I’ve spent a lot of time over the last year playing cooperative video games with my wife, and one title we absolutely adored is ‘Spiritfarer’, a light-hearted yet melancholy management sim where you take over the role of Charon and ferry souls to the other side. That game is immediately what I was reminded of when I first laid eyes on Spirit Train, the new Kickstarter release from Casey and Zoey Mattes and SweaterBear Games, which has you similarly training spirits to the afterlife.
The pair’s previous outing, Camping Season (2025), sits at a respectable 7.6 on BoardGameGeek. However, Spirit Train feels like a massive leap forward in terms of art and production. Just one look and you’ll immediately recognise the Studio Ghibli influence. They’ve nailed the vibe and the game looks absolutely breathtaking.
Why it’s on my radar:
- A rare cozy-yet-bittersweet theme: It’s rare for a tabletop game to capture the gentle, nostalgic melancholia of titles like ‘Spiritfarer’. Managing spirit moods, unlocking core memories, and finding the right region to help passengers cross over gives this a distinct emotional depth that sets it apart from standard cozy titles.
- Spatial engine-building with a twist: Rearranging your train rooms to set your available actions, then placing active spirits into those specific rooms to maximize efficiency, sounds like a lot of cozy fun. Balancing room geometry, train speed, and passenger happiness adds a layer of depth that will hopefully keep crunchier players engaged.
With a couple of weeks left on Kickstarter, here is the official press release of what to expect from the game:
In Spirit Train, you play as Conductors aboard an ancient railway carrying souls toward the afterlife. You’ll build and customize your train, befriend wandering spirits, uncover their memories, and guide them toward their final crossing.
Spirit Train is played in 3 Cycles. Each Cycle consists of a series of rounds where players will determine what to do using a unique simultaneous action selection mechanic. Before the start of each day, conductors will select between a list of different rooms to fill their train with. These rooms will provide base actions depending on the shape/size of the room. How many rooms you use will affect the speed and energy level of your train, as well as turn order. When spirits are active on your train, they will provide you even more actions. The number of active spirits you can select will depend on the current mood of your spirits (spirits are more active when they’re happy!). You can maximize the number of actions you use by strategically placing active spirits into rooms you’ve created specifically for them on your train.
In summary; you will select your actions for the day based on how you build your train, which spirits are currently active on the train, and where, on your train, you place your active spirits.
After conductors reveal their trains, they will go through the 5 phases of each day.
- During the first phase, players simultaneously collect tickets and memory shards, as well as adjust spirit moods as needed.
- In the movement phase, conductors take turns moving their train through different regions such as forests, meadows, cities, the sea, and mountains. They might pick up spirits waiting at train stops, or challenge other conductors to a train prank-war!
- In the third phase, players take turns interacting with the spirits on their train, keeping them happy and cozy.
- During the fourth phase, conductors may fuse together memory shards, spending them to awaken a spirit’s core memory. They then place a Memora block on the spirit’s card to enhance and expand the actions available to it. The Spirit Train will gain different amounts of energy depending on what kind of memory (Memora block) was unlocked.
- In the last phase of each day, players spend tickets to house spirits from their hand, or drop spirits off from their train, helping them cross over to the true afterlife. Spirits are most comfortable crossing over in a region they are most familiar with, whether that be the forest, the mountains, etc. so be aware of where your train is currently running through.
A new Cycle begins once a conductor reaches the train station at the end of the map. Players will gain rewards based on how far they are on the map at that time, then reset to the top to start a new Cycle. Conductors can choose how fast or slow they want to move through the regions depending on which strategies they want to pursue.
At the end of each Cycle, Death will appear in one of its many forms to lure a spirit away from your train. Conductors must work together to send Death away, or collectively suffer the consequences.
The ultimate goal of Spirit Train is to gain points by accomplishing 3 main objectives; interacting with the spirits on your train, helping those spirits cross over, and collecting spirit stones.
The amount of points you gain per objective will depend on the mood of your spirits at the end of the game. If they are generally sad, you’ll earn less points than if you work to keep them happy and comfortable.
The player with the most points earns the honor of taking over as the new, true conductor of the Spirit Train.
FEATURES:
- Immersive Components: The Conductor’s Edition includes 3D Train Boards so every player can feel like a real conductor while playing!
- Unique Mechanic: Train Building: Plan out your turn using a unique action selection process of building rooms on your train, selecting active spirits, and placing them onto specific rooms in your train.
- Hand-Drawn Artwork: Our amazing artist, Maruša Gorjup, spent over 2 years creating hundreds of unique illustrations to provide us a window into this new fantasy world.
- Fantastic Replayability: With 50+ unique spirits to pick up, the combinations of synergies is almost limitless, providing many strategies to explore with each playthrough.
Game details at a glance
Players: 2–4
Play Time: 60–90 minutes
Designers: Casey Mattes, Zoey Mattes
Art: Maruša Gorjup
MSRP: ~$59 USD
Kickstarter Launch: August 18, 2026
Useful Links:
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