Insomniac: Ratchet & Clank abandon “conventional wisdom” that games must be difficult

Insomniac Games got rid of the “conventional wisdom” that games should be tough when designing Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

In an interview with Axios, Rift Apart Game Director Mike Daly explained that the team’s thinking on difficulty has changed and the studio no longer feels the need to design satisfying games due to the difficulty.

“We kind of have to get rid of this conventional wisdom that games have to kind of be tough for you to get satisfaction from,” Daly said. “We no longer think about: What will make the most elite players feel good about themselves? And more like, “What will allow everyone to have the experience they want to have?” Because that’s sort of the most important thing for us. ”

Axios highlighted many ways Ratchet & Clank has become more accessible to players, citing things like the game’s “ping” and clue system, activity cards, and jump puzzles.

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Insomniac Games Core CTO Mike Fitzgerald said making puzzle levels in a Ratchet & Clank game completely skippable like they are in Rift Apart “would have been unthinkable three to five years ago.” .

PlayStation Plus-exclusive activity cards go a long way in making the Rift Apart experience easier for gamers, whether they’re a player stuck on the next step or looking for something quick to do. in-game. As Axios pointed out, Rift Apart cards are used to flag in-game tasks as well as hidden items or trophy-related quests.

They also reveal how long it will take to complete certain tasks so that a player with just 20 minutes to play can easily jump into something in Rift Apart that shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes. Axios says these times are estimates on behalf of the developer which are then compared to the average times of other players using Sony’s online PlayStation Network.

For more on Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, check out our thoughts on the game in IGN’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart review, then watch this video to see the 5 best IGN weapons in the game. story about how Insomniac Games works on a multiplayer project after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guidebook maker for IGN. You can follow it on Twitter @LeBlancWes.