After a short trailer at the PS5 unveiling event held in June, Insomniac Games came back to light at Gamescom’s Opening Night Live event to show gamers what the PS5 really can be with an expanded look at Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
The demo, which lasted seven and a half minutes, showed the eponymous duo arriving in the bustling metropolis of Aleero City, only to be confronted by Dr. Nefarious with a device that cuts holes in space-time continuum.
The plans of Dr. Nefarious are banished, as you would expect, but that causes the universe to fall into disrepair – you strive to put things back in the right order.
For longer fans of the series, there are elements that sound like Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus on PS3, but the difference in graphic fidelity, interactivity and pure liveability of the world is surprising, and it’s all too thanks to the power of the PS5,
High power rescue specifications
In an interview to trailer, the game’s lead developers said that the keys to the game’s design are the PS5’s SSD which allows them to push the player from world to world without long charging times (in fact, they say there are no charging times are in the whole game) and the GPU which can display large amounts of data on the screen at the same time.
When you watch the trailer, you get a real sense of what the PS5 is capable of.
Note the inhabitants of Metropolis who escape the battle while Ratchet fights with Nefarious’ troops and how many individual characters can be displayed on the screen at once. Look at the parting effects as explosions shower the screen in bolts.
Visually, it is an overwhelming feast for the eyes.
Compare the trailer above with a similar level in Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus:
In addition, the haptic feedback function of the DualSense PS5 controller is used in Rift Apart, which means that each weapon feels different to use – as well as varying degrees of vibration. Players will also be able to use the controller’s adaptive triggers to perform more powerful abilities, applying certain degrees of pressure to build up attacks.
Coming into the PS5 launch window
If pressed for an exact release date, all developers would say that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will be available in the PS5 launch window – likely this year’s holiday in the early parts of 2021.
The only other confirmed PS5 games for that launch so far include Astro’s Playroom which will be included with each console, plus Just Dance 2021 and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the standalone game also from Insomniac.
While the lineup is still a bit scarce, we’ll probably hear more about additional titles once we get closer to launch.
