Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for PS5 took the lead role in the Gamescom Opening Night Live 2020 stream. This is because, of all the next-generation console games we've seen so far, "Rift Apart" was one of the few titles that almost certainly could not exist on the current consoles. In a lengthy gameplay demo, the duo of protagonists fought goons, upgraded strange weapons, and, perhaps most impressively, jumped dimensions in mere seconds.

Gamescom's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart demo was not significantly different from the one we saw at Sony's Future of Gaming event in June, but it did showcase Ratchet & Clank's place in the timeline, the DualSense controller, and the launch date, among other interesting tidbits of information about the title. (Spoiler alert: it's not a launch title, but you may get it sooner than you think.)

First, if you haven't seen the extended gameplay demo of "Ratchet & Clank" that was shown at Gamescom, you can see it all here:

As mentioned, this is the June we long version of what we saw. In this gameplay fragment, Ratchet and Clank are attacked by the villainous Dr. Nefarious and his henchman Goon 4 Less in a giant city.

If you know the gameplay loop of Ratchet and Clank, you already know what happens here. As Ratchet and Clank dispatch gun-wielding lizards, sand sharks, and robot dogs, they can switch between four different weapons: the classic burst pistol, the area-of-effect shatter bomb, the turret-like topiary sprinkler, and the dual-armored enforcer. Weapons level up the more you use them, and you can collect a variety of nuts and bolts as you destroy enemies, crates, and objects scattered throughout the wide, colorful levels.

Granted, Ratchet & Clank has been doing just that since 2002. When Ratchet goes through a dimensional rift and instantly traverses part of the city, it becomes a PS5-specific experience.

But the truly memorable moment came toward the end of the demo, when Ratchet flew through one rift after another and across four or five different science fiction worlds. While Ratchet took two seconds to navigate through the various rifts, an entire level full of complex platforms, deadly enemies, and destructible objects was loaded in its entirety. This is almost certainly a feature of the PS5's fast-loading SSD, which Sony touts as hundreds of times faster than the PS4's conventional hard drive.

While it is impossible to convey the feel of the controller in a live streaming demo, Insomniac developers did briefly discuss what players can expect the DualSense to feel like during gameplay. While the DualShock 4 (and previous PlayStation controllers) were able to transmit various levels of vibration as Ratchet & Clank fired bullets, bombs, and rockets, the DualSense will allow for more subtle tactile feedback. As a specific example, if the player presses down on the trigger slightly, one barrel of the Enforcer will fire, and if the player presses down all the way, two barrels will fire. In other words, shooting a burst gun is fundamentally different from shooting a Shatterbomb, not only in the intensity of the vibration, but also in the sensation.

Finally, in news that will delight longtime fans, "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart" is a continuation of 2013's "Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus." This means that it will not be a reboot of 2016's well-received "Ratchet & Clank" or a continuation of the awful animated film released the same year. (Although, since the game deals with inter-dimensional travel, it doesn't necessarily mean that Insomniac won't find a way to tie the timelines together in some way. )

It seems premature to predict much about Rift Apart's story, but there are two key elements that I have observed so far: first, Crank encounters a mysterious woman, Lombax, during the gameplay demo. Since he can play as her for at least part of the game, perhaps Clank will team up with this newcomer during his search for Ratchet.

The second piece of information is that Dr. Nefarious, who may have had a change of heart in Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, is apparently back to his life as a criminal. Nevertheless, Dr. Nefarious has been a decoy villain in nearly every film in which he has appeared, so the odds seem good that Ratchet & Clank will encounter a greater threat at some point.

Finally, we have a release date for Ratchet & Clank: Rift apart: Insomniac did not give an exact date, but the developers claim that the game will be released during the PS5 "launch window." This in itself is a somewhat vague term, but historically the "launch window" has included games that are released anytime up to three or four months after the console's launch. This means that "Ratchet & Clank" could launch in November: Rift Apart could launch in November, or it could launch in March, depending on when the PS5 launches and how long the game is in development.

In the meantime, "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart" would be a sequel to "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart" is a flashy, big game that takes full advantage of the PS5's technical capabilities. We'll have more information on this game as soon as Insomniac releases the next update.