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Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a stunning showcase for PlayStation 5 and already one of the best games of 2021.
Given its high accolades from most major retail outlets, they were here to make sure the experience was widely playable for everyone, regardless of their physical abilities or disabilities. Sony has gained a lot of favor in the disabled community for accessibility settings in first-party exclusives like Marvels Spider-Man and The Last of Us Part II.
But can these accessibility hits be carried over to a platform shooter?
But first: what are your favorite games and platforms of 2021 and which future releases are you most excited about? Take our survey!
About the reviewer: Having been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, color blindness, and monocular vision, the games are better suited to my taste when taking into account moderate physical and mild visual impairments. This review will try to cover as many conditions as possible, but that’s largely the goal through which I see the software.
It may be helpful to check out the full list of accessibility settings of Sony’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart as you read this review as well. We have organized this review to mirror the layout of the game menus for those who wish to follow.
Difficulty and jump settings
Accessibility and difficulty are far from the same, but they can be related. While not all difficulty levels are listed in the official documentation, Rift Apart has five different difficulty settings ranging from Rookie Explorer to Renegade Legend. Rookie Explorer is essentially the same as the Rookie Recruit setting above it, only it’s impossible for Ratchet to die. So, if there’s a fight sequence you’re stuck on for accessibility reasons, you can switch to Rookie Explorer for a simple fix. It is not the most elegant solution, but it is the fastest.
The game also features some puzzle sequences that involve inserting orbs of different colors in specific locations to allow Clank and his interdimensional possibilities to reach the opposite end of the object-blocked abyss. Especially with HDR enabled, I found it difficult to distinguish between the colors of the spheres and struggled to analyze solutions due to my limitations in spatial awareness. Fortunately, if you’re like me, or just don’t want to engage with these puzzles, you can skip them without penalty.
Jumps aren’t always the best accessibility feature, but, in this case where puzzles don’t add much to the overall gaming experience, it’s an adequate solution.
Gameplay and camera
The Gameplay and Camera menu is sparse in some respects but totally functional. Sony Interactive Entertainment
On the gameplay and camera front, there are options to map motion to the D-pad and adjust sensitivity to aim and camera movement. These are pretty much garden variety options, but they’re welcome here nonetheless.
The real star of this menu is the simplified crossing option. In a game where players go from boots to rocket, swing between pits, and cling to magnetic walls, it was a godsend to be able to map all these actions onto the circular button. While there may be occasional instances where the game incorrectly predicts which item you are trying to use, these hitches are few and far between. As the arsenal of Ratchet and Rivets gadgets grows, streamlined traversal is a feature that can come in handy for all players, whether they’re disabled or not.
For those who want to remap every single button to another configuration, there’s that option too. I felt more comfortable with a modified version of the default configuration.
Toggle and assist
There are a lot of switches and assists in Rift Apart, especially when it comes to shooting. Sony Interactive Entertainment
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart offers a variety of aiming and shooting modes that allow players to switch actions that require pressing multiple buttons into commands with longer grips. Weapons can also be set to continue firing until deactivated with a single press.
Perhaps the most useful and effective modalities in my case were Strong Aim Assist and Auto Aim. This essentially meant that I was able to automatically swap targets, without having to aim them. In most cases, the feature worked great. However, in cases where there were heavy and medium type enemies on the screen, he would sometimes select the wrong villain. During those situations, I was able to adjust with the stick as is traditionally done to select the correct target. It is not perfect, but fully functional.
The same can be said for the melee attack options, which likewise allow players to crush every single shot, or continually hit enemies with Ratchet and Rivet until a single press of a button signals them to stop. While functional for those who need it, I found the control scheme a bit confusing to understand and not all that is needed once you reach the later stages of the game and have a large collection of weapons to replace your key English. This may be a setting you can turn off after a few hours, as repeated melee crushes don’t have to be a big part of the experience.
When all of these accessibility features work together, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart should be a joy for most gamers. Sony Interactive Entertainment
Two major highlights in this menu are the bespoke grinding and flying assists. The first feature automatically slows down the speed of games when precise jump timing is required, while the flight assistance helps keep your aircraft level and always pointed in the right general direction. The vehicle flight in Ratchet & Clank 2016 was an absolute disaster, and it’s still not quite perfect here, but the assistance made those sequences bearable, at least.
One feature that seemed to cause more problems than it solved was the watch waypoint option. As the name describes, this mode rotates the camera towards the waypoint, so you always have a basic idea of where to go next. In practice this seems useful, but it became too cumbersome and led to a handful of unnecessary deaths in railway sections by pointing the camera away from objects in my path.
Likewise, I also found the waypoint system of games in general slightly less accurate than I would have liked. Especially when there were multiple targets on the screen, waypoints sometimes took too long to switch to new targets as soon as they arrived. Also, waypoints do not correctly illustrate the direct path to each point, which means that visually impaired players may have difficulty navigating to that point. to consider. The arrow on demand feature in The Last of Us Part II is far superior, while the waypoints in Rift Aparts are only useful.
Visual and contrast options
The contrast mode of the games is great in gameplay, but it doesn’t translate into cutscenes. Sony Interactive Entertainment
While I didn’t use too many visual presets during my playthrough, it’s worth noting that Rift Apart features a fully functional high contrast mode that paints less essential environmental objects in grayscale while highlighting major platforms. This should satisfy most visual needs, but the setting turns off during cutscenes. For a game with a rather heavy narrative this is an odd shortcoming, but it could be fixed later. For my visual guidance, I just had to keep waypoints active all the time.
Vibrations and tactile sensations
When it comes to haptics, the Rift Apart is designed to use the adaptive trigger and haptic capabilities of DualSense. Each weapon features two different firing modes, first achieved by pressing the triggers to their point of resistance and then another mode by pushing completely further. These modes can be difficult to fully master for players with fine motor limitations, but fortunately they can be disabled in various ways if they become cumbersome.
The Experiential setting allows players to experience all the extra sensations that Sony has implemented, including the bass of loud music or the patter of Ratchet or Rivets’ feet as they cross. But, for visually impaired gamers who may want a clearer direction, the Functional option limits ambient vibration to only core gameplay actions such as collecting items. If your vision is strong enough to make you feel that the refined vibes won’t detract from your ability to understand the action, definitely try to keep them on for the showcase technical aspect of everything, but the basic vibes are useful enough to offer traditional tactile indicators where sight can waver.
There is a lot to unravel when it comes to accessibility in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, but most gamers who play with a disability just want the answer to one simple question: Can I play?
While this game isn’t as flawless in its accessibility execution as something like The Last of Us Part II, it does introduce some features, most notably the ability to slow down gameplay, which should be adopted more broadly. Aside from a few minor quibbles, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is one of the most accessible Triple A games ever. 9/10
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is now available exclusively on PS5.
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