86) Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021)

Though serving as the ninth game in the Ratchet & Clank series, Rift Apart was the first game where development wasn't helmed by Insomniac's secondary team in North Carolina, instead being developed by the entire team at both studios. Serving as a follow-up to both 2013's Into the Nexus and 2016's remake of the first game, Rift Apart was designed to appeal both to newcomers and veterans of the series. Taking advantage of the Playstation 5 hardware, the team landed on dimensional travel as a fun way to quickly change the environments, switching between them rapidly on the fly. Leveraging this idea of shifting between dimensions and parallel worlds, the team took particular influence from the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life, with the questions raised about how different Ratchet's life would be had he never met Clank becoming the foundation for the story.

The story begins with Ratchet and Clank attending a parade being held in their honor. While Ratchet laments how long it's been since they did anything worthy of a parade, Clank urges him along while it's revealed that he has a mysterious gift waiting for Ratchet at the end. This section serves as both a low stakes tutorial while also providing an abridged version of the duo's previous adventures. The mysterious gift is revealed to be a device known as the Dimensionator, which is capable of opening up rifts to other dimensions. Intended to be used to aide Ratchet in his longstanding goal of finding his family and the rest of the Lombax race, the moment is interrupted as former villain, Dr. Nefarious, attacks the parade in order to steal the Dimensionator. During the confrontation, the device is destroyed, hurtling Ratchet, Clank, and Nefarious into an unknown parallel universe where the three are separated.

Nefarious discovers that, in this alternate world, he is referred to as Emperor Nefarious and has all but succeeded in his universal conquest. Clank, now missing an arm, is picked up by a mysterious Lombax that turns out to be a member of a rebel group desperately trying to put an end to Nefarious's reign. She introduces herself as Rivet, a female Lombax with a mechanical arm who, unlike Ratchet, prefers to work alone and has a general distrust of robots. Nonetheless, once she discovers that Clank is telling the truth, she agrees to help him reunite with Ratchet and attempt to get home. Ratchet, for his part, winds up alone, having to piece together what's happened. He eventually meets up with a small robot named Kit who's hesitant to get involved, but due to Ratchet's persistence decides to join him in his journey

The majority of the gameplay consists of your typical platforming and third person shooting action that the series is known for. All progress and movement options are shared between our two sets of protagonists, which feels a bit like a missed opportunity but serves to keep the gameplay fluid. Each planet we visit sees us playing as a predetermined pair, so it's nice to not have to switch between drastically different gameplay styles. The team at Insomniac took full advantage of the lessons learned from making Sunset Overdrive and the Spider-Man games, fully utilizing different movement styles that can string together in an intuitive and satisfying way. Though the game only features a handful of truly open world areas, they are deeply satisfying to simply run around and explore thanks to this experience, though the game's stunning graphics go a long way toward this as well.

One of the primary draws of the Ratchet & Clank games is the wide variety of unique weapons available, and Rift Apart certainly doesn't disappoint. While it's easy to find a favorite weapon and stick to it, it's worth exploring the other options as well, as the upgrades you unlock open all kinds of possibilities. While some of the weapons feel better than others, the team did a wonderful job of balancing them along with providing a variety of enemy types so that it's always fun to experiment and try something new.

While it had been a while since Ratchet & Clank's last outing, it's clear that the magic is still there and a ton of love and care went into making Rift Apart. With plenty of callbacks to previous entries as well as a few easter eggs poking fun at other Sony exclusive games, the game comes off as a celebration of the series while also helping to set up future installments. Rivet, the new female Lombax, is a fun and interesting addition to the series who we hopefully get to see more of going forward. While the story is more than a little predictable, the charming cast and brilliant humor help make it stand out as a wonderful return of this iconic duo.