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Like Asmodee, Hachette distributes games from numerous French studios, many of which are owned by Hachette and some of which I believe are still independent companies. Aside from Akropolis, Gigamic was selling Critical: Foundation – Season 1 (covered here) and Boris Uzan's Movie Mind, which had the highest weight-to-size ratio of any game at the show given that the box is filled with eighty thick cards that are nearly the size of the box. Individually or in teams, players look at a cartoon image that references ten movies and need to answer five questions within the time limit to score points — or answer the lone, extremely difficult bonus question that's worth 5 points on its own.
Movie Mind hits the U.S. retail market on September 28, 2022.
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Another title coming from Scorpion Masqué, due out on November 23, 2022, is Flashback: Zombie Kidz from Baptiste Derrez and Marc-Antoine Doyon.
This co-operative game is set in the world of Zombie Kidz Evolution, but gameplay works very differently. In each scenario, you are presented with an illustrated card that features several numbered items on it. You can choose to draw the scenario card that matches that number, which allows you to zoom in on that aspect of the scene, or perhaps view a scene from the reverse perspective. In the words of the game description: "Put together all the points of view to discover clues, uncover and figure out mysteries, and answer the final questions. Explore the past to solve mysteries in the present, and change the future to save the world from horrible monsters!"
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Galileo Project is a design by Adrien Hesling and Sorry We Are French set in the same world as 2018's Ganymede, with 2-4 players trying to settle four of Jupiter's moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Your efforts are divided between home bases on Earth and Mars, with you having a presence in only one location at a time. On a turn, you can build a robot, get a character, or build a technology. Robots have a cost in Earth influence or Mars influence, so you can buy a robot only from where you're currently located, then the robot is placed next to indicated moon on your player board, bumping your stats on that moon and giving you a bonus based on the number of robots you have of that type.
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When you take a character, you gain its listed influence on your current Earth/Mars track, then you gain either an immediate bonus (from the top of the card) or endgame scoring (on the bottom) depending on whether you're on Earth or Mars. (Each character has a blue action on top and red action on the bottom, or vice versa.) Technologies cost resources in exchange for points and a bonus effect, and public objectives are worth more points when you grab them before other players can.
Galileo Project is due out in the U.S. on October 26, 2022.
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Finally, in late November 2022, Serge Laget and GRRRE Games will release Nidavellir: Idavoll, a second expansion for Nidavellir (which I covered here) that introduces four new types of cards and increases the number of turns over the course of a game. Gods come with a one-shot power, giants let you capture a dwarf of the depicted type, mythical animals match one of the five dwarven colors but have their own powers, and valkyrie are worth more points as you meet the requirements listed on them.
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