It’s unlikely that any fans who already have their calendars marked for the game’s release need any more convincing that it will give them their money’s worth. Aside from the already sizable singleplayer campaign, players will have the completely separate Challenge Mode.

These maps and tasks can be attempted as Batman, Catwoman, or even a newly-redesigned Robin (in a multitude of costumes). But when demonstrating the Challenge Mode at this year’s Gamescom, G4TV noticed something intriguing. Rocksteady’s Dax Ginn may have done his best to throw them off the scent, but it seems that the cat is out of the bag:

We knew that there would likely still be plenty of surprises in store, but another playable character wasn’t something that we had been expecting. A mysterious feature might not normally be enough for us to jump to conclusions, but Ginn’s response just adds fuel to the fire. So for argument’s sake, let’s think about who the mysterious playable character may turn out to be.

There’s plenty of fans who have long demanded to see Nightwing portrayed in the darker world of Arkham City, but Rocksteady doesn’t seem to be prepared to throw a character into the game that doesn’t make sense. With Tim Drake chosen as Arkham City’s incarnation of Robin, the appearance of a full-grown Dick Grayson raises a lot of questions that would be difficult to answer.

The Joker is an obvious choice, since his presence in Challenge Modes would be nothing new, and definitely force players to take a different approach to completing objectives. The Joker is already the star of a 4-hour DLC pack, but Mark Hamill is more than willing to expand his work on Batman’s arch-nemesis.

Our longshot prediction is Talia al Ghul, the sword-wielding leader of the League of Assassins. While having her appearance in Arkham City confirmed weeks ago, exactly what role Talia will play has yet to be revealed. Her assassin skills and katana would offer gameplay that’s both unique and familiar, so we’ll be interested to see how this turns out. Needless to say, we’ll keep you posted whenever Rocksteady makes an official announcement.

What are your thoughts on the idea of another playable character? Are there any theories that you’d like to throw into the mix? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Batman: Arkham City will be coming to the xbox 360, PS3 and PC on October 18, 2011.

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Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.

Source: G4TV