10 Ways Rocksteady Should Have Made Batman: Arkham Knight

9. Leave The Joker Dead

Yes, Mark Hamill is brilliant as Joker and yes, he makes for some of the best Batman stories of all time. However, killing him at the close of Arkham City was an immensely brave move that made all of us recoil in pure astonishment. "Did Rocksteady really just do that?!", "What does it mean for the future of the series? Can they even do a game without him? Man, that'll be so interesting to se- oh."

Turns out the answer was no, they didn't even need to think about such things, as thanks to Joker's infected Titan blood getting into Bats' veins, he appeared as a hallucination across the entire game. From ventilation shafts to full-on cutscenes and especially the ending wrap-up, Rocksteady had their "Is he really dead?" cake, and ate it too.

As such, the one-dimensional Arkham Knight and barely-seen Scarecrow played second-fiddle to a climax that saw Batman fighting Joker inside his own mind, and although that made for some cool metaphorical depictions of their clashing ideologies, ultimately felt shoehorned in to appease the masses, rather than capitalising on the fact that Batman had lost his 'other half'.

The loss IS the driving force, and although the tie-in comics explored the idea that Bruce was consistently torn up due to failing to save the Clown Prince, the way it manifested in-game carried none of this weight. It felt far too forced and rushed, like Rocksteady caving in to the pressure of crafting a story without him.