10 One-Off Video Game Levels That Totally Change Everything

The boss fights of the Batman: Arkham series are famously quite hit-and-miss. On the one hand, you have Mister Freeze, an impeccable challenge that both creeps you out and forces you to exhaust all the skills in Batman's locker. And on the other hand, there's Electrocutioner, who goes down in a single scripted hit.

Arkham Knight's finale does away with the traditional 'final boss' trope, instead letting us play through Batman's internal struggle against Scarecrow's fear toxin. Hallucinations of Joker have been plaguing him for the whole game, and when you suddenly find yourself playing AS the Clown Prince of Crime here, it would seem that Bruce is finally starting to lose the battle.

In this section, the famous Arkham gameplay is replaced with an unexpected first-person shooter sequence, letting you stroll through the halls of Batman's mind literally blowing away the most tenacious members of his rogue's gallery.

Soon, though, events will begin to take a detour, as things gradually change in the background when your back is turned. The end of the sequence goes full-on horror, with Joker desperately shooting at statues of Batman that appear more frequently the more he destroys.

Eventually, Batman is able to regain control, and sends Joker away in a prison cell within his mind. The symbolism here of him letting go of his archenemy is beautiful, and the gameplay that goes with it is NOTHING like what you were expecting.

For all of Arkham Knight's faults, its ending is nothing short of ingenious.