10 Video Game Endings That Left You Totally Speechless

4. The Killing Joke - Batman: Arkham City

It was an ending that was entirely necessary, given the circumstances surrounding the plot, but nobody - and that means nobody - ever thought it could possibly happen. When Arkham City's credits started to roll, though, you could hear a pin drop, so shocking was the turn of events - there were no words to be said. Gamers everywhere were speechless.

That's to say, Batman: Arkham City - the critically acclaimed sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum - did what very few Batman stories have ever dared to do: it killed the Joker!

At the highly ingenious climax of the game, then, the Joker - poisoned and dying at this point - assumes that Batman, antidote in hand, will save him. But in a moment of desperation, the iconic villain attacks Batman and the vial containing the antidote falls and smashes on the ground. At this point, Batman tells the Joker that - after everything - he still would have saved him. But it's too late, and the Joker... well, he dies laughing.

Nobody saw it coming, and it was dizzyingly brilliant and creative; the sort of video game ending that has you thinking about it for months afterwards. "Batman... What happened?" asks Commissioner Gordon as the Dark Knight leaves the Joker's corpse on the hood of his car and walks away in the final scene. He says nothing. Even Batman is left speechless.