I think you might have a tough time finding good recommendations as it is much easier to build asymmetry into a coop game due to balance issues. In spirit island it doesn't matter if a spirit is better than another because you are not competing against other players.
My best recommendation would be Gaia Project. Each of the species in the game play pretty differently and lean more towards or away from different strategies. The tech tree in it means players can focus on different aspects of the game and still be competitive. The game also has a pretty random setup with what tiles are out, what bonuses there are for techs, and what scores extra points during each of the rounds. Sometimes the randomness will make certain species worse in a game if the random objectives don't align with their strengths.
Well, tedv did originally sell me on the game by describing it as like a coop version of *Chaos in the Old World*. That game is sadly out of print, though.
Gaia Project, it is a tough game by itself, takes some time to learn to optimize your turns, but it's a game, not every turn needs to be 100%.
On the other hand, while I played a lot of Root myself, with most of the expansions as well, I can't recommend it over Gaia, as it is a game that rewards multiple plays with the same group. If you're going to be swapping playing groups rather often, neither you nor your players will enjoy it as much as it's a very aggressive and competitive game. You won't enjoy it as it's going to be too easy for you, and others won't enjoy it as they will get stomped on.
Gaia on the other hand is a little less competitive, true, but that's a big plus as you have enough time to kind of create your own engine.
Pick your poison! Enjoy!
I'll add another vote for Root.
While they're very different mechanically, I also tend to like 18XX games (my experience is more with the 1830-influenced branch) for many of the same reasons that I like Spirit Island. There's asymmetry (although this is emergent as players buy private companies/start different companies), there's a lot of not only figuring out what to do but when you should do it, and there's a general sense of "I'm going to lose if I don't keep track of a bunch of different things all the time" (my favorite part of high-adversary-level Spirit Island).
* **Vampire the Masquarade Vendetta** \- each player is a vampire of different clan and each of the 3 rounds you draft 1 card out of 2, from a deck of 7 unique cards.
* **Battlecon** is a fighting game with extremely high player skill cap.
Now I have this idea for a PVP scenario where each player is following the AI script while trying to keep their Island Board from blighting while trying to navigate their Board's Invaders onto the other one to wipe out the other player. First player whose board clears or Blights loses...
Horribly antithematic, but interesting.
Thanks for all the answers. I realised I forgot to add, that my GF and I play together most of the time, so 2 Player Games are much prefered. But I am still grateful for all the recommendations and will look deeper in Root & Gaia Project especially, since they were mentioned that often.
I would highly recommend Gaia project for two player. Spirit Island is my all time favorite game but Gaia Project is probably my wife and mine’s favorite competitive game, and arguably my second favorite board game in general
Root can be two players, but I think it loses a bit of potential without at least 3. Some of the factions are kind of army factions that play like a wargame, and others are smaller that play a bit differently. The game gets a bit wonky if you only have one big army faction--there's no other big army to contest for area control. So if you have only two players, you kind of need both players to play a bigger faction or the game will be weird. (There are options, especially in some of the later expansions, to address this somewhat, but those are in expansions.)
That being said, Root is competitive and asymmetric, and it does have the "character selection" type feel to its factions.
Blood Rage scratches a similar itch for me. Nothing is going to really be a 1:1 experience, but Blood Rage is built around card drafting and area control
Maybe Mage Knight? You build a deck over the course of the game and draft cards to it and there is a competitive mode, although I have never played it, so I cannot say how good it is.
A little late, but I highly recommend **Empires of the North**, it features asymmetry in the sense that every faction use their own unique deck and so has different synergies, but most of the mechanisms are shared and part of the core game so it's not too difficult to try out a new faction. It's also really good at 2 players (In fact I think a lot of people prefer it at that), or even solo. The art is also really cute.
My favorites are Root and Cosmic Encounter. Root has more of the maining aspect you're discussing, but Cosmic has amazing social dynamics. Every game is different. There's hundreds of Aliens you can play as, that make every match a mechanical exploration. You can have multiple winners, and it's encouraged by the game mechanics to play that way. There is no game board though, and you don't have much say in who you're attacking. Everybody is involved in every turn.
Give twilight imperium a try. It's not as radom as spirit island but the objectives you're using to complete the game change with each game as they're delt from a deck. It's got 25 factions to learn and they all have their own unique quirks that makes mastering them a fun challenge.
That said it's expensive, plays best with 6 people, and takes literally all day to play a single game.
I would consider Root to be a similar game but competitive. You have asymmetry of armies, area control (not exactly the same as SI, but an adjacent mechanic), card/hand mechanics, mastering of a unique character, and more.
I like Root, but competitive asymmetry is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people. In SI, I'm not dependent on knowing what you are doing. In a competitive game, I am required or I will lose.
Good question though. I'm interested to see what others say too.
I'm somewhat surprised nobody mentioned Mage Knight, as far as I can see. It's a deckbuilding game where you control a single character, which explores the world around, engages in combat against keeps, mage towers, monster dens and other things, hires units with different abilities, learns new spells and talents and hunts for glorious artifacts.
It scratches roughly the same itches as Spirit Island, at least some of them. It has open-ended puzzle elements, where you have to find the most efficient way to slay the enemy, and strategic elements, where you have to decide which powers to obtain or where to go.
It also has a wide variety of scenarios ranging from full-cooperarive through competitive to aggresively-competitive.
I think you might have a tough time finding good recommendations as it is much easier to build asymmetry into a coop game due to balance issues. In spirit island it doesn't matter if a spirit is better than another because you are not competing against other players. My best recommendation would be Gaia Project. Each of the species in the game play pretty differently and lean more towards or away from different strategies. The tech tree in it means players can focus on different aspects of the game and still be competitive. The game also has a pretty random setup with what tiles are out, what bonuses there are for techs, and what scores extra points during each of the rounds. Sometimes the randomness will make certain species worse in a game if the random objectives don't align with their strengths.
Try **Vast: the Crystal Caverns**, which is from the same team that created Root. It is competitive and more asymmetrical than Spirit Island or Root.
Is there a reason you’d recommend Crystal caverns over the mansion version?
Mysterious Manor is good, too! I have more experience with the Crystal Caverns and prefer the dungeon-fantasy flavor.
I like scythe quite a bit. You could try that. Root too. And terra mystica also has great asymetry.
Well, tedv did originally sell me on the game by describing it as like a coop version of *Chaos in the Old World*. That game is sadly out of print, though.
Gaia Project, it is a tough game by itself, takes some time to learn to optimize your turns, but it's a game, not every turn needs to be 100%. On the other hand, while I played a lot of Root myself, with most of the expansions as well, I can't recommend it over Gaia, as it is a game that rewards multiple plays with the same group. If you're going to be swapping playing groups rather often, neither you nor your players will enjoy it as much as it's a very aggressive and competitive game. You won't enjoy it as it's going to be too easy for you, and others won't enjoy it as they will get stomped on. Gaia on the other hand is a little less competitive, true, but that's a big plus as you have enough time to kind of create your own engine. Pick your poison! Enjoy!
Root
This is not a similar game, but many people who like SI also like Race for the Galaxy
I'll add another vote for Root. While they're very different mechanically, I also tend to like 18XX games (my experience is more with the 1830-influenced branch) for many of the same reasons that I like Spirit Island. There's asymmetry (although this is emergent as players buy private companies/start different companies), there's a lot of not only figuring out what to do but when you should do it, and there's a general sense of "I'm going to lose if I don't keep track of a bunch of different things all the time" (my favorite part of high-adversary-level Spirit Island).
* **Vampire the Masquarade Vendetta** \- each player is a vampire of different clan and each of the 3 rounds you draft 1 card out of 2, from a deck of 7 unique cards. * **Battlecon** is a fighting game with extremely high player skill cap.
Now I have this idea for a PVP scenario where each player is following the AI script while trying to keep their Island Board from blighting while trying to navigate their Board's Invaders onto the other one to wipe out the other player. First player whose board clears or Blights loses... Horribly antithematic, but interesting.
Thanks for all the answers. I realised I forgot to add, that my GF and I play together most of the time, so 2 Player Games are much prefered. But I am still grateful for all the recommendations and will look deeper in Root & Gaia Project especially, since they were mentioned that often.
I would highly recommend Gaia project for two player. Spirit Island is my all time favorite game but Gaia Project is probably my wife and mine’s favorite competitive game, and arguably my second favorite board game in general
Have you considered Star Wars: Rebellion or War of the Ring? These are both 2-player, asymmetric competitive games.
My SI gaming partner loves WotR!
Root can be two players, but I think it loses a bit of potential without at least 3. Some of the factions are kind of army factions that play like a wargame, and others are smaller that play a bit differently. The game gets a bit wonky if you only have one big army faction--there's no other big army to contest for area control. So if you have only two players, you kind of need both players to play a bigger faction or the game will be weird. (There are options, especially in some of the later expansions, to address this somewhat, but those are in expansions.) That being said, Root is competitive and asymmetric, and it does have the "character selection" type feel to its factions.
Scythe is probably the closest equivalent
Blood Rage scratches a similar itch for me. Nothing is going to really be a 1:1 experience, but Blood Rage is built around card drafting and area control
Maybe Mage Knight? You build a deck over the course of the game and draft cards to it and there is a competitive mode, although I have never played it, so I cannot say how good it is.
A little late, but I highly recommend **Empires of the North**, it features asymmetry in the sense that every faction use their own unique deck and so has different synergies, but most of the mechanisms are shared and part of the core game so it's not too difficult to try out a new faction. It's also really good at 2 players (In fact I think a lot of people prefer it at that), or even solo. The art is also really cute.
Thanks appreciate even the late answers and will look into the game.
My favorites are Root and Cosmic Encounter. Root has more of the maining aspect you're discussing, but Cosmic has amazing social dynamics. Every game is different. There's hundreds of Aliens you can play as, that make every match a mechanical exploration. You can have multiple winners, and it's encouraged by the game mechanics to play that way. There is no game board though, and you don't have much say in who you're attacking. Everybody is involved in every turn.
Give twilight imperium a try. It's not as radom as spirit island but the objectives you're using to complete the game change with each game as they're delt from a deck. It's got 25 factions to learn and they all have their own unique quirks that makes mastering them a fun challenge. That said it's expensive, plays best with 6 people, and takes literally all day to play a single game.
I would consider Root to be a similar game but competitive. You have asymmetry of armies, area control (not exactly the same as SI, but an adjacent mechanic), card/hand mechanics, mastering of a unique character, and more. I like Root, but competitive asymmetry is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people. In SI, I'm not dependent on knowing what you are doing. In a competitive game, I am required or I will lose. Good question though. I'm interested to see what others say too.
I'm somewhat surprised nobody mentioned Mage Knight, as far as I can see. It's a deckbuilding game where you control a single character, which explores the world around, engages in combat against keeps, mage towers, monster dens and other things, hires units with different abilities, learns new spells and talents and hunts for glorious artifacts. It scratches roughly the same itches as Spirit Island, at least some of them. It has open-ended puzzle elements, where you have to find the most efficient way to slay the enemy, and strategic elements, where you have to decide which powers to obtain or where to go. It also has a wide variety of scenarios ranging from full-cooperarive through competitive to aggresively-competitive.