ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 113.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a big heartfelt spectacle of a game—you’ve likely seen some of its dream-vibrant, mirror-polished visuals, and a bit of its cartoony gunplay—and as the game’s Lead Writer, Lauren Mee had a huge amount to do with the heartfelt part of that equation.
Rift Apart is a game about blowing stuff up and about difficult friendships. It’s wacky and warm, at once a relentless sugar rush and a contemplation on who else we could have been, and who we might yet be. That’s quite a balance to strike, and in this conversation, Lauren talks us through the process of striking it.
You can play Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on PS5.
You can hear the soundtrack on Apple, Amazon, and Spotify.
You can also follow Lauren (and Insomniac Games) on Twitter.
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• It was Keza MacDonald in The Guardian who said that Rift Apart is “the video game equivalent of eating an entire packet of Haribo at once, or reading a book written entirely in all-caps.”
• For more on latter-day Telltale, do check out our conversation with Juan Vaca.
• Here’s where Dia Lacina said that “this is a game about friendship and games about friendship fucking rule. Rift Apart is better than action figures.”
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“All The People Say (Season 4)” by Drew Messinger-Michaels.
“Ode to Nefarious” and “Sweet Home Sargasso” from the Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart OST by Mark Mothersbaugh and Wataru Hokoyama.
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Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project.
Everybody's Talking at Once 