Next year is another stacked year for PlayStation fans, with a ton of exclusives set to release including Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, and the God of War: Ragnarok sequel. With so much up in the air at the moment, it's unclear which of the mentioned will be cross-generational games considering Sony's plan to support PlayStation 4 for another three years; however, Insomniac Games has confirmed that Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart will be exclusive to PS5.
Sony made quite the impression back in June with a 5-minute Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart gameplay demo showing off the power of its next-gen console. But being a sequel to Ratchet and Clank (2016) and the latest entry in a long-running series that originally debuted on the PS2, there's a lot of history to catch up on. From the Ratchet and Clank (2016) reboot to where the new game sits in terms of its timeline and continuity, here's everything there is to know about Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart's story and characters.
Ratchet and Clank (2016) Story Recap
After a three year break from the series, Insomniac Games released Ratchet and Clank (2016) for PS4, a reimagining of the original game in the series and the perfect jumping-on point for new players. Ratchet and Clank (2016) largely follows the same story as the original while upgrading the gameplay and graphics for modern consoles and altering or adding characters to make for a cohesive story. Titular character Ratchet has long dreamed of joining the Galactic Rangers, a team of space rangers led by Captain Qwark. While working as a mechanic on the planet Veldin, Ratchet finds and rescues Clank, a defective warbot created by the evil Doctor Nefarious and Chairman Alonzo Drek, and fled to warn the Galactic Rangers of an oncoming invasion.
Ratchet and Clank make their way to the Hall of Heroes on Kerwan to warn the rangers and successfully thwart a warbot invasion in the process. Qwark makes Ratchet and Clank part of the rangers and sets off with the team to Drek Industries to prevent Drek from using the Deplanitiser to destroy several planets. During the fight, it's revealed that Qwark is working with Drek and Ratchet is ejected in space by Drek as he destroys the planet Novalis. After the pair discover the presumed dead Dr. Nefarious was the real mastermind behind it all, seeking revenge on the rangers and using Qwark in the process, the rangers head to Kalebo III and stop the destruction of more planets. In a final confrontation, Ratchet manages to defeat Dr. Nefarious, and the deplanetiser (as well as the Doctor) combust in a supernova. Realizing the error of his ways, Qwark appoints Ratchet as the new leader of the Rangers.
What We Know About Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
According to Sony's synopsis for the game, in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, players will traverse across multiple realities and new and old worlds on a mission to stop a villainous evil emperor from exploiting a dimensional collapse to exterminate all life. Using the power of the PlayStation 5, players will be able to travel through dimensions in an instant, entering new worlds and planets at will, equipped with a new arsenal of weapons including the Burst Pistol, Topiary Sprinkler, and the Shatterbomb. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart will also introduce a brand new playable character to the series (pictured above), a female Lombax resistance fighter determined to take out the robotic emperor once and for all, as well as all-new "interdimensional mechanics" for Clank.
When it comes to Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart's place in the timeline, things start to get a little murky. Officially, Insomniac has only stated that the PS5 will be a standalone game with no mention of it being a sequel to Ratchet and Clank (2016) or continuation of any other storyline (Original Trilogy or Future Saga). However, many have speculated that Rift Apart will be set in the original timeline, i.e. not the 2016 reboot, and will be set after Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus, the final game in the PS3 Future Saga due to the dimensional collapse being caused by a malfunctioning device called the Dimensionator. The last time the Dimensionator was seen in the series was at the end of Into the Nexus when Clank took the broken device in secret, potentially to try and fix the device to help Ratchet find the Lombax race. For now, all of that is speculation and Rift Apart will be standalone so there's little required reading in this case.
Confirmed to be part of the PlayStation 5 launch window, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is expected to release in the first quarter of 2021 and will be exclusive to the next-gen console. Based on the gameplay trailers released so far, Rift Apart stands to be the first real showcase of what the new generation of consoles are capable of, allowing for near-instantaneous load times, more enemies on screen at once, more vibrant and realized worlds, and a 60FPS mode not unlike Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Remastered.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is scheduled to release in early 2021, exclusively for the PS5.