Batman: Arkham Knight has been out for a little over a week now, and that means that quite a lot of people have missed days of work to see how Rocksteady’s Batman saga concludes. Ever since the first entry, Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady works to offer players incentive to take another trip through the story in their New Game + feature, and Arkham Knight is no different.

In the past the developer have offered players the chance to play the whole game with all of the level up skills and gadgets they have collected previously, while also offering a more challenging experience to match. Arkham City had enough draw just to catch all of the subtle clues laid through out the story that hint at the big twist reveal, as well as the foreshadowing of it’s shocking conclusion. This time around, Rocksteady offers an altered opening to Arkham Knight that fits closer to the true thematic story of the game.

Warning: The Following Contains Major Spoilers For The End of Batman: Arkham Knight.

The usual opening for Arkham Knight brings us some closure from the previous title, Arkham City. After having died from the Titan poisoning Joker is brought to the GCPD morgue and and cremated. After an extensive period of time staring at the ghastly grin of a deceased Joker, players are prompted to incinerate his body. A cut to black then leads to Commissioner Gordon informing us that “This is how it happened. This is how The Batman died.” Thanks to Kotaku, and YouTuber Dtoxz324, we have learned of the second opening. After starting with New Game +, players are treated to just about the same opening, except when they are prompted to incinerate The Joker he opens his eyes and screams. The Joker himself then lets us know, “This is how it happened. This is how The Joker died.”

Those who have played through the story once, as they would need to for New Game +, know how closely this sits to the game’s story of Batman battling an internal struggle against the “Joker Corruption” that seems to be taking over his mind. This is due to a mix of Batman being injected with Joker’s infected blood in the previous game, and several doses of Scarecrow’s fear toxin. Obviously, with Batman blaming himself for Joker’s death, one of his biggest fears is being no better than The Joker now that he has killed. Players fight a strange and entertaining battle between The Joker and Batman in his own mind toward the end of the game, where Batman is finally able to overcome his fear and just let The Joker die. What could be more fitting for the end of Batman, than to know that he the greatest reason for his existence is no longer a threat to anyone?

What do you guys think of this alternate opening for Arkham Knight? What did you think of the game’s internal struggle story? Let us know in the comments below!

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HT: Kotaku

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