Spirit Island has four add-on expansions — Branch & Claw, Jagged Earth, Feather & Flame and Nature Incarnate — plus Horizons of Spirit Island, a standalone starter box usually shelved alongside them. 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.
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Bottom line: buy Jagged Earth first. If your group already knows the Invader deck by heart, buy Branch & Claw first instead (check Branch & Claw’s price on Amazon).
Check Jagged Earth’s price on Amazon →
If you don’t own the base game yet, start with our Spirit Island review, or check the base game’s price on Amazon.
The Best Spirit Island Expansion Is Jagged Earth
The best Spirit Island expansion is Jagged Earth. Ten new spirits more than double the roster, and new spirits are the fastest way to make a game you already know feel unfamiliar again. Buy Branch & Claw first instead if your group has the Invader deck memorized — its Event cards are what change the texture of a round.
| Expansion | Best for | What it adds | List price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Jagged Earth | Almost everyone — buy it first | 10 spirits, 2 Adversaries, 3 Scenarios, Badlands tokens | $69.95 Check price |
| 2. Branch & Claw | Groups who find the Invader Phase predictable | Event deck, tokens, 2 spirits, France | $34.95 Check price |
| 3. Nature Incarnate | Experienced players; needs Jagged Earth | 8 spirits, 20 Aspects, Incarna pieces | $59.95 Check price |
| 4. Feather & Flame | More spirits, no new rules | 4 spirits, Scotland, 2 Scenarios | $34.95 Check price |
| Horizons of Spirit Island | New players and gifts — a standalone game | 5 spirits, simplified rules | $34.95 Check price |
List prices are Greater Than Games’ own, checked October 2026. Amazon’s price moves, so check it before you buy.
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. Per the publisher’s listing, it adds:
- 10 new spirits — more than doubling the spirit roster from 8 to 18
- 2 new Adversaries — Habsburg Monarchy and Russia, each with six difficulty levels
- 3 new Scenarios with more complex win/lose conditions
- Badlands tokens — a new token type that increases damage dealt in the land it sits in
- 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 — are moderate complexity and approachable. Others — like Fractured Days Split the Sky or Starlight Seeks Its Form — 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 several are only moderate complexity.
Second — Branch & Claw (~$35)
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 — a separate deck drawn from during the Invader Phase; Event cards trigger island-wide effects 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 — a Disease token prevents the next Build in its land, a Wilds token prevents the next Explore, and Beasts act through Powers and Event cards — the official Spirit Island FAQ covers the edge cases. These add texture to the board and create interesting board states that the base game doesn’t produce.
- 2 new spirits — Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves (a predator spirit that ambushes Invaders using Beast tokens) and Keeper of the Forbidden Wilds.
- France — a new Adversary built around the plantation colony.
- 4 new Scenarios.
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, and the only one that is not self-contained: it requires Jagged Earth in addition to the base game, as the publisher states on the box listing. It adds:
- 8 new spirits, four of which use the new Incarna pieces
- 20 new Aspects — alternate starting setups that change the identity of spirits you already own
- 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), Wandering Voice Keens Delirium and Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine 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.
Fourth — Feather & Flame (~$35)
Four spirits and the Scotland Adversary, collected from the two promo packs.
Feather & Flame is the small box, and it is the one most collections skip. It gathers Spirit Island Promo Packs 1 and 2 into a single retail box:
- 4 new spirits — Finder of Paths Unseen, Downpour Drenches the World, Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island and Heart of the Wildfire
- Scotland, an Adversary with a low base difficulty
- 2 new Scenarios — A Diversity of Spirits and Varied Terrains
- 5 Aspect cards for spirits you already own, plus 5 new Fear cards
Why it’s fourth: Feather & Flame adds no new system. Branch & Claw brought the Event deck, Nature Incarnate brought Incarna, and Jagged Earth brought enough spirits to remake the game — Feather & Flame brings more of what you already have. Its four spirits also skew complex, so it is not the box that makes Spirit Island easier to get into.
It has one genuine advantage over Nature Incarnate: it only needs the base game. If you own Spirit Island and nothing else, Feather & Flame is a purchase you can actually make today, where Nature Incarnate is not.
When to buy: after Jagged Earth and Branch & Claw, when you want more spirits rather than new rules. If you already bought the promo packs separately, you own all of this.
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)
- The same rules as the base game, with low-complexity spirits and a table of 1–3 players
- Smaller box, lower price (~$35)
Horizons is not an add-on in the way the other boxes are — it is a complete game with its own board, Invader deck, sold to be played on its own. It is still compatible with everything else: the publisher’s product page states its five spirits work with the rest of the collection, so an existing owner can fold them into a normal game. What Horizons does not do is add rules or difficulty to a collection you already have.
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.
Jagged Earth or Branch & Claw First?
These are the only two boxes most groups ever argue about, and they answer different complaints. Jagged Earth is the answer to “we want new spirits”: ten of them, on rules you already know. Branch & Claw is the answer to “we want the board to surprise us”: the Event deck changes every round, but it brings only two spirits.
Price can settle it. Branch & Claw lists at $34.95, half of Jagged Earth’s $69.95, so it is the lower-risk first buy if you are not sure your group will stay with the game. If you already know Spirit Island is staying on the table, buy Jagged Earth first and add Branch & Claw second.
All Spirit Island Expansions in Release Order
Four add-on expansions and one standalone box have followed the 2017 base game. Release order is not the order to buy them in:
- Branch & Claw — 2017
- Jagged Earth — 2020
- Feather & Flame — 2022, collecting the two earlier promo packs
- Horizons of Spirit Island — 2022, the standalone starter box
- Nature Incarnate — 2023, the newest
Recommended Buying Order
| Order | Expansion | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Already own | Base Game Check price |
Play this until you’ve won at Difficulty 2 |
| 1st | Jagged Earth Check price |
10 new spirits, most impactful expansion |
| 2nd | Branch & Claw Check price |
Event deck changes every game’s texture |
| 3rd | Nature Incarnate Check price |
Advanced spirits, Incarna mechanics |
| 4th | Feather & Flame Check price |
Four more spirits and the Scotland Adversary — no new system |
| Special case | Horizons Check price |
Only if gifting or testing before buying the base game |
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. That patience applies to any heavy game with a shopping list attached. It’s the same call we make in our Scythe expansions ranking, where the modular board is only worth buying once you’ve memorized the map it replaces.
More rankings from us: Wingspan expansions · best Dominion expansions · Everdell expansions · Ticket to Ride expansions · Ticket to Ride versions
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Spirit Island expansion should I buy first?
Jagged Earth, in almost every case. It is the only box that changes the shape of your collection rather than adding to it — ten spirits against the base game's eight, so the roster more than doubles in one purchase. The exception is a table that has the Invader deck memorized and is bored of the rhythm rather than the spirits: that group should buy Branch & Claw first, for the Event deck.
Is Jagged Earth worth it for Spirit Island?
At $69.95 MSRP it is the most expensive box in the line, and also the largest by a wide margin: ten spirits, two Adversaries at six difficulty levels each, three Scenarios, Badlands tokens, and a much deeper Major and Minor Power pool. What it does not do is simplify anything — it assumes you are comfortable with the base rules and adds no teaching material.
When should I buy Spirit Island expansions?
Once you have won at Difficulty 2 and setup no longer needs the rulebook. You do not have to play all eight base spirits first — several Jagged Earth spirits are moderate complexity and make a natural next step. Buying earlier mostly adds shuffling, because the base game has more depth than most groups exhaust in a year.
What does the Branch & Claw expansion add to Spirit Island?
Two spirits (Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves and Keeper of the Forbidden Wilds), the France Adversary, four Scenarios, and the two things people actually buy it for. The Event deck is its own deck, drawn from during the Invader Phase, so rounds bring island-wide effects you cannot plan around. The tokens change what Invaders can do: a Disease token prevents the next Build in its land, a Wilds token prevents the next Explore, and Beasts act through Powers and Event cards.
Do Spirit Island expansions make the game too complicated?
Only two of them add rules. Branch & Claw adds the Event deck and tokens; Nature Incarnate adds Incarna pieces. Jagged Earth and Feather & Flame add content rather than systems — more spirits, Adversaries and cards that run on rules you already know. If complexity is the worry, Jagged Earth is the safe box, and its harder spirits can stay in the tray.
How many new spirits does Jagged Earth add to Spirit Island?
Ten, taking the roster from eight to eighteen. They run from moderate to very high complexity: Lure of the Deep Wilderness is approachable, while Fractured Days Split the Sky and Starlight Seeks Its Form are among the hardest in the game. Jagged Earth also introduced Aspects — six of them, alternate setups for the four low-complexity base game spirits.
Should I buy Branch & Claw or Jagged Earth first for Spirit Island?
Jagged Earth, unless your group's complaint is that the Invader Phase has become predictable. Jagged Earth answers "we want new spirits"; Branch & Claw answers "we want the board to surprise us". Branch & Claw is also the cheaper box — $34.95 against $69.95 — so it is the lower-risk first purchase if you are not yet sure the group will stay with the game.
What is the newest Spirit Island expansion?
Nature Incarnate, from 2023. It adds eight spirits, twenty Aspects for spirits you already own, one new Adversary, two Scenarios, and the Incarna pieces that put a spirit physically on the board. It is also the only Spirit Island expansion that is not self-contained: it requires Jagged Earth as well as the base game, so it cannot be your first purchase.
Can you play Spirit Island with all expansions at once?
Yes. Jagged Earth, Branch & Claw, Feather & Flame and Nature Incarnate are built to stack, and the shared Power, Event and Fear piles simply get deeper. Horizons of Spirit Island combines too — the publisher states its five spirits are compatible with the rest of the collection. The real limits are table space and setup time, which is why most groups mix in one or two boxes per session rather than everything.