Rift Apart new character make it a great alternate dimension story

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Aside is an interdimensional story, introducing counterparts to every of the practically 19-year-old characters. Rivet, The Phantom, Captain Quantum, and extra all exist as alternate variations of characters we’ve identified for years. Rift Aside reveals us one thing new about Ratchet & Clank’s present forged by letting these new characters function mirrors to the outdated ones.

Rivet and her companion are the perfect exemplifiers of this new storytelling method. For all their similarities to Ratchet and Clank, essentially the most attention-grabbing elements of their personalities are within the variations. And by peering into their nature, we additionally get to be taught extra in regards to the heroes we’ve identified for practically 20 years.

[Ed. note: This post includes some major spoilers for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.]

“New” heroes

Picture: Insomniac Video games/Sony Interactive Leisure

Ratchet and Clank have been the staple leads of the franchise because the starting. Gamers have managed the 2 titular characters for your entire predominant sequence, solely leaping in to manage different characters in multiplayer modes and spinoffs. In Rift Aside, Rivet is a brand new Lombax who marks not solely the primary non-Ratchet or Clank playable character within the mainline sequence, but in addition essentially the most vital feminine character in your entire franchise.

And similar to Ratchet and Clank, she’s principally a bundle deal. The place we’ve all the time had Ratchet & Clank, transferring ahead we’ll even have Rivet & Package.

Rift Aside revolves round Clank’s new restoration mission, the Dimensionator — a brand new, weaponized model of a gadget from Ratchet & Clank: Instruments of Destruction. Clank provides Ratchet the Dimensionator so the Lombax can meet the long-lost members of his species. However, in fact, issues go horribly fallacious. Collection villain Dr. Nefarious steals the Dimensionator and makes use of it to whisk himself and the heroes off to a dimension the place Nefarious all the time wins.

Whereas leaping between rifts, Ratchet and Clank get separated from each other, with Clank getting busted-up within the fall. Rivet, a Lombax from this different dimension, finds Clank and takes him together with her to her secret base, hoping to extract data from him. In the meantime, Ratchet tries to chase this mysterious Lombax down and discover Clank.

Comparatively rapidly, Rift Aside makes it clear that Rivet is Ratchet’s dimensional counterpart — as in, she’s her dimension’s model of Ratchet. However in contrast to Ratchet, Rivet principally works alone. That’s, till she pairs up with Clank.

Ratchet additionally bumps into one other small, clever, and charming robotic. This new bot reluctantly helps Ratchet, though she’s nervous about getting too near a brand new pal. She finally accepts Ratchet’s invitation to change into momentary companions and adopts the title Package.

When Ratchet and Package and Rivet and Clank lastly meet up, the 2 Lombax heroes swap robotic buddies, and the brand new duos are full. However Rivet and Package’s preliminary friendship is rocky, to say the least. Due to their very totally different life experiences, Rivet and Package have extra baggage than Ratchet and Clank.

Baggage throughout dimensions

Picture: Insomniac Video games/Sony Interactive Leisure

Ratchet and Rivet are each Lombaxes and each heroes — each are wildly profitable combatants with a robust arsenal — however their lives are very totally different.

Ratchet grew up as an orphan on the planet Veldin. Rivet, additionally seemingly an orphan, discovered a household with the midwestern-like Morts on the planet Sargasso.

After we first met Ratchet in 2002, he was an ass. However after so a few years of dwelling and adventuring with Clank, he’s softened right into a loving, hopeful character. He’s selfless, and in Rift Aside, he goes out of his technique to befriend Package. He’s nonetheless the identical outdated Ratchet, however we’ve seen him change for the higher due to his circumstances: assembly Clank, turning into a hero, and a wide range of different occasions over the sequence historical past. That’s progress.

We don’t have that form of historical past with Rivet. However once we first see her, she’s placing herself at risk to assist an alien. She’s a key member of the resistance in her dimension. From our solely reference level, she appears to be much more type earlier than she meets Package than Ratchet was earlier than he met Clank. It’s a part of Rivet’s life expertise; she finally met the Morts, whereas Ratchet had no one till Clank.

However because the story goes on, we be taught Rivet’s hang-ups run deeper than Ratchet’s ever did. Ratchet was a egocentric jerk, however Rivet is extra advanced. She has belief points and a few understandably deep-seated anger round her circumstances. Ratchet hasn’t developed these emotions as a result of he and Clank have been stopping incompetent villains from controlling the universe for practically 20 years. Rivet’s dimension isn’t fairly as lucky, as a result of its villain is much extra competent. And therein lies the foundation of Rivet’s distrust: a lifetime dwelling beneath a robotic regime.

Picture: Insomniac Video games/Sony Interactive Leisure by way of Polygon

Clank and Package’s similarities aren’t fairly as stark. Each began as Warbots. However as a result of Clank was faulty and bumped into Ratchet early in his life, he by no means received pressured to harm others. He’s been assured in his pursuit of justice since beginning. However Emperor Nefarious used Package as a violent instrument, making her really feel like a hazard to others. Each robots are hyper-intelligent and earnest, however one by no means received the bags that the opposite did.

Ratchet and Rivet, Clank and Package; every pair is a mirror of the opposite. However every mirror has its personal distinctive cracks that make them who they’re. Had the positions been swapped, and Ratchet had a makeshift household to depend on but in addition fell beneath an empire, would he react the identical means as Rivet does when Package reveals herself as a Warbot? Would Clank be an anxious mess, unable to belief himself had he been pressured to behave as a Warbot? Rift Aside means that reply is sure.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Aside explores that very delicate thread of “what makes me, me?” It examines how baggage and circumstances can form an individual past their nature. Package and Rivet’s lives have been tougher than Ratchet and Clank’s, and their injury virtually destroys a shot at real friendship. However their means to put aside their very own fears and distrust, as a result of they each care extra about serving to save their dimension, tells us simply as a lot about Ratchet and Clank’s true nature because it does Rivet and Package’s.

The failure to cease insurmountable evil — one thing Rivet and Package are extra conversant in than Ratchet and Clank — doesn’t cease somebody from being a hero. For the variations of their worlds, what unites these characters is the drive to step up and battle again, no matter how troublesome the duty could also be or what number of occasions they’ve fallen down.