When it comes time for a character to bow out, it's important to capitalise on the unique relationship only gamers can have with their characters. We've most likely grown to love certain people over the course of a game's runtime - sometimes close to hundreds of hours. Death in these sorts of narratives is when gaming borrows the most heavily from film, with the vast majority happening in cut-scene rather than gameplay. Many will remember that scene from Final Fantasy VII where a downright loveable teammate we'd started to genuinely care about was taken away, simultaneously establishing one of the greatest villains in gaming history because of it. It all worked so well we because of the time spent with that particular character beforehand, and as becomes evident with some games - it's a mix of gameplay and cutscene that packs the biggest punch. Another factor when creating someone we're going to love to hate - or a hero we going to love to embody - is that gaming as a medium is far more susceptible to sequels and reboots, meaning it makes far more sense to keep a character alive. Sure, Hollywood is no stranger to letting only a few years pass before forcibly Frankenstein'ing together another incarnation of a popular series (Spider-Man, anyone?) but still, gaming's library is comprised of a whopping 70% of sequels overall. It's a pretty staggering statistic, and therefore if creators are actually going to kill someone off for good, it has to be worth it, and in a way that does the character the utmost justice in retrospect.
13. The Joker (Batman: Arkham City)
The line: "That is actually... pretty funny" Many still refuse to believe Joker's supposed final words in City were actually his last, as at time of writing the identity of the new titular Arkham Knight (from next year's Arkham game) is yet to be revealed. Back to Arkham City though and the last title developer Rocksteady put together, as they firmly made their mark on the Batman mythos by having Joker's final plan ruined by his own hand. You see, following the events of Arkham Asylum Joker was infected with the Titan formula - something which he promptly ends up infecting Batman with too. To cut a long story short, the two of them end up in an abandoned theatre with only one phial of the antidote left. Batman thusly drinks half before Joker once again attacks him; causing the rest of the antidote to spill out across the floor. Batman remarks following this that he even after everything Joker had done to him and everyone else, he wouldn't have broken his rule and would have saved him, leading to Joker having to accept his self-inflicted fate in a way that perfectly mirrors his twisted outlook on life.