'Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart' Dev Gushes Over 'Incredible' New Weapon

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart has long been used as a spectacular showcase for what the PlayStation 5 is capable of. And as the release of Insomniac Games' PS5-exclusive title nears, we've been speaking to its director, Mike Daly, about all kinds of things. Lombaxes, of course; and SSD capabilities. But, most importantly of all, guns.

Because, come on: if Ratchet & Clank is known for one thing, above everything else, as a series, it's the amazing arsenal of blasters and launchers and poppers and fizzers that the titular heroes have at their disposal. And Daly has one gun in particular that he's exceptionally excited for, in Rift Apart: the Negatron Collider.

You can see the weapon for yourself in the State of Play video below - in a menu screen at 10.30, and briefly in action at 16.10

"It's so hard to pick a favourite," he told our Imogen Mellor, when she spoke with Daly. "When I play through the game I always pick my least-favourite weapon so I can figure out how we can elevate them and make sure that every weapon in the arsenal can be somebody's favourite. But if you're going to twist my arm, my favourite's probably the Negatron Collider."

This all-new gun was briefly showcased in Sony's State of Play special on Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, at the end of April - and you can see it in said video, above. It's a powerful beast, blasting out a beam that cuts through several opponents at once.

"I love that satisfying audio-visual haptic sensation of charging up the weapon," Daly continues. "And then the adaptive trigger [on the PS5's DualSense controller], and the flexibility that it gives you on canceling and firing. Really, it just looks incredible. I love how the energy of the weapon makes rocks float around you, and they'll scatter across the atmosphere when you fire; and I love the tactical satisfaction of charging up while you're trying to get enemies in a line so you can get the most out of your shot. It just works on a lot of levels, and it's really satisfying."

Sony Interactive Entertainment, Insomniac Games

Daly also tells us that Rift Apart will have the best selection of weapons yet, for a Ratchet & Clank game: "I definitely have no regrets about the arsenal that we picked and how they're rolled out over the course of the campaign. I really think that we've made our best arsenal yet."

We also asked him about Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man of 2018, and its Miles Morales follow-up of 2020, to see if those projects have had any impact on Rift Apart.

"With those games, we found that when the player has an expressive palette of moves, where they have multiple options for how to deal with threats and get from place to place, it just feels a lot better," he explained. "It feels like you're getting creative, and you have a higher skill ceiling, and we wanted that feeling for Ratchet. So we've tweaked how Ratchet moves and goes from move to move, and introduced some new ones that give you a better sense of that flow, so that you have more options on how to close distance or get to cover, or even just jump across a gap."

Ratchet might not be swinging through the multiple dimensions of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, but it sounds like the experience of Spidey has given his creators a new outlook on his movement. We'll find out for sure when the game releases on June 11; and you can read our full interview with Mike Daly very soon on GAMINGbible.co.uk (oh, look at you, you're already here!)

Topics: PlayStation 5, Insomniac Games