The celebrated Lombax and his trusty robotic companion have come a long way since their birth, traveling through space and time across a series of worlds that are as peculiar as they are ramshackle. A myriad of exciting adventures allowed the dynamic duo to break through the hearts of many players and today, after a four-year leap, they are back and ready for what presents itself as the most difficult challenge of all in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
The first presentation of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, dated last June, we expected it for a long time thanks to the clues leaked by some members close to the project, but this has not prevented Sony to wow the audience with special effects, preparing the return of one of its mascots from the PlayStation 2 era in style. He did it with a first taste during the Future Game Show, the same in which he unveiled the shapes of his next flagship, he reiterated it during this year's atypical Gamescom with a more in-depth trial version, which gave us allowed to take a look at the potential of this latest chapter stretched as a thread between its recent past and the future, not only of the series, but of PlayStation in general.
To understand the direction that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will take, we believe it is right to start from the episode released in 2016 on PlayStation 4, inscribed on the soft reboot label - or, as the development team prefers to call it, a “re-imagination of the series” - as it draws from the progenitor but proposes some alterations. The story boasts an exceptional narrator, or Captain Qwark and sees yet another defeat of Doctor Nefarious by our. Given the innate habit of the big man in a green suit to sweeten situations, it is likely that the Californian studio has focused on this expedient to further distinguish the two versions without affecting the original mythology (and instead push the promotion of the film tie-in launched during the same period). The information received so far, however, seems to suggest that the new epic will not embrace this trend, more likely proposing itself as a rehash of Ratchet & Clank: Fire at will - second iteration of the first trilogy - and, as suggested by the spokesmen of Insomniac pressed by Geoff Keighley, following the events narrated in Ratchet & Clank: Nexus. Released at the end of 2013 for PlayStation 3, the plot of the latter is very contained compared to the traditional canons to which the public was accustomed, but for our examination it will be enough to mention an object still of particular importance, the sizer. It is a technological device assembled by the best Lombax minds initially for war purposes, able to open passages towards alternative realities. Is this the (Onni) key to the dimensional chaos we face?
The Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart footage shown during Opening Night Live opens on a peaceful glimpse of Megalopolis whose quiet is suddenly disturbed by a purple dimensional gap that opens in the middle of the city, making our heroes jump out. Their subsequent conversation suggests that the scene has opened in medias res, as they reveal that they are on the hunt for someone. Before they can give us more details, an enemy spaceship arrives, kicking off the actual gameplay. Not too dissimilar from the aforementioned 2016 chapter, the play sector still appears in great shape, between familiar mechanics and ideas with great potential. Between leaps and side steps, we can admire Ratchet unleashing new weapons combined with others well known to veterans. We review the burst pistol, the evergreen bomb glove, the double-barreled shotgun with an instrument as original as in full Ratchet & Clank style: the Topiary Sprinkler, the latest in technology (for which we imagine there is the hand of GrummelNet Industries) allows you to launch bombs that, touching the ground, make an expanse of flowers grow and a sort of sprinkler to transform the opponents themselves into splendid buds. The wheel of weapons that leaps to the eye appears indeed rather bare, but we are sure that Insomniac already has a varied set of tools in the pipeline to be discovered and evolved throughout the game. Yes, because, as can be deduced from the proposed demo, these will be able to increase in level, we assume based on the time of use, unleashing changes that are always new and impacting on the gameplay itself.
The main course comes as Dr. Nefarious approaches, now comfortable in his robotic features. Apparently the evil scientist has appropriated the dimensioner - apparently unusable at the end of Nexus - and will not hesitate to use it to hit our protagonists. A well-aimed blow from Ratchet crashes him into a skyscraper, but at the same time causes universal consequences. Reality is destabilized and the sky is torn apart by the weight of mammoth aliens who are catapulted into Metropolis through abnormal passages. How to get to the other half of the bridge destroyed by that reinvented brontosaurus species? The Lombax wears a special glove to open and exploit dimensional fractures to its advantage. The orange ones allow the duo to catapult themselves into a distinct area yet of the same scenario while the purple ones connect different realities. The Rift Tether - as the mythical instrument is called - dramatically accelerates the pace of the film, dragging the faithful companions from a prehistoric to a futuristic reality, even passing in the middle of a pirate battle. At that point an explosion separates them, throwing Clank into a metropolis of another dimension. All seems lost when a female Lombax appears at his side. The latter does not seem to recognize the name of Ratchet nor the little robot and for the moment its very identity remains shrouded in mystery. Could it be the alternate version of our familiar Lombax from another dimension? Can he help Clank reunite with his friend? Too many doubts still impossible to solve, but one thing is certain: the Rift Tether represents one of the most intriguing tricks of the entire package signed by Insomniac Games, as well as being a showcase and an important business card on the new PlayStation generation.
It is no coincidence that the first crack on Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart opens on Megalopolis, a theater as vast as it is full of details and moving objects on screen. Everything stands out with a crystal clear cleanliness without showing signs of subsidence on the front of the frame rate, while the mass of particles shouts next-gen from every model.. The Rift Tether connects portions of the map or even entire worlds in one tap, keeping the player focused without the fear of loading screens. As explained by the development team, this will be made possible thanks to the PlayStation 5 SSD; in short, game design and technology are harmoniously linked and then explode into great potential. To make matters worse, Rift Apart will also take advantage of the features of the new DualSense controller: the haptic feedback in fact, will allow the emulators of the Lombax survivor to realistically perceive each shot and distinctly recognize the various weapons.
Ratchet and Clank, with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, are truly poised for a return with all the trimmings, protected by impregnable armor forged from years of work, embellished with tantalizing novelties guaranteed by the power of PlayStation 5. It is implied that the features outlined they will be tested in first person, but with the premises of a dimensionally distorted universe, we are impatient to take back our Omnikey and throw ourselves into the fray.
► Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is an Adventure-Platform game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 5, the video game will be released on 11/06/2021 (in 113 days)
Will come out for PlayStation 5 il 30/06/2021
