Hey guys, welcome to 2022 and the first blog post of the year! Now that it’s a new year and 2021 is in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to look ahead. I’ve collated five of my most anticipated projects that have been announced to drop in 2022.
Like with my previous blog post about 2021 projects to be excited for, if any of these get delayed and pushed back past 2022 mentally tick them over to the coming 2023 list.
5. Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
I’ve always been an Obi-Wan Kenobi fan ever since I watched Star Wars: A New Hope. From a rash apprentice to a seasoned general of the vicious Clone Wars to a wizened mentor of a young Luke Skywalker in both the twilight stages of his life and even in death, he’s always been part of the Star Wars universe.
There’s always been interest from fans about what Obi-Wan got up to in his years' exile on Tatooine after the end of the Clone Wars and the culling of the Jedi Order with Order 66. From what we know of the upcoming Disney+ tv show, which honestly is stuff-all, we’re likely to see this time in the character’s life.
I’m excited to see Ewan McGregor return to the Star Wars universe, especially with new writers that aren’t George Lucas and have people that can tell them no. This is starting off the list mainly because of how little we know about this series apart from the cast and the title.
4. Peacemaker (13 January 2022)
Following the success of James Gunn’s 2021 Suicide Squad, a new HBO spinoff following John Cena’s Peacemaker who ***SPOILERS*** is revealed to be alive at the end of the film as he fights to achieve peace, no matter the cost. The eight-episode series (five of which are directed by Gunn himself) follows the character on subsequent missions for Amanda Waller.
John Cena’s character was one of my favourites in the film (even though he killed Rick Flag in the film) and I’m excited to see all the crazy missions that he gets up to while defending truth, liberty, freedom, and the American way of life.
Of course, based on the way Peacemaker acted in the film, and the way that James Gunn describes him as the world’s biggest douchebag, it’s fair to say that his definition of these things might be a bit skewed.
I’ll definitely be watching this when it comes out and hopefully, I’ll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the Suicide Squad.
3. Horizon Zero Dawn 2 (February 2022)
One of the biggest gaming surprises of the past few years has to be Guerrilla Games’ first foray into open-world games, Horizon Zero Dawn. After years of churning out Killzone game after Killzone game, they finally got the chance to do something different and knocked it out of the park. The environments and lore that Guerrilla has crafted are intriguing and make me want to explore the world more.
I’m still working my way through the game, loving each quest, each enemy encounter, every lore drop as it gives me more of a chance to engage with the fun gameplay and traversal mechanics. Now imagine my surprise when the trailer dropped for the sequel to this game – Horizon Forbidden West.
The sequel will follow on from the original game with Aloy making her way over to the Western United States on a mission to stop a mysterious threat known only as the Red Blight.
It drops in February 2022 and the only problem I have with it is that I probably won’t have enough time to finish the original before the sequel drops.
2. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (2022)
Okay just quickly, let’s roll the clock back to 2005. This was the first time I played Lego Star Wars: The Video Game on the PlayStation 2. This game only had the prequel episodes of the (then) complete six movies. Each of the movies are recreated in great detail in Lego form, from the pod racing on Tatooine in Episode I all the way to the final duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker in Episode III.
This was one of the first games I fully completed in my gaming career (after eighteen years of gaming I figure might as well reframe my addiction as a career). I love Lego and I love Star Wars so this holy amalgamation of my two loves was pretty much perfect (apart from the lack of the original trilogy levels).
Well, now that minor sin has been rectified now that Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has been announced. Containing the prequel trilogy, the original trilogy, and now the sequel trilogy. Yep, nine episodes all in one, all in Lego’s block building glory.
1. Spiderman Across the Spiderverse Part One (late 2022)
As of the time of writing, there have been nine Spiderman films released for audiences around the world. It began with the three Sam Raimi films – Spider-Man in 2002, Spider-Man 2 in 2004, and much-maligned Spider-Man 3 in 2007.
This was then followed up by Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man series in 2012 and 2014. Spider-Man was then inducted into the MCU with Captain America: Civil War and then Homecoming in 2017, Far from Home in 2019 and now No Way Home in 2021.
All of these have been live-action with the ninth Spider-Man being the 2018 standout animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The various animation styles used by the development team are what made this specific film such incredible fun and why it’s my favourite Spider-Man film.
Audiences and I also enjoyed the switch of Spider-Men from Peter Parker to Miles Morales. It’s a breath of fresh air to help differentiate from the rest of the films. The origin story felt fresh, exciting and it hooked me in from the first minute. Now late in 2021, the trailer for the sequel to this film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One dropped online.
I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone gets up to and seeing more great animation on the big screen once again. The only thing is it’s likely there’ll be a cliffhanger to set up part two.
What 2022 project are you most excited about? Anything I missed out on? Let me know down below.
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Bring on whatever 2022 has to throw at us.
-Rohan