Note: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart was played on a Windows 11 gaming notebook with an i7-11370H CPU (4C/8T), 8GB RTX 3070 GPU (GDDR6), 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM, and PCIe 3 NVMe M.2 drive. Unless otherwise specified, screen captures were taken at 1080p, using DLSS Quality mode and “High” settings without ray-tracing features.

As of this review going up – after several post-launch hotfixes over the last three weeks – playing Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on PC is a mostly stable experience, on most hardware configurations. It’s great that PC players can finally enjoy a solid entry in the IP without dealing with PS Now’s dubious streaming quality, and it proves more scalable than many recent PS5-to-PC ports. However, after a slow trickle of former PlayStation exclusives arriving on PC in excellent state, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart joins Returnal and The Last of Us: Part I as ports seemingly pushed out before they were ready, for no obvious reason, resulting in self-inflicted reputation damage.





As a longtime fan of the IP – and having replayed the PS2 trilogy more times than I’d care to admit – Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart doesn’t quite hit the same highs or match the scope of its predecessors but it’s a technical showcase and, from a narrative and gameplay perspective, provides a brisk and entertaining ride with a memorable and charmingly goofy cast. Ratchet and Clank is an IP that has always prioritised being “fun” above all else and Rift Apart is no different.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart doesn’t quite hit the same highs or match the scope of its predecessors but it’s a technical showcase.

If this is your first experience with the IP, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart feels suitably self-contained and includes some character notes to get you up to speed. However, it’s also packed with references to past events and features many returning characters, so it’s a richer experience if you’ve played the prior games – especially as the dimension-hopping narrative reduces Ratchet and Clank to untrusted newcomers, rather than respected heroes.



Events kick off when mercenaries invade a celebration parade for the heroic pair. Amidst the chaos, Clank reveals to Ratchet he has repaired the Dimensionator – a returning MacGuffin from the Future Saga – so that he could continue his search for the remaining Lombax. Neferious reveals himself and steals the Dimensionator, intent on simply travelling to a dimension where he was successful after so many failed schemes thwarted by the pair.

Ratchet and Clank are dragged through the rift with him and separated when the device is destroyed. Rivet – another Lombax and member of the resistance against “Emperor Neferious” – makes off with the damaged Clank, leaving Ratchet alone in a new dimension with no obvious friends. What follows is a brisk 13-ish hour adventure, in which you’ll play as both Ratchet and Rivet, as their paths eventually collide; they team up with many familiar, albeit alternate-dimension resistance members to rebuild the Dimensionator; and discovering their own version of Neferious might be the least of their worries.



Gameplay-wise, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart follows the tried-and-tested formula of interspersing platforming and puzzle-like sequences, with chaotic third-person shooting, frequent minigames, and several boss fights as you travel back and forth between a half-dozen planets, space stations, and even jumbled pocket dimensions. You traverse hub-and-spoke style levels, usually with a main story path, an optional mission or two, and a few areas blocked off until the story or your gear allows access – all of which loop back on themselves. By modern standards, you might call the design dated, but thanks to the dimension-hopping premise, visual spectacle, and satisfying mechanics, it still holds up.

You traverse hub-and-spoke style levels, usually with a main story path, an optional mission or two, and a few areas blocked off until the story or your gear allows access.

The platforming feels slicker than ever, and it helps you unlock most traversal abilities – such as the double-jump, glide, grappling hook, wall-run, and a dash – very early on. Rather than simple roadblocks, there are more puzzle-like platforming sequences with a strong focus on timing and precision, with no shortage of upgrade materials and secrets tucked away in corners for those that like exploring. This increased mobility is also essential in combat, with more complex arenas, larger hordes of enemies, and boss fights that involve waves of projectiles, sweeping laser attacks, and devastating AoE attacks. With strong auto-aim – at least when using a gamepad – using short-range portals and precise movement to avoid damage feels more important than precise aiming.



Talking of combat, both Ratchet and Rivet can bludgeon and power-slam foes with their trusty melee weapon but it’s the entertaining assortment guns paired with a simple progression system that kept me hooked. There are almost 20 weapons, including the basic but reliable Burst Pistol, the trash-talking enemy-distracting Mr. Fungi, the double-barrel Enforcer “shotgun”, the enemy-penetrating Negatron Collider, the Pixeliser (for stylish voxel-based destruction), and numerous bomb-glove variants all unlocked withing the opening hours. You spend bolts top purchase them and, as you use them, they gain levels, which in turn unlocks new basic upgrades and unique perks on a grid you activate by investing raritanium. It’s a simple but satisfying progression system that encourages you to mix up your arsenal.

What brings everything together is the impeccable presentation. Even when testing at the lowest PC visual settings, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart often looks and feels like a 3D animated movie you’d see from industry leaders like Pixar or DreamWorks Animation. The staggering amount of environmental detail, smoothly animated character models, and particle effects look incredible; while the dimension-hopping gameplay mechanic is both fun and technically impressive. The cutscenes are a particular highlight, with great directing and voice acting, but as a modern Sony game it demonstrates some bad habits. It’s less of an issue during the mid-game, but there were times it felt like I couldn’t play for more than a few minutes without control taken away from me for another cutscene or tightly controlled, scripted action sequence.



Now despite introducing several PC-specific features – expanded visual features, ultra-wide display support, and acceptable m&k controls – the experience at launch was not great for many players including myself. For reference, a motherboard failure pushed me to invest in another gaming laptop last year, eating into my PS5 budget, so I figured I’d get a system that – on paper – should handle future Sony-published ports. Running Windows 11 with an i7-11370H (4C/8T), 8GB RTX 3070 (GDDR6), 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM, and a PCIe 3 NVMe M.2 drive, I fell somewhere between the “Recommended” and “High” requirements - perfect for the 24” 1080p display I use at my desk.

Despite introducing several PC-specific features – expanded visual features, ultra-wide display support, and acceptable m&k controls – the experience at launch was not great for many players including myself.

The good news is that Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is scalable, behaved in line with the provided guidelines, and didn’t require much tweaking to accommodate notebook components designed to draw less power. A mostly stable 1080p/60 experience at medium settings (or 1440p/30) was achievable – especially when enabling one of the temporal upscalers – the in-engine IGTI, Nvidia’s DLSS, AMD’s FSR 2.1, and Intel’s XeSS – using “Quality” mode for 1080p (or “Balanced” for 1440p).


Very low settings


Medium settings


Very high settings


Very high settings + all ray tracing

If I wanted a console-like “quality” mode, I could drop to 1080p/30 at “high” settings, and even enable ray-traced reflections and shadows with the RTX 3070. Adding ray-traced ambient occlusion resulted in some impressively lifelike lighting behaviour, but the performance hit could dip my framerate below 30 in more complex scenes. Despite the recent internet debates, I would insist on an NVMe drive as when comparing my footage to PS5 gameplay, the loading times were great, but many portal transitions clearly lagged behind by a second and introduced some stuttering.

That said, for those worried about being on the lower end of the requirements, dropping settings to “very low” doesn’t drastically affect Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart's visual make-up on appropriate displays. Running on a 50-inch 4K TV, the lower texture quality, texture filtering methods, and grainy shadows would be noticeable, but it’s less of an issue on smaller 1080p or 1440p monitors. Similarly, features like level of detail, traffic density, hair quality, and weather particle quality look fantastic on higher settings, but the very low settings still look good, while many are features you don't even notice while playing.


Very low settings


Medium settings


Very high settings


Very high settings + all ray tracing

Wrapping up, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart’s biggest issue was (and is, for some) stability. Up until the recent v1.808 patch, I experienced crashes when starting the game, black-screens after reaching the menu, crashes while tweaking visual settings in-game, and crashes during cutscene transitions. I ended up replaying the prologue more times than I care for, and none of those crashes resulted in a notification of any sort indicating what had gone wrong, or the ability to submit a crash report automatically. My current suggestion would be to tweak early – as the prologue is a great stress test – and then not touch the settings again during your playthrough.

It’s a shame as Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a solid addition to the IP and, as it’s been out on PS5 for over a year already, I don't understand what time constraints necessitated pushing it out with lingering issues? Simply holding it back for a few more weeks could have generated nothing but positive press for both the entertaining gameplay, technological achievements, and a quality PC port. That said, if you've been holding off until now, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on PC is now easy to recommend.