By Eric

Spirit Island Expansions Ranked: Which One Should You Buy First?

Spirit Island has four major expansions: Branch & Claw, Jagged Earth, Horizons of Spirit Island, and Nature Incarnate. They are not all equal in value, and they are not all meant for the same stage of Spirit Island ownership. Getting the order wrong means either buying content you’re not ready for or missing the expansion that would have most improved your base game experience.

Here’s the honest ranked breakdown.

If you don’t own the base game yet, start with our Spirit Island review.

First: Jagged Earth (~$60–$70)

The essential Spirit Island expansion. Buy this one.

Jagged Earth is the largest Spirit Island expansion and the most important. It adds:

• 10 new spirits — more than doubling the spirit roster from 8 to 18
• 3 new Adversaries — Habsburg Monarchy, Russia, and Scotland, each with six difficulty levels
• New Scenarios with more complex win/lose conditions
• Tokens for Disease and Strife that interact with Invader mechanics
• Expanded Event deck (more on this below)
• New Major and Minor Power cards that significantly expand the power card pool

Why it’s first despite its size: Jagged Earth’s primary value is its ten new spirits, and new spirits are the most impactful way to extend Spirit Island’s replayability. Each new spirit plays differently from the base eight. Some — like Lure of the Deep Wilderness or Keeper of the Forbidden Wilds — are beginner-accessible. Others — like Fractured Days Split the Sky or Shifting Memory of Ages — are advanced challenges for experienced players. The new spirits alone justify the purchase price.

The expanded power card pool also matters. More minor and major cards means more diversity in what appears at power gain opportunities, which keeps every game feeling different even when replaying the same spirit.

When to buy: after you’ve won a few games at Difficulty 2+. You don’t need to exhaust the base game first — the new spirits integrate seamlessly and some are specifically designed as entry points.

Second: Branch & Claw (~$40–$50)

The expansion that adds event cards and ecological tokens.

Branch & Claw is smaller than Jagged Earth but introduces two mechanics that meaningfully change how the game feels:

• Event deck — shuffled into the Invader deck, Event cards trigger island-wide effects each round that can help or hurt either side. Events add variance and force adaptive play — you can no longer rely on a completely predictable Invader Phase sequence.
• Tokens — Disease tokens weaken Invaders (reducing their Damage), Beasts tokens can assist the spirits, Wilds tokens block Invader building. These add texture to the board and create interesting board states that the base game doesn’t produce.
• 4 new spirits — including the beloved Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves (a predator spirit that ambushes Invaders using Beast tokens) and Vital Strength of the Earth variant.
• 3 new Scenarios including Dahan Insurrection.

Branch & Claw’s event deck is the most significant mechanical addition. It creates memorable moments — a plague that briefly halts Invader Building in one region, a migration that moves Dahan to help you, a crisis that demands immediate response. Groups that feel like the base game has gotten predictable will immediately feel the difference.

Why it’s second, not first: Jagged Earth’s spirits provide more raw replayability. But Branch & Claw’s mechanics change the texture of every game more fundamentally. Some experienced players actually prefer buying Branch & Claw first specifically because the event deck improves every session, even with the base eight spirits. Both arguments are valid — the ordering is close.

Third: Nature Incarnate (~$55–$65)

A substantial expansion for experienced players — not for beginners.

Nature Incarnate is the most recent major Spirit Island expansion. It adds:

• 10 new spirits, each with an Aspect system (alternate starting setups that change the spirit’s identity)
• New Incarna pieces — large powerful spirit figures that can be placed on the board as physical presence representing your spirit’s physical manifestation
• New Event cards and power cards

Nature Incarnate’s spirits include some of the most thematically and mechanically distinctive in the entire game. Ember-Eyed Behemoth (a massive ancient spirit that physically exists on the board), Stone’s Unyielding Defiance (an immovable protector), and Volcano Looming High are each genuinely unique experiences.

Why it’s third: Nature Incarnate’s spirits are mechanically complex and assume comfortable familiarity with the base game and Jagged Earth’s systems. Playing a Nature Incarnate spirit as your first Spirit Island experience would be overwhelming. These are spirits for players who’ve already spent significant time with the game and want advanced challenges.

The Incarna mechanic also requires tracking an additional piece type with its own rules, which adds cognitive overhead that’s justified for experienced players and unnecessary complication for beginners.

What About Horizons of Spirit Island?

Horizons is a standalone starter set — not a traditional expansion.

Horizons of Spirit Island is sold separately and is designed as an entry point to the game. It contains:

• 5 new spirits (not included in any other product)
• A simplified rule set
• Smaller box, lower price (~$25–$35)

Horizons is not compatible as an add-on to the base game in the way the other expansions are — it’s designed to be played on its own or combined with the base game’s components. The spirits it includes don’t integrate smoothly into a base-game session without the full base game rules.

Best use case for Horizons: as a gift for someone who might like Spirit Island but doesn’t own any version yet, or as a way to try the game before committing to the full base box. It is not a recommended purchase for someone who already owns the base game.

Recommended Buying Order

One final note: the base game alone provides more replayability than most board games combined. You don’t need any expansions to get hundreds of hours from Spirit Island. Buy them when the base eight spirits start to feel familiar — which for most groups takes longer than they expect.