In 2022, KOSMOS Offers Narrative Adventures Galore and a City Made of Dice

As is becoming its custom, German publisher KOSMOS is teasing upcoming releases on its game-focused Instagram channel, with almost all of the titles announced as of November 23, 2021 for release in the first half of 2022 being expansions, line extensions, and licensed versions of games released previously by other publishers.

As I speculated in my Nov. 2021 post about AMIGO's early 2022 releases, maybe KOSMOS is taking this approach due to the difficulty of in-person playtesting and development over the past two years — or maybe it has new titles not related to anything already on the market that have yet to be announced. We'll see in the months ahead...

• The buzziest new title here might be My City: Roll & Write, this being an adaptation of Reiner Knizia's Spiel des Jahres-nominated legacy game My City that carries over attributes of that earlier release. Here's the short description we have for now:

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My City: Roll & Write is a dice game in which over four chapters, each with three rounds, you create a unique city. During the construction process, you face new challenges each time. The dice roll determines which buildings players have to draw on their own sheet, and whoever scores the most points wins.

• Another line extension that KOSMOS will release in early 2022 is Die Abenteuer des Robin Hood: Bruder Tuck in Gefahr, an expansion for Michael Menzel's The Adventures of Robin Hood that consists of four new challenges: "Unknown warriors attack in the West, and old adversaries become bitter enemies once again. Friar Tuck will support the heroes with his special abilities."

Another such title is Andor Junior: Die Gefahr aus dem Schatten (The Danger from the Shadows), an expansion for Andor Junior from Inka and Markus Brand in which your young heroes attempt to protect the inhabitants of Andor from a dangerous Wardrak, facing new tasks and exciting battles along the way.

• Speaking of the Brands, in mid-2021 KOSMOS had teased EXIT: Das Spiel – Schatten über Mittelerde, a Lord of the Rings-themed entry in the incredibly popular EXIT line of escape room games for release in late 2021. That title is now scheduled for release in the first half of 2022, along with EXIT: Das Spiel – Das Vermachtnis des Weltreisenden (The Legacy of the World Traveler) and EXIT: Das Spiel + Puzzle – Das Gold der Piraten (The Pirate's Gold).

• KOSMOS will release another title in its Adventure Games series — Expedition Azcana — while also adding two licensed game lines to its catalog of narrative games.

Here's an overview of the Cartaventura line from designers Thomas Dupont and Arnaud Ladagnous, which originated from French publisher BLAM !:

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Cartaventura is a narrative card game in which players build an adventure using cards that can offer them different choices during play. Map cards are placed in the middle of the table. Around these map cards, players place action cards, with them consulting one another to decide the best choice to make from those available: draw a card, turn over a card, discard, etc. Urgent cards, which should be read entirely before doing anything else, can change the game in an instant. Object cards are placed in front of players and can be useful throughout the game. The game includes a tutorial to accompany the first game, and its simple and original playing system allows you to explore the scenario several times before discovering all of the game's secrets.

In Cartaventura: Vinland, you set off for the land of the Vikings in the footsteps of explorer Erik The Red. Will you succeed in proving your father's innocence? Will you take to the seas towards the western lands or command your colony in Greenland? Will you stay faithful to the Norse gods?

In Cartaventura: Lhasa, you travel to India and Tibet in the footsteps of explorer Alexandra David-Neel. Can you find the route to the temple or escape the claws of the white tiger? Will you succeed in crossing the Himalayas on foot? Will you have enough money to finish your adventure?

In Cartaventura: Oklahoma, it's 1854 in the United States. Your name is Bass Reeves, and you are about to turn twenty-three years old. Born a slave, the son and grandson of slaves, you spent your early years working your fingers to the bone in cotton and sugarcane fields. One day soon, you know you'll escape and then...whatever happens, happens! Will you find the Indian camp? Will you become a Marshall? Can you win the poker game? Can you escape your former master? Can you find your way to freedom?

• KOSMOS also plans to release Suspects, a co-operative mystery-solving game from Guillaume Montiage, Sebastien Duverger Nedellec, and Paul Halter that originated from Studio H, with the three titles in that original release apparently being released as separate items — although it's hard to know for sure as the German titles don't match with the English ones.

• Other licensed titles coming from KOSMOS are Cascadia, Catch the Moon, and Harry Potter: Wettstreit um den Hauspokal (a.k.a. Harry Potter: House Cup Competition).

• Finally, we come to the lone original title announced so far: a card game for 2-5 players from Klaus Kreowski that bears this minimal description: "In Allie Gator, cards are placed as cleverly as possible, with special cards bringing additional fun. Simple rules to start right away."