18 Greatest Last Levels In Gaming History

9. City Of Fear Finale - Arkham Knight

A more recent entry, Arkham Knight features on this list over any of the other games in the series because of just how daring its finale actually is. Instead of taking the regular video game route of giving players a final boss to beat or a last wave of enemies to slog through, the final entry in Rocksteady's trilogy completely reinvents the wheel.

Subverting player expectations, the climax of the series ending game doesn't have you playing as Batman at all (well, kind of. It's complicated), but as his iconic arch-nemesis, Joker. Suddenly you're thrust into a haunting twist on the game's own established mechanics, as you're forced into a Joker mobile, violently shooting down thugs before getting out and hunting down Gotham's most wanted with a shotgun.

Going even further, you're suddenly switched to a first person view as you control Joker down a series of nightmarish hallways representing the villain's fractured psyche, all the while being stalked by an eerie stone manifestation of Batman.

It sounds ridiculous right? Had you not already played the game you'd swear everything you'd just read was made up. But that's why Rocksteady's finale works so well: it's simply unlike anything else out there.

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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.