Spirit Island

Players begin by selecting a unique spirit, each coming with special abilities and a set of unique power cards. Some presence tokens are immediately placed on designated spots on the main game board, while the remaining tokens are placed on the player's spirit panel to track their energy and card play capacity. The main island board is populated with Dahan (native inhabitants, allies to the spirits) and various types of invaders (explorers, towns, and cities).

The primary objective is to protect the island by eliminating all invaders. Initially, this means destroying all types of invaders on the board. However, as players generate fear, the terror level increases, which can modify the victory conditions, making it easier to win by requiring the destruction of fewer types of invaders (e.g., only towns and cities, or just cities). The ultimate victory condition is to scare all invaders off the island by progressing through the entire fear deck.

Each round consists of several phases. The first is the Spirit Phase, where all players simultaneously choose a growth option from their spirit board (reclaim cards, add presence, gain power card, or gain energy). They then gain energy based on their energy track and play power cards from their hand, paying their energy cost. Next, players resolve any fast power cards they played. This is followed by the Invader Phase, where invaders first check for blight, then generate fear, ravage lands (dealing damage to Dahan and potentially adding blight), build new structures, and explore new lands. Finally, players resolve any slow power cards they played earlier in the round.

Players win the game by fulfilling the current victory condition indicated by the terror level. At Terror Level 1, all invaders (explorers, towns, and cities) must be destroyed. At Terror Level 2, only towns and cities need to be destroyed. At Terror Level 3, only cities need to be destroyed. If players manage to go through the entire fear deck, they achieve an automatic victory, as the invaders are completely terrified and flee the island.

The game can end in one of two ways: victory or defeat. Victory is achieved by meeting the current terror level's victory condition (destroying specific types of invaders) or by successfully progressing through the entire fear deck, causing the invaders to flee. Players face defeat if the blight card flips over (indicating too much blight on the island) or if they run out of fear tokens to place in the fear pool when required, signifying the spirits' inability to instill further terror.