10 Times Video Game Developers Lied Straight To Your Face

5. Arkham Knight's Two Villains

Batman Arkham Knight Joker Fire
Rocksteady

Arkham Knight wasn't only a hugely anticipated game because it was the finale to Rocksteady's Batman trilogy, but for the first time, the developers were going to have to create a story that didn't rely solely on The Joker.

With the Clown Prince of Crime definitively killed off in the first sequel, the mantle of "big bad" was passed onto the titular Knight, with the studio heads insisting that Batman's arch nemesis wouldn't be appearing at all, and that the new villain would be an entirely original creation.

Of course, both of those promises were well and truly broken when players booted the game up. Despite the prologue literally showing The Joker's corpse being cremated, it didn't take long for the character to reappear as a figment of Batman's imagination, with his presence still being the driving force of the narrative.

The Arkham Knight, on the other hand, turned out to not be a new character at all, but the oft-guessed Red Hood, with the devs lying to preserve a twist everybody already figured out anyway.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.