GAME CLEAR No. 37 -- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021, PS5)

Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Clear Date: 6/22/2021

It’s June 2021, and the PlayStation 5 finally has its first killer app. This game is the reason to own one if you can find one! I loved this game, and I really can’t imagine how anyone couldn’t. From gameplay to graphics to story to acting, it’s all just really good!

Let me also say quickly that I’m definitely glad I caught up on the series prior to playing this. While most of the references to previous adventures are winking hat tips, it’s still nice to understand and enjoy them all. But, as one might expect from the first truly new entry in the series since 2013 (and a kid-oriented series at that), the game certainly doesn’t rely on previous knowledge. It does a good job of quickly going over the major plot points, and I think everything sort of flows from there.

And that’s great cuz the story’s really good! It is as much about the new character Rivet as it is the titular protagonists. The first few hours of the game involve Ratchet & Clank getting tossed into an alternate dimension in which the multi-time big bad of the series Dr. Nefarious “always wins.” The two are separated (hence “Rift Apart”), and Clank in fact becomes Rivet’s partner. Rivet is the female counterpart to Ratchet of this new dimension, and she has every bit of his good nature and heroicism. She is, however, more cynical and less trusting after a life of living under the iron fist of Emperor Nefarious, a personality trait that is of course developed and explored as the game goes on. The characters are given good emotional depth in this game, and the writers make sure they all do a little growing as the game goes on. The story is cute, and without spoiling much, I’ll say it pretty heavily hints at a sequel. Love to see it.

Mechanically, Rift Apart is just a delight. It’s really just an incredibly polished version of what the gameplay has always been: 3D 3rd person action platforming combined with crazy guns. With the help of the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers, the shooting has never felt physically better either. The combined effort of improving the platforming and shooting feel, I genuinely think someone that maybe didn’t click with previous R&C games may find themselves sold on this one. It’s a lot of little things combined to make the game feel a lot better. There’s just less jank. You can take things a step further too with Insomniacs extensive list of accessibility options, which are presented at the beginning of the game.

This is also easily the best-looking game I’ve ever played. It’s no contest. Playing in “performance ray tracing” mode offers a 60fps experience that still has the finest graphics I’ve ever seen. It’s definitely even more beautiful at 30fps, but I prefer performance, so I’m glad to have that option. And speaking of performance, the PS5’s SSD strength is also on full display on this game. It’s no exaggeration that I really never experienced any appreciable load times in this game. Kind of like the DualSense haptics, this sounds kinda cool on paper, but when you’re actually playing the game, it’s cool as hell. Really pleased that this will be the state of games going forward.

Very happy with this game. It’s extremely well-made in nearly every regard, and it’s simply a joy to play. There’s no reason short of strong genre aversion for any PS5 owner not to grab this game, and I can’t wait to see what Insomniac does with the next one.