With the launch of the PlayStation 5, many have lamented the lack of "next-generation" exclusive experiences outside of Bluepoint's remake of Demon's Souls. While Insomniac Games' Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a true spectacle to behold on the new console, its PlayStation 4 version is no slouch either. Thankfully, Insomniac Games is releasing a PlayStation 5 exclusive experience with Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, some time in the first half of 2021.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is the eighth main entry in the Ratchet and Clank series, acting as a direct continuation of 2013's Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus. This marks the first major follow-up to Insomniac's franchise since the PlayStation 3, with the main PlayStation 4 title being a reimagining of the original PlayStation 2 classic, made to tie into the 2016 animated film. Rift Apart is also Insomniac's first fully fledged main entry in the series since 2009's Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, as each entry since has either acted as a spin-off or shorter, budget entry.
Ratchet and Clank is a PS5 Technical Showpiece
While Insomniac has done an excellent job optimizing Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales for Sony's newest console, many are expecting Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart to be the PlayStation 5's first major technical showpiece, as the game has already demonstrated in gameplay demos that it is using the abilities of PS5's solid state drive to load in entire levels instantly, as well as to introduce the "Rift Tether," a weapon allowing the characters to tether through dimensions immediately.
The gameplay demo also features series villain Dr. Nefarious utilizing "The Dimensionator," a device featured multiple times in Ratchet and Clank games such as Tools of Destruction and Into the Nexus, playing a key part in their narratives. This is the first time fans see the Dimensionator used during gameplay, as Nefarious blasts the characters through multiple worlds instantaneously, a feature Insomniac has made very clear is a direct result of the power and speed of the PlayStation 5's 5.5GB per second SSD. Insomniac has already wowed fans with the speed of the loading times in Spider-Man: Miles Morales, with the game only taking roughly 14 seconds to load from the PlayStation 5's UI into the open-world, and featuring near instantaneous fast travel loads.
With this in mind, it doesn't seem too far-fetched to expect that Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart may feature no visible loading times at all, as the structure of the main series entries usually leaves loading between levels transitioned during cutscenes. As Rift Apart is a return to the more focused storytelling of the Future series, the story will likely take control at key points in the game, especially with the introduction of the new female lombax character, which many have theorized is an alternate dimension version of Ratchet, as A Crack in Time revealed that Ratchet is the last of his race.
As previously mentioned, this title is the first major continuation of the series' narrative since 2013's Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus on PlayStation 3, which leaves off with the implication that Clank is intent on using the Dimensionator to reunite Ratchet with the lombaxes. Given the events of the game's trailers so far, it may be a bigger part of the story than fans anticipated 7 year ago.
The PS5 is Here, Making the Wait for Ratchet and Clank Even Harder
Speaking of the new female lombax character, Insomniac confirmed that she would be one of the game's playable protagonists shortly after the game's reveal at the Future of Gaming event in June. Given the team's creativity with crafting new worlds and weapons, playing as this character will likely add many new mechanics which will utilize the PlayStation 5's features, such as her hammer making use of the DualSense's haptic feedback, and new guns making use of the controller's adaptive triggers in creative ways.
Speaking technically, while Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart continues to up the ante for the series' visuals, even surpassing the feature film adaptation in terms of animation detail, Insomniac Games has confirmed that, like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the game will feature two performance options. One of these options will output the game at 30 frames-per-second with a locked 4K resolution and ray-tracing enabled, while the other will offer gameplay at 60 frames-per-second, with a likely output resolution of 1440p, even if the PlayStation 5 does not natively support the resolution yet. These options keep in line with many next-generation games offering performance and fidelity modes, which is a welcome option given that many PlayStation 4 and Xbox One X games even struggled to hit 60 frames-per-second and 4K.
Ultimately, Ratchet and Clank has been impressive day one and that hasn't changed. With the PS5 in hands of some people everywhere, it's even more impressive.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart will release exclusively on the PlayStation 5 in the first half of 2021.