Batman Arkham Knight: Rocksteady on how Arkham City ending inspired new game

Arkham Knight, the final game in developer Rocksteady Studio's Batman series, will use the ending of their last game, Arkham City, as the basis of their trilogy-concluding story.

A prequel, Arkham Origins, was developed by Warner Bros' Montreal and released in 2013 – falling between the second and third Rocksteady-developed entries.

WARNING: Major spoilers for Batman: Arkham City, follow...

During a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) session, Rocksteady were asked whether City's ending – which sees The Joker (as portrayed by Mark Hamill) finally and definitively die – made writing the new game's story any more difficult.

Rocksteady's Gaz Deaves replied, saying: "I think it's quite the opposite, [writer Sefton Hill] has said that when they started work on Batman: Arkham City, they had the vision of the final scene of Joker's death almost from the start, and looked at the story from the perspective of the events that would lead to that point.

"With Batman: Arkham Knight, that ending is the point that we jump off from, asking 'what happens when Joker is removed from Gotham' and looking at the fallout from those events."

In Arkham Knight Gotham City faces the twin threats of Scarecrow – who intends to lay waste to the city – and the forces of the titular Arkham Knight – a new character of Rocksteady's invention. The escalation in threat and destruction ties into this being the final entry for Rocksteady in their hugely-successful series.

To traverse more easily across the bigger game world, Rocksteady are introducing a driveable Batmobile for the first time, with the game built around its use in the field.

"We wanted to highlight the interaction between Batman and the Batmobile," said Deaves. "You'll see that the suit mirrors the design of the car in a lot of ways," Deaves said of the new look. The new suit impacts gameplay as well, as it enhances some of Batman's abilities, particularly in the way the Batman and the car work together.

Batman: Arkham Knight will be released on PS4, PC and Xbox One in June 2014.