What just happened? With two weeks remaining until the PC release of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, developers Insomniac and Nixxes have unveiled the complete hardware specifications. Of particular interest is how the port handles storage and loading, utilizing Microsoft's latest DirectStorage API while also accommodating HDDs to support the game's unique environment loading mechanic.
The PC adaptation of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, set to launch on July 26, will be among the earliest PC titles to employ DirectStorage 1.2 and GPU-based compression. The advancements aim to deliver load times comparable to what PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series console users have enjoyed over the past two years. It will be interesting to see how the game and the API perform on different SSD and HDD models.
For those who are unfamiliar, DirectStorage is an API utilized by Microsoft on Xbox Series consoles that leverages the system's internal NVMe SSD to enable ultra-fast load times. The tool recently became available for developers to use on Windows, allowing it to utilize the GPU of a system to process data much more swiftly than the CPU. Currently, Forspoken is the only notable PC title that incorporates DirectStorage, but the feature will eventually be implemented in Diablo IV.
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Confirmation came courtesy of a now-deleted blog post in which Nixxes elaborated on the enhancements made to the game. The loading system of the PC version is particularly noteworthy due to its ability to seamlessly load new environments near-instantaneously as players traverse through portals. Sony originally attributed this feature to the PS5's SSD.
As a result, some speculated that the PC port would require an SSD. However, both the complete specification sheet (above) and the blog post have confirmed that the game supports SATA SSDs and HDDs. Although NVMe drives will get the most out of DirectStorage, SATA SSDs can also benefit, and the latest DirectStorage SDK introduces a feature called buffered IO mode that improves HDD loading.
Nixxes, Insomniac, and Sony covered the other PC enhancements for Ratchet & Clank in late May. These include ray-traced shadows, ray-traced reflections, multiple aspect ratios, DLSS 3, FSR 2, XeSS, and haptic feedback through the DualSense controller.
The system requirements appear reasonable compared to other major titles released earlier this year. For 1440p gameplay without ray tracing, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800 will suffice, although Nixxes suggests a minimum of a 3070 or 6800 XT for ray tracing. For most resolutions, 16 GB of RAM is sufficient, although the game recommends 32 GB to achieve 60fps at 4K on maximum settings. The spec sheet assumes players will utilize super-resolution methods but does not mention DLSS 3 frame generation. The minimum storage requirement is 75 GB.