Plunged like a bolt from the blue within the PlayStation 5 title park, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was a great success one month after its publication, resulting in the most purchased game for the new Sony home console.
The new chapter of the Lombax adventures created by Insomniac was immediately greeted with great fanfare by fans devoted to the saga, but also with great skepticism given the many missteps that the series has made after the first trilogy. On balance, however, the game seems not to have betrayed expectations and for some it has gone even further, but what were the secrets of its success? A excessive conservatism or delle technical features da next-gen?
The usual Ratchet ever?
Since 2002, the year in which the first chapter of the series is published, Ratchet & Clank looks like an atypical game: a platform-adventure with a strong third-person shooter component. The player mainly controls Ratchet, an alien creature belonging to the Lombax genus, with which he has the opportunity to explore planets having access to numerous weapons, from the most basic to the most bizarre and fun, with which to annihilate the enemies that parry him. ahead during the adventure.
This Description, albeit skimpy and briefly expressed, it perfectly embodies the spirit of the Ratchet & Clank saga, which is also present entirely in the "Rift Apart" chapter, without any upheavals or heavy innovations from the gameplay point of view. Insomniac, therefore, has opted for a detail conservatism, we do not know if for fear of daring or for loyalty to the series, but this is absolutely not to be considered a downside, also recalling the negative comments that the revolutionary “Gladiator“ chapter had given rise to.
To answer the question in the subtitle: yes, Rift Apart is the usual Ratchet & Clank ever with deep exploration, some phase platform, fighting and frantic shootings, a well built plot (probably the best ever from a narrative point of view), minigames and many collectible items. Some say it could dare more given the potential of the new hardware with the desire to make the series take a step forward instead of remaining anchored to traditions, but for the debut in next-gen Insomniac wanted to push more ontechnical aspect, which we will talk about later, rather than on the distortion of the gameplay.
The Rift: lots of smoke and little (or no) roast
To make sense of a new chapter, of course, it must be introduced by definition something new and Insomniac for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart has decided to implement the "rift" mechanics in the gameplay, that is dimensional gashes that allow the Lombax to travel between the various dimensions, of different planets or of the same planet, in an immediate way.
As already mentioned in the review, the innovation proposed by Insomniac for Rift Apart is not as preponderant as could be expected by watching the first trailers of the title. The various gashes featured in the game have been placed primarily for move quickly during battles or when exploring a rather large environment or perhaps as portals leading to dimensional pockets in which the player must face short platforming phases to obtain pieces of armor and more collectibles.
The real dimensional gaps that allow the player to suddenly switch from one dimension to another they are very few and most of these are only visible within "scripted" sequences in which the player does not control the protagonist. At this point the doubt arises that Insomniac wanted it test the technical potential of PlayStation 5 rather than providing players with a completely new play experience for the series.
The true next-gen in breathtaking environments
So why is it a next-gen game? Well, simply because since technical point of view is one of the best titles of recent years, undoubtedly the best of the series. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart pushes the potential of Sony's hardware to the maximum by offering the player breathtaking views, vast and detailed environments in every inch and above all the surprising experience of living two or more levels in one thanks to the ability of PlayStation 5 to load different environments instantly.
The positive aspects seen in “Nexus” and in the previous chapters of the “Future” saga are combined with a exceptional technical sector, but that is practically the only reason why it can be called "Rift Apart" a next-gen game. The gameplay novelties are there, but they are so marginal that their contribution is almost irrelevant for the final judgment. What can I say, maybe Insomniac just wanted to test the ground for a new and glorious restart of the Ratchet & Clank saga.
