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Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart PC requirements don't include an SSD

While Insomniac mainly worked its magic on Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart with the PS5's SSD, the PC version won't require one.

Ozzie Mejia

July 18, 2023 11:15 AM

PlayStation

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When the PlayStation 5 was first revealed, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was unveiled beside it, players were dazzled by some of the performance magic on display. The explanation revolved around the PS5's new cutting-edge solid-state drive (SSD), which would allow the kind of performance that wasn't possible anywhere else. It is now two years later, and that tune appears to have changed. On Tuesday, the port developers at Nixxes Software officially revealed the PC requirements for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and the min specs don't include an SSD.

While an SSD is recommended, those looking to run Ratchet & Clank at a minimum of 720p at 30fps can do so with 75GB of available HDD space. After all of the time spent touting the PS5 SSD and how it wouldn't be possible to run Ratchet & Clank without it, what has changed since that time? The answer appears to be the emergence of Microsoft's DirectStorage API, a technology that's compatible with both SATA SSDs and traditional hard drives.

"To enable quick loading and instant transition between dimensions, the game needs to be able to load assets quickly," Nixxes Software Senior Lead Programmer Richard van der Laan explains on PlayStation.Blog. "DirectStorage ensures quick loading times, and GPU decompression is used at high graphics settings to stream assets in the background while playing. Traditionally, this decompression is handled by the CPU, but at a certain point, there is an advantage to letting the GPU handle this, as this enables a higher bandwidth for streaming assets from storage to the graphics card. We use this to quickly load high-quality textures and environments with a high level of detail."

Of course, those hoping to enjoy Rift Apart at a much higher visual level will need a little more PC horsepower. High ray tracing settings are only available through NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 and 3070 graphics cards, at minimum, and with 32GB RAM recommended for the "Very High" ray tracing setting. Given how much Rift Apart blew the Shacknews staff away when it won Best Graphics of 2021, it looks like a sound investment.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart's arrival on PC is near. Look for it to release on Wednesday, July 26.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?