Honestly, the first time you see Ratchet sprint through a purple dimensional tear and instantly land in a completely different biome, it feels like a magic trick. It isn't just a gimmick. When Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for PlayStation 5 launched, it was supposed to be the "poster child" for what that massive SSD could actually do.
Most games lie to you. They hide loading screens behind long elevator rides or crawl-spaces where your character slowly squeezes through a gap in the rocks. Rift Apart doesn't bother with that. It just throws you into the deep end. You’re hitting a crystal in Blizar Prime, and the entire level shifts from a desolate, destroyed mining colony to a thriving, lush world in a single frame. No loading. No waiting. Just a seamless jump that makes your brain hitch for a second because we’ve been conditioned for thirty years to expect a loading bar.
The SSD isn't just about speed
People kept talking about "fast loading," but that's a boring way to describe what Insomniac Games actually achieved here. It’s about density. If you look at the city of Nefarious City, the sheer amount of flying traffic, neon signs, and NPCs wandering around is staggering. In previous generations, the hardware would have choked on that much data.
Here, the PS5's custom I/O architecture allows the game to pull assets from the drive so fast that the developers could afford to make every square inch of the map look like a high-budget Pixar film. It's dense. It's loud. It feels alive in a way that most "open world" games fail to capture because they have to spread their assets thin to keep the frame rate stable.
Rivet and the emotional core of the multiverse
Introducing a new protagonist is always a gamble. Fans love Ratchet. They’ve been playing as him since 2002 on the PS2. Bringing in Rivet, a female Lombax from a dimension where Emperor Nefarious actually won, could have felt like a cheap spin-off character. But she isn't.
Rivet is voiced by Jennifer Hale, who basically defines "top-tier voice acting" in this industry (you probably know her as Female Shepard from Mass Effect). She brings a weary, slightly more cynical edge to the Lombax archetype that balances Ratchet’s eternal optimism. The story isn't just about saving the multiverse; it's a weirdly touching look at loneliness. Both Ratchet and Rivet think they are the last of their kind. When they finally realize they aren't alone, it hits harder than you'd expect from a game where you also shoot goats out of a "mutterator" gun.
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That DualSense haptic feedback is actually useful
Usually, controller vibrations are just... vibrations. You hit a wall, it shakes. You get shot, it shakes.
In Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for PlayStation 5, the DualSense is doing some heavy lifting. The adaptive triggers have "stages." If you're using the Enforcer (a double-barreled shotgun), pulling the trigger halfway shows you a trajectory. Pulling it past a tactile "click" fires both barrels. It changes the way you interact with the arsenal because you can feel the resistance of the springs in the trigger. Even the tiny internal speaker plays the "click-clack" of collecting bolts, which sounds trivial until you realize how much it adds to the sensory loop of the game.
The weapons are still the stars of the show
Insomniac has always been the king of weird guns. They didn't miss here. You have the Topiary Sprinkler, which literally turns terrifying robotic enemies into harmless garden hedges that you can then shatter. It's hilarious. It’s also strategically deep because it provides crowd control in a game that loves to throw fifty enemies at you at once.
Then there’s the Ricochet. You fire a ball that hits an enemy, and then you can time your button presses to make that same ball keep bouncing off their head like a deadly game of tetherball. It rewards rhythm. It makes combat feel like a dance rather than just "point and spray."
Why the PC port didn't "kill" the PS5's prestige
There was a lot of noise when Sony brought this to PC. People said, "See? You don't need a PS5 SSD to run this." That's technically true now, thanks to DirectStorage, but it misses the point. Rift Apart was built around a specific set of constraints and opportunities. On the PS5, it is a perfectly tuned machine. There’s no stuttering, no shader compilation issues (which plagued the PC launch for many), and no need to check if your RAM is fast enough.
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It remains the cleanest experience of the game. If you’re playing on a 4K OLED TV with HDR enabled, the colors in the Savali desert or the reflections on the metal floors of the various space stations are genuinely some of the best visuals ever put on a console.
Technical nuances: Fidelity vs. Performance
You have to make a choice when you boot this up.
- Fidelity Mode: 30fps but native 4K with heavy ray-tracing. It looks like a movie.
- Performance Mode: 60fps at a lower resolution.
- Performance RT: This is the sweet spot. You get 60fps and ray-tracing, using some clever temporal upscaling to keep it looking sharp.
If you have a 120Hz display, the game even offers a 40fps "balanced" mode. It sounds like a small jump from 30, but in terms of frame timing, it’s exactly halfway between 30 and 60. It feels incredibly smooth while keeping the high-end visuals. It's honestly the way the game was meant to be played.
The "Glitches" aren't actually glitches
One of the more creative parts of the gameplay involves "Glitch," a tiny spider-bot you control to clear viruses out of computer systems. These sections play like a miniature third-person shooter on walls and ceilings. It breaks up the pacing perfectly. Just when you're getting tired of the high-octane rail grinding and explosive combat, the game slows down and lets you solve a spatial puzzle.
And we can't ignore the "Pocket Dimensions." These are optional platforming challenges scattered around the maps. They’re basically mini-universes tucked away in tears in space. Completing them usually nets you armor pieces, which, for the first time in the series, aren't tied to stats. You get the stat bonus just for owning the armor, meaning you can dress Ratchet or Rivet however you want without worrying about losing defense points. It’s a "quality of life" change that every RPG should steal.
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Real talk: Is it too short?
Some critics complained the game is short—about 10 to 12 hours for a standard playthrough. They aren't wrong. If you're looking for a 100-hour Ubisoft-style map-clearing simulator, this isn't it. But every hour is "killer," not "filler." There isn't a single boring mission. Every planet introduces a new mechanic or a new way to move through the world.
The hoverboots, for example, turn the game into a high-speed skating racer at times. The sheer momentum you can build up makes backtracking for collectibles feel like a reward rather than a chore.
Actionable Steps for the Best Experience
To get the most out of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for PlayStation 5, you should optimize your setup rather than just hitting "Start."
- Switch to Performance RT Mode immediately. The jump from 30 to 60 frames per second is transformative for a fast-paced shooter, and you won't notice the slight resolution dip in the heat of battle.
- Invest in a pair of Pulse 3D headphones or any high-quality headset that supports Tempest 3D Audio. The directional sound in the dimensional collapses is terrifyingly immersive.
- Don't skip the side quests on Sargasso. Helping out the Morts early on gives you access to better traversal tools that make the rest of the game significantly more fun.
- Abuse the "Phantom Dash." It gives you i-frames (invincibility frames). You can dash through enemy fire without taking damage, which is essential if you're playing on the higher "Renegade Legend" difficulty.
- Check the accessibility menu. Insomniac included incredible options here, like a "game speed" toggle that lets you slow things down to 70% or 50% if a particular platforming section is giving you trouble.
This isn't just a game for kids. It’s a technical marvel that proves why dedicated hardware still matters in an era where everything is moving toward the cloud. It is dense, beautiful, and most importantly, it's just fun to play.