Vagrant Rant M o v i e s . G a m e s . M u s i c . "L i f e".

This has to be my favourite edition of this list ever.

So many great 2022 movies, so many great scenes, not enough space. There’s no slot for that haunting Riddler scene that opens The Batman, for example, or the water bottle backstory from Bullet Train. Zoe Saldana nailed two completely different all-too-short sequences in two wildly different movies this year, and I couldn’t find room for either of them here. I’d also normally have space to have fun with ludicrous moments like that crab dance from the third Fantastic Beasts movie – which is played completely straight – or that cooked out-of-body tiny cave meet-up from the beginning of The Northman – or that final shot from The Menu. But alas, only ten slots on this one. Here are the movie moments that fill them:

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VR BEST OF 2022 DISCLAIMER

This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. To agree with me 100% is as likely as avoiding MCU fatigue. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

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10. Sea Showdown – Avatar: The Way of Water

The trademark James Cameron Action Finale is present and accounted for in his spectacular 2022 Avatar sequel, and how. A few prior action beats go off spectacularly in 3D and 48 frames per second – starting with a stunning train derailment and moving through countless gorgeous water-borne shenanigans – but the climactic battle on open water is somehow greater than the sum of its technically-impressive parts, largely thanks to an ocean of earlier ensemble character work with and an armada of Chekhov’s gunfire ignited surgically by a master of the craft.

9. Field Operation – Ambulance

The constant complication conga faced by the desperate criminal characters at the centre of Ambulance’s white-knuckle ride-along would probably make for a pretty decent black comedy if the film was shot differently – but that hypothetical version probably wouldn’t include this visceral scene. I’d wager only medical professionals would find the exaggerated luck and Hollywood-accurate medical terms at the heart of this impromptu video-call surgery funny in any way. For the rest of us, it’s just a nail-shredding tension tornado not for the squeamish.

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Last year this list of mini-lists had a bit of a shake-up, thanks largely to the increased amount of TV content with tenuous connections to the material Vagrant Rant normally covers; but I figured it had been such a unique year that 2022 would surely see some of the older categories come back. Nope, here we are with the exact same five. Maybe 2021 was more of a trailblazing year than it appeared?

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VR BEST OF 2022 DISCLAIMER

This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. To agree with me 100% is as likely as avoiding MCU fatigue. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.

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Best Third-Party Game Publisher

Square Enix

We kick off with a back-to-back win for Square Enix; but even though its competition could only be described as paltry this year, the way the Japanese gaming giant went about dominating 2022 could not have been more different from its more measured and western-leaning 2021 efforts. As covered on yesterday’s list, Square didn’t exactly come out of the blocks flying this year, but never in my wildest adolescent dreams could I have expected the sheer volume – and at times relentless pace – of the Japanese role-playing output they had in store to help people forget how weird it was that they shed all those powerhouse western teams all at once.

Re-releases, fresh ideas and combinations of both abounded as Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster led into Triangle Strategy, the aforementioned Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, the shock localisation of Radical Dreamers as part of the Chrono Cross remaster, the even more shocking localisation/remake Live A Live, then Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song, The DioField Chronicle and Valkyrie Elysium back-to-back, a premium-quality Nier Automata Switch port, then a five-week holiday period stuffed with Harvestella, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Dragon Quest Treasures and finally Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core Reunion. There were also two whole Voice of Cards RPGs released throughout 2022. Given where this company was at a decade ago “staggering” doesn’t begin to cover it, and I’m probably forgetting something too. Is a 2023 win on the cards too? Looking at the schedule, I wouldn’t count it out.

Runner-Up: Focus Entertainment

Best Indie Game Publisher

Devolver Digital

As always, this was a fun one to call; it seems indie publishers are only getting better at curating and fostering quality in gaming’s most exciting space. Raw Fury had a quiet one by their standards, only really offering the critically-loved NORCO as a brand-new title; everything Chucklefish announced got delayed (almost certainly a good thing); and most of the glints in the eyes of Gearbox Publishing are still on the horizon. That left us with a good old-fashioned heavyweight battle pitting Annapurna Interactive – house of the beloved Stray, A Memoir Blue, and Neon White – against Humble Games – who gave us runaway hits Temtem and Signalis alongside the underrated Chinatown Detective Agency and Prodeus. It’s a toughie, but my pick goes to Annapurna – just – for reasons that may become clear by the end of the year.

All that fight is just for the runner-up spot, of course, because Devolver Digital spent 2022 doing a lot more than simply producing their best mid-year game presentation in years. The indie publishing veterans showed the rest of the industry how it’s done, letting loose the likes of Samurai Warrior 3, Trek to Yomi, Weird West and Card Shark to delight players with all kinds of tastes in the first half of the year alone, before sealing their dominance with two of the biggest indie hits in recent memory. Return to Monkey Island is the point-and-click return to form no one saw coming, and as for Cult of the Lamb… well, that one may have just codified an entire subgenre.

Runner-Up: Annapurna Interactive

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