We now know that Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is launching on June 11. We got a brand new pre-order trailer to try to convince us all to put some money down early, but I saw something completely different. In the trailer are some new details that some people may not have noticed. I’m going to cover those here to make sure that you all know about them. We’re also going to think about how those mechanics will play into the wider game, making it even larger than we might have first thought. Check out the trailer below and let’s get started.
The first thing I have to point out is the rope being used to pull a rift towards Ratchet. This looks like some new kind of tool that’s intrinsically linked with the rifts that are now appearing everywhere. I don’t know too much about the story, but I’m pretty sure neither Ratchet nor Clank is responsible for these rifts. That begs the question of why Ratchet has this rope. I wonder if the pair are following the person responsible and have picked up this tool that was left behind.
With that in mind, the second thing I think we should look at is the point where Ratchet falls through a rift. He appears to be floating around in space, or between space, with loads of shattered rifts in front of him. I think that this could be some new sort of screen for players to use to navigate between worlds. Traditionally, we’ve had a ship to take us from point to point. However, it would make more sense for the rifts to fulfill this role instead. This might make each world larger because there’s no need to incorporate a ship and space in this game.
Finally, I don’t think enough is being made of the differences between the worlds here. I wonder if the game will take a page from The Medium’s book and have actions in one world affect another through a rift. This could make for some truly mind-bending puzzles. We’ll just have to wait and see if any of this is in the game when it launches later this year.