Further evidence of this trend comes from the fifth title in U.S. publisher The Op's "Rising" series of co-operative games: The Batman Who Laughs Rising. In this 1-4 player design from Andrew Wolf and Patrick Marino that's due out in Q4 2020, players must work together to defeat a weird amalgamation of Batman and Joker. In more detail:
Players roll dice and work together to save the multiverse, starting with one of four starting heroes — Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, or Batman — and recruiting allies such as Harley Quinn, The Flash, and Cyborg, whose skills can complete objectives or help recover what is lost to darkness. Take out villainous versions of Batman such as The Merciless, The Dawnbreaker, The Murder Machine, and more before facing off with the psychotic Joker-ized antagonist himself, who's represented by a custom-sculpted, full-color figure who commands a fistful of chained Evil Robins!
Nothing is changing in the games themselves. As Capstone notes in a press release announcing the deal: "As we gear up for continuous production cycles, our goal is to prevent any issues of availability of Terra Mystica and Gaia Project. Although the logo on the box may be different, future reprintings will be fully compatible with existing stock." The two games are due out in Q4 2020, along with the Terra Mystica expansions Fire & Ice, Merchants of the Seas, and Mini Expansion 1, the exact contents of which is unknown to me.
• Speaking of restocks, eggertspiele notes on Facebook that roughly two thousand copies of Great Western Trail are headed to the U.S. and "we aren't expecting to have another shipment until October". If you want a copy, pester whichever store you buy from to secure a copy for you. Good luck!