We’ve seen glimpses of PS5 gameplay before—including in one seriously impressive tech demo from May—but today’s Gamescom “Opening Night Live” showed off a deeper look. Capping off the two-hour (!!) event was a lengthy gameplay demo of Insomniac Games’ PS5 exclusive, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Here’s a look:
In an interview right after the showcase, Insomniac developers confirmed to host Geoff Keighley that Rift Apart won’t have any load screens whatsoever. Today’s seven-minute demo was a longer look at the level shown off in June’s PS5 event, and it sure showed off that claim. Our heroes open interdimensional rifts, and seamlessly travel through them into new environments. Whatever you think about graphics—Rift Apart, while pretty, isn’t life-changing—it’s features like those that will likely define the next generation of consoles.
Outside of that, Rift Apart looks like a standard, if extremely fine-tuned, third-person shooter (though some of those weapons look pretty sweet). Insomniac called it a follow-up of sorts to 2013's Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, but noted that it’s not a direct sequel. And at the end of the demo, the mysterious female Lombax popped up again. Insomniac didn’t confirm her name, or a release date for the game—but did clarify that it’s “coming out in the PS5 launch window.” To date, Sony hasn’t confirmed when, exactly, that is.
Update 4:45 p.m. ET: We’ve clarified information about the game’s release window.