One of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’s biggest strengths is its over-the-top, addictive combat and massive selection of wild weaponry. There are 20 weapons in total to find across the game, and a great majority of them are brand-new to the series. It’s well worth diving into the game, collecting the full suite of guns and finding your own personal favourites, but we’ve also put together a list of the ones we enjoyed the most during our time.
The below is a round-up of the weapons in Rift Apart that we feel stand out either due to their destructive power, their tactical advantages or just how plain entertaining they are to see in action. As a bit of fun, we went ahead and assigned each a point total out of 10 for those three criteria. Take a look!
The Enforcer
Destruction: +++++ | Strategy: +++ | Absurdity: ++
The Enforcer is one of the game’s earliest weapons, and despite the fairly conventional notion of a close-range scattergun it’s still one of our favourites. A lot of that comes down to the way it makes use of the DualSense, serving as an early taste of what Insomniac has done with the controller’s adaptive triggers. Pull the right trigger down halfway and you’ll get a fast and satisfying single-barrel shot, pull it down past that first point though and you’ll tear through your enemies with a devastating double-barrel blast.
The upgraded Enforcer, aptly named the Executor, ups the ante even more by adding two more barrels. Add to that the weapon’s various upgrades like the ability to pierce through anything in its path and you’ve got a formidable piece of gear for wiping out whole groups at close range.
Lightning Rod
Destruction: ++ | Strategy: ++++ | Absurdity: ++++
The Lightning Rod didn’t stand out to me as one of Rift Apart’s most exciting weapons at first. The rapid-fire, electrified rounds do a decent enough job, and it can be upgraded to chain lightning between enemies which is invaluable when facing groups of enemies. When it really clicked though, was the first time I focused fire enough on one enemy to fully electrify them and heard their reaction. I would’ve loved to be in the recording studio the day Insomniac’s designers said to its enemy voiceover artists “Okay, so now we need you to go BZKBZBZHT really loudly like you’re a Looney Tune standing on a live wire!”. It never gets old.
Mr Fungi
Destruction: +++ | Strategy: ++++ | Absurdity: +++
Mr. Fungi is essentially the new iteration of a previous fan-favourite, Mr. Zurkon. Throw this ‘shroomy boi out onto the battlefield and he’ll hang around and assist you by shooting at enemies in his path. Further upgrades let you have multiple Mr. Fungi out at a time, and the level 5 Mrs. Fungal variant has the loving, mushy couple working together in pairs to help out. The best part though, like with Zurkon, is simply taking the time to listen to Mr. Fungi’s hilarious one-liners. He really is a fun guy.
Negatron Collider
Destruction: +++++ | Strategy: +++ | Absurdity: ++
The Negatron Collider is by far one of the most destructive weapons in Rift Apart. Generating a huge, powerful beam that not only obliterates the enemies at the pointy end but tears through any others that get in the way. It’s lower on maximum ammo, but every shot has the potential to completely wipe out multiple enemies in one shot. Plus, the upgraded Large Negatron Collider triggers a huge explosion at the end of it all.
Ricochet
Destruction: +++ | Strategy: ++++ | Absurdity: +++
Set it and forget it. The brilliant thing about the Ricochet is that once you’ve landed the initial shot, the next few are guaranteed hits on that same enemy (or the next one if the first goes down early). Thanks to the DualSense’s inbuilt speaker, you’ll hear a tone every time it’s ready for you to pull the trigger for another powerful wack across your enemy’s stupid face. This one scores high in the Strategy category for these reasons, and does well enough in Absurdity for the way that grunts, goons and gunships get batted around in equal, slapstick measure.
Fully upgraded, it becomes the Wreckochet and its projectiles not only scale up in damage with well-timed hits but explode at the end!
Topiary Sprinkler
Destruction: + | Strategy: ++++ | Absurdity: +++++
Insomniac has been talking up the Topiary Sprinkler for a while now, and with good reason. It’s the new poster-weapon for Insomniac’s unbridled gadget creativity, turning enemies in the path of its classic garden sprinkler into immobile hedge sculptures. Not only is it a useful way to stun a group of enemies and lay waste, but it beautifies your surroundings with all manner of flora alongside the hedge-d enemies. You can even turn the game’s bosses and supersized enemies into hedges!
You also have the power of the PS5’s SSD to thank for this weapon existing, as Insomniac is able to load the hedge models in an out on the fly when it’s used without needing to hold them in the system’s precious memory.
Headhunter
Destruction: ++++ | Strategy: ++++ | Absurdity: ++
The Headhunter is kind of a traditional weapon in that it’s essentially a sniper rifle. The kicker is that pulling the left trigger halfway zooms the scope, while pulling it all the way lets you slow time right down to score those tricky shots on moving enemies.
The destructive power of the Headhunter shows when you nail enemies like Goons4Less or Nefarious Troopers in the noggin and they crumble into complete nothingness in one shot. It’s not as over-the-top as some of the others in this list, but its utility can’t be overstated and it’s incredibly satisfying to use.
RYNO 8
Destruction: ++++++++++ | Strategy: ++++++++++ | Absurdity: ++++++++++
The RYNO weapon crops up in just about every Ratchet & Clank game, and is always mayhem incarnate. This latest iteration takes the idea of interdimensional madness to a new level by opening a whole rift in the fabric of time and space and dropping objects from other dimensions onto your enemies head in an explosion of debris (and occasional dinosaurs).
To make this weapon extra saucy, the RYNO 8 (and the upgraded RYNO ?) features an unlockable perk that allows it to summon objects from dimensions outside of the Ratchet & Clank universe! We won’t spoil any here that haven’t already been featured in the Tweet below from Insomniac, but trust us when we say there are some genuinely ridiculous surprises in store.
Ratchet: We made it outta the rift with a new super weapon: the RYNO 8!
Clank: It seems this device can drop objects from other dimensions into ours. Fascinating.#RatchetPS5Takeover #SunsetOverdrive @Guerrilla @SuckerPunchProd @Naughty_Dog @PlayStation pic.twitter.com/TavBdHw3oL
— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) June 7, 2021
There you have it! Those are our favourites from Rift Apart, but make sure you get around the game and enjoy Ratchet and Rivet’s entire arsenal to see what you like best!
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is out now exclusively for PS5. The cheapest price is currently $98 on Amazon.
Our review for the game can be found right here.
