieved when all towns and cities are removed from the island, or when you reach the bottom of the fear deck. Defeat occurs instantly if the blight pool runs dry, if any spirit loses all its presence tokens from the board, or if the invader deck runs out of cards before victory is secured.