Yesterday, Insomniac Games finally announced a new single-player Ratchet & Clank game, returning to what many would call the “real” Ratchet & Clank after its genre experiments All 4 One (four-player co-op) and Full Frontal Assault (tower defence). But before you get too excited, no, this new game is not for the PS4. Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus is an “epilogue” to the Future sub-series that included Tools of Destruction, Quest for Booty, and A Crack in Time, and so the team feels it fits better on the PS3 along with those previous games.
The game is also another downloadable title, though apparently its “biggest” yet. While it's promised to be bigger than both Quest for Booty and Full Frontal Assault, however, at a price of $29.99 you can expect it to fall short of the kind of Ratchet & Clank game you'd get on a disc.
This epilogue focuses on two themes: fear and gravity. As explained in a preview on IGN, Ratchet & Clank are taking two villains – a twin brother and sister – to a detention centre when they end up stranded in a scary corner of space. From the trailer, it looks like the brother escapes but the sister either does not or is recaptured; she taunts Ratchet with the idea of her brother coming back to rescue her and deal some pain to the Lombax.
The gravity theme plays a big role in the puzzles that Ratchet will have to solve as he moves through different levels. His Grav Tether allows him to zip across from one portal to another, and the ways in which he needs to use that ability will become more complex as the game goes on.
Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus will launch for PS3 this holiday.