Rift Apart Is A Good Intro To An Old Series

Rivet, a new protagonist, makes it easy to jump into a series of stories.Screenshot: Insomniac

Cold jumping into the last entry in a long-running series is often a daunting proposition. Catch up with dozens of characters across decades of games? Consult the Wikipedia pages between missions? No thanks! An exception to this rule is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, released earlier this month for PS5, which doesn’t even require a blink of familiarity to have a good time.

Despite being a longtime gamer, I largely missed Insomniac’s iconic Space Lombax. (Earlier this year I played about 30 minutes of the 2016 remake before getting distracted by a cascade of newer, but not necessarily better, games. I didn’t find the time to come back.) But I wanted to play Rift Apart, because, well, check this out:

When John Walker described Rift Apart as “brain stunner” in his opinion, it was not hyperbole. The game also sports the pedigree of a studio responsible for gems such as Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the Extremely neglected Sunset Overdrive. Plus, it’s meant to be a showcase for the PS5’s sleek new features, like haptic feedback and instant loading screens, which offer a ton of potential but haven’t really been seen much in action since launch. from the console last November.

Coming in I expected the gameplay to be enjoyed, but otherwise feel lost. I figured I’d be shoulder-deep in the wiki story pages, or at least pause the game every five minutes to beg my friends to explain the references to me. Instead, I found this game a cinch to jump into. The relationship between the two main characters feels natural and deserved, even though I missed its early chapters. Clank might be a robot, but he loves Ratchet on the moon and vice versa, and that connection is reciprocal. Dr. Nefarious may be the villain, but it’s a blatant result of insecurity, which is likely the result of years of defeat at the hands of Ratchet. I don’t need to be steeped in Ratchet’s history to immediately grasp these concepts.

Read more: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is the best mascot platformer in ages, but there isn’t a lot of competition

The ease of entry is further enhanced by the presence of a new character, Rivet, also a Lombax. In fact, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart even comes out the door with a cinematic sequence starring Rivet, a creative choice that seems designed to incorporate newcomers who might not be in the know. the decades-old PlayStation mascot. Rivet is brand new to this fictional universe, just like those of us who have never played a Ratchet game before. It’s a lot easier to dive into the cold when someone more knowledgeable than you are showing you the way, even if they’re of a species that doesn’t exist.

There’s also the fact that Rift Apart, perhaps more than any game I’ve played for the PS5, is shamelessly a video game. There is no need to hand-brandish the wackiest concepts – like the importance of fully conscious artificial intelligence, or the space beaver species that are all individually and inexplicably named Death – with an explanation. pseudo-scientist who may or may not stand up to scrutiny. Much of Rift Apart is absurd in a way that many video games are not these days. The main upgrade material is called a raritarium, to scream out loud. (Note: it doesn’t seem that rare to me.)

I have no doubt that entering Rift Apart with little to no understanding of the series, I miss out on various winks and nods that would make the game more enjoyable, at least in the “Oh, ha , I got the reference ”. But missing this stuff didn’t reduce my enjoyment of the game.

If you really feel like you need to start with an older game, you have an easy way to play the most recent Ratchet game as long as you also subscribe to PS Plus. The 2016 remake is one of a number of well-received PS4 games that are free at no additional cost to PS5 owners who subscribe to PS Plus, and by most accounts it is a good introduction to Ratchet. & Clank. You could start there. In my mind, you don’t need it.