A Return to Samurai Spirit and the Power of Numbers
Protect a village from enemies with a careful balance of attack and defense to unleash awesome animal forms in Samurai Spirit.
There are some solo games I don’t play as much as I would like to, and Samurai Spirit is one of them. This is an older game that boils down to the numbers and icons on cards… But it’s so much fun! I always enjoy the challenge, and I was ready to take on the next difficulty level with a trio of transforming samurai. Back to defending a small village from invaders!
Game Overview
Game Name: Samurai Spirit
Publication Year: 2014
Designer: Antoine Bauza
Artist: Víctor Pérez Corbella
Publisher: Funforge
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
A group of samurai fight a group of enemies that lasts a total of 3 rounds. Cards might be used to help defend the village, but attacking allows the values to stack, potentially activating powerful kiai abilities. It’s all a balance to ensure the families and farms survive until the very end!
First Play
September 11, 2023
Complexity
2
Latest Play
October 19, 2025
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
14
Play Time
20 Minutes
High Score
9
Game Area
28" x 20"
Low Score
0
Samurai Choices
The game is cooperative and scales up with different player counts, which means up to 7 characters can be used. Cool!
However, I’ve found that I enjoy using a trio of samurai. This keeps the required table space to a reasonable amount, and I still have a chance to use some cooperative abilities.
I have the unofficial samurai designed by Hoang Pham in my collection. So many awesome abilities! My last outing had them in the spotlight, and I mixed things up this time.
Perhaps the most exciting moment is when a samurai receives a second wound… These boards are double-sided!
Gorobei’s Lead
Each samurai has an ongoing ability, which can potentially be shared by taking a risk with the invaders. There is also a kiai ability that can trigger at the perfect, precise moment.
Gorobei could ignore any penalties on even-valued invaders. So that potential wound each round? No effect on him!
A card is drawn for a character, and the placement isn’t always obvious. Many have symbols, and matching these to defend the village is imperative to prevent damages.
And that kiai ability? Gorobei needed a value of exactly 9 on the right side to trigger it. Difficult, but very satisfying!
Into Bear Form
Roar! Samurai take wounds over time. When the second one is earned, wounds disappear… And the transformation begins! Gorobei took on his dangerous bear form.
This pushes up the value to reach the kiai, but also upgrades what can happen. Rather than discarding 2 cards, he could now discard 3 cards and withstand a few more invaders.
Numbers form the central component, yet I find it to be a very fun and relatively quick experience. Lots to consider!
The deck only uses a portion of all the cards, too, so it can be neat to learn what symbols are more or less common.
Managing It All
Samurai must stay alive to the end, which means taking some wounds without reaching a second one on the animal form side… Game over! Yet there’s also a village to defend.
Barriers help protect against some attacks, yet actively defending during a round is a requirement in many ways.
In this example, Heihachi was missing the first defense icon. He took an immediate wound at the end of the round, which can sometimes lead to a sudden loss. Uh-oh!
This is why learning what’s in the deck is so important, as the spread of icons can vary quite a bit from play to play.
The Rare Experience of Re-Acquiring a Game
Before I even had a chance to play this one, my husband had a copy… And let it go at one point. It was a major regret of his, and I was surprised since he rarely parts with anything! I stumbled across this one when it was already hard to find a new copy, yet there it was. Re-acquiring it was a moment of sheer joy for him, and I had a new game to try!
Technically, I was only indirectly affected by the re-acquisition. I can’t think of any other time I’ve gone after a game I’ve let go of over the years. It still might happen, but I try to avoid this. My philosophy is that I can have fond memories of a game without needing to keep it on my shelf forever. Every now and then, though, there’s a special story behind one!
Danger from Above
Watch out! With the invaders advancing on the village from all sides, I didn’t realize that there was another one threatening to invade from the skies. Sound the alarm!
Actually, the defense of the village can be quite interesting. Maintaining barriers is a key component, and as I was playing the hard difficulty level, lost farms carried penalties.
The trio of families help out at the end of each round, so preserving them is often the key strategic decision.
However, I was distracted by this flying costumed creature, who was headed straight for the nearest family token!
Making Friends
Just another friendly Calico Critter showing up for Halloween. Ha ha! I love how this costume has never quite fit… And it’s labeled as a bat. Really abstract interpretation!
I played many times in a single day, constantly resetting to try to find a way to victory. This one takes a little bit of time to play, but is rather quick with lots of neat moments.
At long last, I notched a victory… And it was almost a perfect one! Only a single wound prevented the final victory point.
This is one that I’m glad to have around to play. There’s another difficulty level, and I expect many more losses!
Session Overview
Play Number: 9-14
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Play Details: Hard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9 (1 Win & 5 Losses)
So close to that perfect score! Every family and farm survived to the end, owing to a bit of luck with the deck. I had a wonderful time, especially since the combination of characters always results in some nuanced strategies. Gameplay might feel like it’s very much a matter of adding up numbers, but it works. The satisfaction of defending the village during a victory is also amazing. A lovely solo game.
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each character has a couple of unique abilities and numerical thresholds, allowing for a fair amount of variety.
- Gameplay is easy to understand without many rules outliers, so it moves quickly without any downtime.
- Protecting the village requires a careful balance among all of the samurai and their defensive choices at the right time.
- Learning what’s in the deck during the first round is a clever mechanic that’s more about probability than memory.
- Activating a samurai’s kiai ability is difficult to do and not that common, yet it offers a very satisfying moment.
- Difficulty levels allow the experience to be adjusted, and it can be a very fun challenge to attempt the hardest options.
– Cons (Negatives)
- A lot of luck is involved with the composition of the deck during setup, as well as the order of the cards during play.
- Not all of the iconography is obvious, which often requires checking the rulebook a few times for most characters.
- The component quality is reasonable, although the village board is prone to warping and the tokens are a little thin.
- Although the rulebook is short and straightforward, the font size is extremely tiny and difficult to read at times.
Victory Conditions
Survive Through 3 Rounds
- Overall Goal Progress 75%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game at the easy difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game at the normal difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game at the hard difficulty level.
Score 10 points.
Continue the Conversation
What is your favorite part of Samurai Spirit? Have you achieved a memorable victory recently? It’s so neat to see how a game that’s been around for over 10 years continues to be enjoyable for me! There’s always a challenge present with the cards, and I’m sure there are all sorts of samurai combinations I can try out for even more fun. Must defend the village!
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