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YMMV / Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

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  • Accidental Innuendo: At the very end, if you didn't take the whole "Ratchet changing his mind about not finding the lombaxes" thing under context.
    Ratchet: Well... How would you two [Rivet and Kit] feel about making a pit stop on the way?
    Rivet: Where are we headed?
    Ratchet: I think you know.
  • Alternate Self Shipping: The Reveal that Rivet is Ratchet's female self from an alternate dimension didn't stop people from shipping the two, and in fact encouraged some shippers to pair the two more after this revelation.
  • Award Snub: While not causing nearly as much of a stir as what happened with Psychonauts 2, the fact that Rift Apart gained 6 nominations at the Game Awards 2021 and didn't win a single one shocked many. The game losing out on Best Art Direction and Innovation in Accessibility in particular to Deathloop and Forza Horizon 5 respectively rubbed a number of players the wrong way.
  • Best Level Ever:
    • Savali is a rather different level; the Hoverboots are first introduced here, and the level is arguably the biggest in the series so far. The parkour of the Mountain Trial and the many enemies that have to be fought to free the Monks before defending the Archives against a final attack all combine to make a memorable level unlike anything that came before it.
    • Torren IV, home of the Vullards, becomes far more desolate in an alternate universe where the Guardian is replaced by a giant robot named the Fixer. The level introduces the Hurlshot and many parkour segments revolving around switching between wall-running and grinding, culminating in an attack from Pierre and his band of space pirates, before the final battle against the Fixer which takes the form of an extended grind rail segment.
  • Captain Obvious Reveal: Captain Quantum being Qwark's interdimensional counterpart was built as a surprise reveal, but it wasn't that hard to figure out since both characters were self-titled Captains with their names starting with "Q."
  • Catharsis Factor: After spending the entire game acting like an arrogant, tyrannical Jerkass who subjected an untold number of people to oppression and death, along with treating his much beloved counterpart like crap, watching Emperor Nefarious get dragged off by the kraken while pathetically begging for Dr. Nefarious to save him is nothing short of gratifying.
  • Character Rerailment:
    • After his last (mainline) appearance in All 4 One turned him into somewhat of a Butt-Monkey, Dr. Nefarious has once again become a legitimate threat having acquired the Dimensionator, amassed another robot army, and hired more muscle in the form of Goons-4-Less. While he does get shafted somewhat by his dimensional counterpart for a portion of the game, he makes up for it at the very end when he's the one to deliver the killing blow, as well as an Ironic Echo. Plus he proves himself to still be as formidable as he was in Up Your Arsenal and A Crack in Time, as his fight against Rivet later in the game can attest.
    • A very brief moment but the catalyst for reality beginning to collapse is Ratchet taking a shot at the Dimensionator in an attempt to stop Nefarious, showing his impulsive and somewhat-reckless side that had been missing in the last few games and after the 2016 re-imagining turned him into a Wide-Eyed Idealist.
    • Following his underuse as a character in some 2010s games, most egregiously the 2016 re-imagining, Clank has returned to being more active in the plot, and beyond regaining his back-and-forth banter with Ratchet, is also more expressive and emotive in his speech, similarly to the characterization he had in the PS2 trilogy or the Future games. He's also considerably snarkier than he was in prior entries and even gets a Distaff Counterpart in Kit, who even has a giant form as Clank did in the PS2 games.
  • Cheese Strategy: On Sargasso, there's a Pocket Dimension where the player is required to forge a path and platform using crates. To prevent the section from being Unintentionally Unwinnable, the crates respawn shortly after being destroyed. However, since every crate in the game contains bolts, this means the player can rack up a huge amount of bolts from destroying the crates over and over again. If you have the Ricochet (which will always come back to you as long as it doesn't hit an enemy), you can essentially farm for bolts endlessly, making it much easier to buy the more expensive weapons from Ms. Zurkon late in the game.
  • Complete Monster: Emperor Nefarious hails from an alternate dimension where he successfully achieved his goals of conquering the galaxy. Ruling his dimension as a dictatorship by imprisoning anybody for the pettiest of reasons, while robotizing those who dare refuse to serve him, Nefarious also sends Warbots out to depopulate planets to make them easier to conquer. Returning after a conquest trip to find Dr. Nefarious having assumed command, Nefarious chooses to partner with him to wipe out the resistance, before attempting to destroy Rivet's home planet afterwards. Once Nefarious finds victory to be boring, he gets the idea to use his new Dimensionator to instead rule over every single dimension so that he will always win. Tricking Ratchet and friends into helping him locate the Dimensional Map by invading the planet Savali, Nefarious thanks his alternate counterpart for assisting him by setting out to conquer his dimension first against his partner's wishes. When he looks to be losing for the first time in his life, Nefarious tries to overclock the Dimensionator in an attempt to undo all of reality itself.
  • Continuity Lock-Out: Despite Insomniac's claims that the game would be a good starting point for new players, the game relies very heavily on callbacks and references to prior installments without making an effort to properly recap what happened in them. As such, much of the plot can come off as confusing to those who haven't played prior games (namely the Future saga and Into the Nexus).
    • The game brings up a whole host of side characters from throughout the series' history: Captain Qwark, Skidd McMarx, and Rusty Pete have minor roles and get counterparts in Rivet's dimension that play major roles in the story, references and easter eggs to Big Al, Talwyn Apogee, Angela Cross, Lawrence, and Chairman Drek are made at various points, and Gary's father is said to be the Plumber. The significance of these characters will be lost on players who are not already familiar with them, especially as many of these characters had not shown back up in the series in years.
    • While new fans will be able to get the gist of Dr. Nefarious' rivalry with the duo, mentions to him coming out of hiding and his various past defeats (as well as a brief dialogue where he mentions a hatred for Qwark) will make more sense to those who have played Up Your Arsenal, A Crack in Time, and, to a lesser extent, All 4 One.
    • Clank rebuilding the Dimensionator is what kicks off the entire plot, but the game never goes into detail as to why the device has such significance to him and Ratchet nor what broke it in the first place. This is explained in Tools of Destruction and Into the Nexus, where the device was a major plot element.
    • Ratchet's hesitance to seek out the Lombaxes and Clank's determination to help him find them is the result of the duo witnessing Emperor Tachyon, Alister Azimuth, and the Progg twins trying to reunite with their respective races and the outcomes of each ones' attempts. These events are only ever referenced vaguely and in passing, which is especially egregious in regards to Tachyon and Azimuth as they were both directly tied to the Lombaxes.
    • The entirety of the Lombax Lorbs come off as little more than simple references to other PlayStation franchises with a large dose of Vagueness Is Coming to those who haven't played Tools of Destruction or A Crack in Time — Kaden was Ratchet's father, and the event that makes him demand that Mags find places for the Lombaxes to hide was Tachyon coming to slaughter them all.
    • Players who are not familiar with the very first installment find that Kit's ability to transform into a large Warbot seems to come out of nowhere, especially since both halves of the 2016 reimagining ommitted it entirely from the story of her counterpart, Clank.
  • Crosses the Line Twice:
    • The encounter with "Snoojax"... which is in reality a dead Grunthor that the Pirates forgot to feed. It wouldn't be nearly as hilarious if it weren't for the reactions of the parties involved. Even if, well, it is a Grunthor.
    • Speaking of which, the encounter with the Undead Grunthor. What is essentially a Zombie Dinosaur is one thing, but Clank of all people responding with a Precision F-Strike turns what would otherwise be borderline Nightmare Fuel into sheer hilarity!
      Clank: Holy *beep*--!
  • Fanfic Fuel:
    • There are various dimensions based on other PlayStation titles like Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper with the RYNO 8 even dropping said characters (Sly is even ripped straight from the PlayStation 2 games!) into Ratchet's game. Can anyone say "Fanfic potential?"
    • Its implied that the Lombaxes aren't just all in some random dimension, but are actually scattered across the Multiverse. Add on the fact that the multiverse includes both alternate versions of the Ratchet and Clank universe and various other PlayStation properties, one can't help but wonder...
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Before her name was revealed as Rivet, some fans called her "Mallet" thanks to her hammer-like weapon, while others called her "Rachette" due to her being seen as a Distaff Counterpart to Ratchet. Funnily enough, it turns out this was actually a working name for her in development.
    • Fans have taken to calling the game "Rivet & Clank" due to the large amount of focus being put on Rivet over Ratchet in the previews and developer interviews.
  • Friendly Fandoms:
  • Game-Breaker:
    • In terms of normal weapons, there's the Topiary/Toxiary Sprinkler. It freezes all enemies in place (including Bosses) and coats them in fauna while doing some very good damage over time. The fact that it's one of the quickest weapons in the game to upgrade also helps, too. It is most certainly on the level of the Bouncer (which in itself also returns in this game) and the Rift Inducer in terms of its overall utility and stopping power, to say the least.
    • The Cold Snap. While it takes a while to upgrade, it provides a huge damage bonus once fully upgraded. You can unlock the ability for frozen enemies to shatter into shards, damaging surrounding enemies. This results in a screen-clearing chain reaction of explosions from hitting only a single frozen enemy. It leaves behind a cloud that can even freeze the same boss multiple times and any new enemies that enter the area. Cycling between the Cold Snap and a powerful single-shot weapon such as the Warmonger or Headhunter can be kill bosses in a matter of seconds, making the weapon a key aspect of speedrunning. Its only downsides are low-ammo capacity and that it unlocks relatively late in the game, but taking the time to fully upgrade Cold Snap is absolutely worth the trouble.
    • The Enforcer/Executor is also an extremely effective all-rounder of a weapon. Its unique trait of firing in two-round bursts (or four-round when fully upgraded) makes it very effective to use both against crowds and against Bosses. The fact that it remains consistently reliable well into the endgame as well as being one of the very first weapons available to purchase for a measly 1,250 bolts helps it quite nicely.
  • Goddamned Bats:
    • Amoeboids. If you didn't like them in the first game (or the reboot) or Up Your Arsenal, then you probably won't like them here, either.
    • Nefarious Sluggers. They're not by any means difficult to take out on their own, but seeing as the harder difficulties like to send legions of these rustbuckets on your ass you'll find yourself overwhelmed pretty quickly if you're not on top of things with The Enforcer or the Negatron Collider.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • June 2020 gave us a reveal for a new game in a long-running platformer series starring an animal protagonist having to deal with their arch-enemy who is causing mayhem across multiple dimensions, all while returning to their original continuity. Are we talking about Rift Apart or Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time?
      • Adding to this is that the unreleased Crash Bandicoot Evolution had too similar a premise with the original Ratchet & Clank (2002) (a villain trying to take pieces of other planets to construct a new one), hence why it was canceled and eventually re-tooled into Crash Twinsanity.
      • The kicker of it all is that both dimensional predicaments were caused by the heroes (Ratchet causing the Dimensionator to backfire in Rift Apart, and the Bandicoots breaking the Time Twister to trap the scientists in another dimension, only for them to escape in It's About Time).
      • If all that wasn't enough, both animal protagonists have to deal with a Dr. Nefarious as the major villain of the piece.
      • And on top of that, both games feature two versions of their respective Nefariouses: One from the main dimension, and one hailing from the same dimension as the new playable female characters.
      • Okay, one more: the portals in both use a "shattered glass" visual motif and colours their portals the same color: purple!
    • At the end of the short Ratchet & Clank: Life of Pie, Nefarious is defeated by Ratchet opening a portal and unleashing a tentacle monster upon the doctor. Flash forward to Rift Apart and the main cast employ nearly the exact same plan to defeat Emperor Nefarious.
  • Ho Yay:
    • Some fans have noted a similarity between Clank throwing a parade in order to gift Ratchet the rebuilt Dimensionator and a Wacky Marriage Proposal, and Ratchet spends half the game after they get separated worrying about Clank.
    • Ratchet and Clank have a moment where they gaze fondly into each others eyes as "Happy Together" by The Turtles — a love song — plays in the background on the radio. And Ratchet turns it up!
    • Rivet and Kit's relationship got off to a bit of a rocky start, what with the amputation, but they get a sense that they're supposed to be together and Kit ultimately comes back to help.
  • I Knew It!:
    • Many fans had speculated that the game took place in the original Ratchet & Clank (2002) - Into the Nexus timeline instead of the PS4/Movie one, which was confirmed during Gamescom 2020.
    • The gameplay trailer in April 2021 confirmed two long standing theories:
      • It was speculated that the female Lombax's name would be Rosie, Rose, or Rivet ever since a blog post teased that fans would be "feeling rosy soon" in regards to her name. The third one ended up being the character's name.
      • It was long speculated that there would be multiple Nefariouses involved in the plot (the one from the mainline dimension, and one from Rivet's dimension), which the gameplay trailer confirmed.
    • The May 12th, 2021 previews of the game confirmed two fan theories: That Rivet was an alternate version of Ratchet, and that the mysterious 'Phantom' was actually an alternative Skidd McMarx.
    • Pretty much every fan had guessed that Clank would get an interdimensional counterpart alongside Ratchet with Rivet, with the only thing keeping it from being a full-blown Captain Obvious Reveal is the fact that none of the game's pre-release marketing alluded to Kit's existence.
    • In a roundabout example, those who called Rivet "Rachette" prior to her name being revealed weren't actually too far off; an unused early model for Rivet reveals a working name for her actually was Rachette!
  • Improved Second Attempt: As she is his dimensional counterpart, Rivet's arc manages to address the criticisms levied at Ratchet's own in both the very first game and the 2016 reimagining — She is headstrong and abrasive whilst never crossing the line into full-blown Jerkass territory like Ratchet did in the former game, but she's also still kind and heroic without being a naive Wide-Eyed Idealist like the latter. Additionally, her cold attitude around Clank and Kit are far more understandable considering the dimension she lives in, however Insomniac took care not to let her spew too much of the same mean-spirited Wangst that Ratchet piled onto Clank for a good portion of their first outing.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Dr. Nefarious, surprisingly. While he's still, well, Nefarious, it can be kind of hard not to feel bad for him with the way that his Alternate Self treats him. Not helping matters is that he's riding solo for this adventure, since, in a rare showcase of Pet the Dog from him, not only did he pay the Goons-4-Less that he hired earlier very generously, but he also has Lawrence away on paternity leave. He even fawns over his newborn in the Creative Closing Credits, too.
  • Memetic Mutation:
  • Moral Event Horizon: Emperor Nefarious crosses it when he decides to overclock the Dimensionator to destroy all of reality just because he can't handle losing for the first time.
  • Polished Port: The PC port released in 2023 proves to be just as powerful on that platform as on its home system, if not moreso, with a truck load of graphics options to tweak and modify. It also is one of the first PC titles to leverage the DirectStorage API to allow it to match the instantaneous loads that the PS5 version was capable of.
    • An extra point in the port's favor is that it's Steam Deck verified, meaning that Valve has tested it and deemed it to run near-flawlessly on the handheld. That's right, you can play one of the PS5's Tech-Demo Games portably (without the need to stream it no less), and while you do need to turn down the graphics to get the best performance on the handheld, the game still looks stunning even on the lowest settings.
  • Popular with Furries: Rivet attracted a large swath of furry fans almost as soon as she appeared in the reveal trailer. This tweet by Xavier Coelho-Kostolny, one of the game’s designers, confirms that this was the reaction he was hoping for, and he regularly retweets fanart of her as well.
    Xavier: Even though a lot's changed since I was on the project, I'm very happy I was able to contribute in some small way to the Furry Awakening that's going to happen when the new Ratchet & Clank drops.
  • Preemptive Shipping: When the first trailer revealed the appearance of a female Lombax (later revealed to be named Rivet), people started shipping her with Ratchet.
  • Presumed Flop: A supposed fact that gets passed around in the gaming community is that Rift Apart was a major flop, as a slideshow released in the 2023 Insomniac data breach detailed their projects' return on investments and appeared to show that the game lost $8 million. Except the slideshow in question was made prior to this game's release and was what the studio was estimating to lose in 2021 (as Rift Apart was released halfway through the year during a period when the general public was still having issues buying PlayStation 5 consoles to begin with). Furthermore, other leaked documents showed that Rift Apart had sold nearly 4 million copies by June 2023 and thus actually turned a profit of $64 million, with a more recent slideshow even containing a screenshot from the game with the text "We're profitable!" edited onto it.
  • Scrappy Weapon:
    • The Void Repulsor/Reactor. While its concept is interesting, the end result is a poor man's Holo-Shield Launcher with abysmal damage for a Shotgun-type weapon (especially compared to The Enforcer or the Pixelizer), yet burns through ammo absurdly quickly. On top of that, it only gains experience by shooting enemies, so using it to block enemy shots drains its ammo reserve without earning progress toward an upgrade. While the final upgrade's ability to catch shots and fire them back is a cool idea on paper, the returned shots are so weak that it's not worth the trouble to upgrade it that far.
    • The Bombardier is meant to be an assist weapon meant to help chip away at enemy health. But unfortunately, there are many better options for support weapons in the game. When deployed, the Bombadier flies in a straight line while automatically targeting enemies on the ground with projectiles. Said projectiles have horrid damage capability, and are so slow to drop that they probably won't hit anything in the first place. And forget about using it against flying enemies, as the Bombadier flies too low to target them. Combine this with an ammo pool of only three shots, and it's enough to make you wonder why this weapon even exists when Mr. Fungi does the same thing more effectively.
  • Shocking Moments:
    • The PS5 reveal stream that announced this game had shown another Insomniac Games project earlier - Spider-Man: Miles Morales - so seeing a new Ratchet & Clank as well came as a surprise to some.
    • The trailer confirmed the series would bring back the Lombax race in some form... by having Rivet, a female specimen, suddenly drop in behind Clank.
    • The April 2021 State of Play revealed a new gameplay mechanic: The ability to equip (and therefore mix-and-match) individual pieces of armor. That alone came a surprise to many, but what really caught fans off guard was the fact that this is actually a returning feature... from Size Matters.note 
    • The RYNO 8 bringing in items from other dimensions? Makes sense, given the game's theme. Some of those items being from other PlayStation franchises? Fitting. One of those franchises being Sunset Overdrive, a game with a much higher age rating than Ratchet & Clank and that has never appeared on a PlayStation console? Nobody was expecting that, even with it being an Insomniac-made game that Sony now owns.
      • On a similar note, did anyone expect Merryn's submarine from Song of the Deep — a game that almost instantly fell into obscurity that Insomniac themselves haven't even mentioned in years — to be amongst the items the weapon can drop? Now THAT is a deep cut!
  • Surprisingly Improved Sequel: At reveal Rift Apart was met with a large amount of skepticism due to the Sophomore Slump the series fell into during the 2010s, especially since the 2016 PS4 game — while well received overall — was rather notorious for its weak script and stiff dialogue cutscenes. However upon release the game received critical acclaim the franchise had not seen since the Future trilogy; not only were the visuals lauded by both critics and players alike as being on-par with major theatrical productions with the stiff animations nowhere to be found, but the story and writing was found to be a vast improvement over both the 2016 reimagining as well as the last mainline title Into the Nexus, with the introductions of Rivet and Kit to be a particular highlight. Add onto gameplay which is often cited as being the best in the entire series and it's no wonder that Rift Apart managed to become one of the fastest selling entries. It was even nominated for Game of the Year at the Game Awards 2021, a first for the series!
  • Tainted by the Preview: Before release, a number of fans expressed disappointment that Dr. Nefarious appeared as a major character yet again, especially since it was implied that he would be the main antagonist for the fourth time. While this sentiment slowly died down as it was revealed that he would be receiving an alternate counterpart, it didn't stop claims that the character has become overused in the franchise.
  • That One Sidequest: The game is easy enough in general even on the hardest difficulty if one uses weapons well enough, but third Bronze Challenge in local Monster Arena, Boomstick Blast, is incredibly difficult on two highest difficulties if attempted as soon as possible. In this challenge you have to use Enforcer only (or Rivet's hammer) against Goons-4-less armed either with long range guns or with jetpacks with grenade launchers, both of which like you to shoot you from afar while out of your range. The arena consisting of five separate platforms in X-shape makes this much worse, since you're exposed to gunfire while switching platforms, and Rift Tether does not provide invincibility frames. The best way to do this is to have fully maxed Enforcer with most if not all Raritanium upgrades, making maximum use of Phantom Dash which does provide invincibility frames, and/or just attempt this later when Rivet has more Nanotech.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Captain Qwark's presence in this game is quite minimal in comparison to prior appearances, only being relegated to a cameo in the beginning and towards the end when he interacts with his Alternate Self, Captain Quantum. Understandable since Jim Ward wasn't exactly in the best of health to reprise the role (and had officially retired before production began), with Ward being replaced by Scott Whyte in this game.
  • Trans Audience Interpretation: Fans have speculated that Rivet may be transgender due to her having a tail despite Insomniac previously stating that female Lombaxes do not have tails.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome:
    • The trailers alone showcase what the new hardware of the PlayStation 5 is capable of producing. Ratchet's (and Rivet's) fur and Clank's shiny metal exterior are more detailed than ever and the environments are stunningly beautiful, detailed, and full of life, not to mention all the various effects employed in the midst of combat as well as when using rifts in the space-time continuum to seamlessly travel between completely different planets. It's to the point where it manages to far surpass the Ratchet & Clank movie in visuals which already qualified as an example of this trope.
    • Then there's the fact that you can run it in Performance Mode with Raytracing enabled. The end result is one of the prettiest games in the entire console generation as well as a true testament to the PlayStation 5's capabilities.
    • In fact, the visuals ended up snagging Rift Apart the Annie award for "Best Character Animation in a Video Game" in 2021!
  • Win Back the Crowd:
    • After the critical and commercial success of A Crack In Time the Ratchet & Clank series entered something of a slump, with a string of games that received mixed reception and which began a hiatus for the series aside from the 2016 remake which did well enough. Rift Apart received glowing reviews from fans and critics alike and was widely considered a return to form as well as one of the best games in the franchise, going on to sell four million copies.
    • The decision to have Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame compose the soundtrack was met with nearly universal positivity by fans, especially those who felt Michael Bross' work on the last handful of installments (especially the 2016 re-imagining) strayed too far away from the catchier, electronic-filled sound the series had under its original composer David Bergeaud. The previews of several tracks that PlayStation provided only furthered this sentiment, mixing both orchestral and electric sounds akin to Bergeaud's work.
    • While fans were not thrilled at the prospect of Dr. Nefarious being a major character again, many were won over the moment Emperor Nefarious made his entrance into the plot. His place as a Vile Villain, Saccharine Show combined with his Cold Ham personality made him a perfect counterpart to the Doctor we're familiar with, with many moments proving that he's a much more capable villain. Topped off with a performance by Robin Atkin Downes that's as entertaining as it is chilling and it's no wonder that he's become one of the standout characters alongside Rivet and Kit.

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