Once an age, a mythic wind lifts the veil between the spirit world and ours. Whimsical seraphs, drawn to the vigor of an ancient forest, descend through clouds to once again take up their centennial game. You are one of these seraphs – a being of great power and curiosity. The life of the forest fascinates you, and you eagerly gather plant, animal, and sprite alike to add to your mystical menagerie. But beware, for you are not alone. Other beings just like yourself contest to collect the life of the forest as well!
In Spirits of the Forest, players represent the four elements that nourish the forces of nature. Up to four players compete to acquire the most (of nine different) spirit symbols, which are bound to a different element of nature. Each turn, a player drafts up to two spirit tiles from the forest (a common pool of 48 spirit tiles), collects favor tokens, and moves, places, or recovers gemstones. Players continue taking turns until all tiles have been collected from the forest. At the end of the game, players score nature points for each spirit (augmented by favor tokens) of which they have a majority. Whoever has the most nature points at the end of the game wins.
- easy to learn (five-minute setup/learn)
- great for casual players and families
- works solo or with up to four players
- abstract visuals may not appeal to every gamer
- depth and strategy may be limited for some players
- set collection with elemental symbolism
- four elemental forces represented by forest spirits in a nature-driven setting
- abstract, approachable
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- set collection — players compete to acquire spirit symbols to score points
- solo or multiplayer (2-4) play — versatile player count with quick onboarding
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- a very charming set collection abstract like game
- you can learn it in five minutes
- the player with the most nature points wins the game
- is a real-time app driven board game of world war ii submarine warfare
- the companion app and the challenging enemy AI system will make it all feel very real
- every single game in Tokyo series is modular