Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart: Everything We Know

Ratchet & Clank is one of Sony’s longest-running series, blending classic 3D platforming with an array of wild and wacky weaponry. It also serves as a nice bit of variety in the PlayStation portfolio, complementing dark and serious games like The Last of Us and God of War with the spirit of a Saturday morning cartoon.

So it should come as no surprise that the PS5 already has a new entry in the works, called Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. But this Ratchet is also serving as a nice showpiece for the PS5, relying on a snappy dimension-hopping mechanic made possible by the new hardware’s faster-loading SSD. That may be why unlike some other launch window games for PS5 like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West, it’s not coming for PS4 as well.

Here’s everything we know so far about Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. For more on upcoming games, check out our most anticipated games of 2021.

Release Date

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is considered a launch window game for PS5 and was part of the new hardware’s promotion cycle. We don’t know exactly when it’s coming, but we do have a somewhat wide window thanks to a launch trailer. A PS5 trailer titled “New Worlds to Explore” shows footage from various confirmed PS5 games and states that Ratchet & Clank is anticipated in the first half of 2021.

That leaves a wide, six-month window when the game could release. Many companies put out games by March 31, tied to the end of the fiscal year. Sony has also started to put out games in the summer, as we saw with two of its biggest 2020 PS4 games, The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima.

Platforms

Unlike many other games in the PS5 launch lineup, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is exclusive to the new generation. Other first-party games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and even the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West will launch on PS4.

Ratchet is PS5-only, presumably because its central hook–a dimension-hopping mechanic that loads entire new environments almost instantly–is only possible on the new console. That’s because the PS5, unlike the PS4, sports a built-in NVMe SSD that results in much faster load times. Many games have benefitted from the SSD, like the lightning-quick loads in games like Spider-Man, and it even retroactively improves the load times for many older games running on PS5. But Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is built around the hardware, so it’s staying only on next gen.

Trailers

Sony has made a point of showing the dimension-hopping during its PS5 presentations leading up to the launch of the console. In it, we saw Ratchet journeying through portals and his surroundings would change instantaneously. It’s a flashy feature to associate with its new console, and it could have big gameplay implications as well.

The trailers have also teased a new female Lombax, who Clank finds when he’s separated from Ratchet. The series has long established that Ratchet is the apparent last of the Lombaxes, and his search for others of his species has been a continuous narrative thread. It’s unclear if this new character is finally another member of the Lombax family or from an alternate dimension, but that gives us some idea of what to expect from the story.

DLC Details

So far, there have been no details on downloadable content for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Ratchet games are not known for having DLC. The most recent release, 2016’s Ratchet & Clank, was essentially a retelling of the classic PS2 original. It did not include any DLC. None of that means that Insomniac couldn’t approach this newest game with a fresh approach that includes DLC, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if it never includes any.

Preorder Details

Preorders are not yet open for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Once it is available to preorder, it is likely to be another $70 game like Demon’s Souls.