It’s been atough time for PC gamersin 2023, but Sony’s next major PC port could finally solve some problems.Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart,originally released for the PlayStation 5 over two years ago, is finally arriving on PC. It supports all of the latest PC bells and whistles, but also something completely new:DirectStorage 1.2.
That may not seem like a big deal — after all,Forspokenarrived with DirectStorage and still had performance issues, while promises of a patch inDiablo IVhave yet to manifest. However,Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apartis the first game to take advantage of the GPU decompression portion of DirectStorage.
This dedicated hardware decompression can helpalleviate traversal stutter(or loading stutter), which has been present throughout a number of games in 2023. The list includesStar Wars Jedi: SurvivorandDead Space, but it doesn’t look likeRatchet and Clank: Rift Apartwill struggle with those same issues.
That’s great news, especially considering Sony’s last PC port was such a disaster.The Last of Us Part 1released in a dire state on PC, and although it has gotten better after a series of patches, it still isn’t a great performer. That’s unlike most of Sony’s other PC releases, which, short of a few notable exceptions likeHorizon Zero Dawn,have been stable at launch.
In addition to GPU decompression,Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apartsupports a slew of next-gen features. It comes with the full suite of upscaling options, including Nvidia’sDeep Learning Super Sampling 3 (DLSS), AMD’sFidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR), and Intel’s XeSS, along with the developers’ own Temporal Injection image reconstruction feature.
In addition, the game supportsNvidia DLAAand Reflex, along with ray tracing for reflections and exterior shadows. It’s a long list of features, and it looks like you’ll need a beefy PC to unlock them all.
At minimum, the game calls for an Nvidia GTX 960 and Intel Core i3-8100, which the developer says is to maintain 30 frames per second (fps) at 720p with the Very Low quality preset. To max the game out, you’ll need at least an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti or AMD RX 6800, and if you want full ray tracing, you need anRTX 4080or anRX 7900 XTX.
The port is being handled by Nixxes, which was also responsible for bringingMarvel’s Spider-ManandMiles Moralesto PC. Those games both have some issues when it comes toCPU bottlenecks, but they’re otherwise stable, feature-rich ports. HopefullyRatchet & Clank: Rift Apartwill join their ranks.
