Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus

Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus (known as Ratchet & Clank: Nexus in Europe) is a game for the PlayStation 3 released in November 2013 in a disc-based format and also through PlayStation Store‏ digital downloads. It has been labelled as a "traditional" Ratchet &amp; Clank experience, longer than Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, but shorter than Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, and more similar to the latter as opposed to the previous multiplayer focused Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One and Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault. Into the Nexus serves as an epilogue to the Ratchet &amp; Clank Future saga.

This game takes place in the year 5364.

Overview
Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus returns to Ratchet's personal story and acts as an epilogue to the Ratchet & Clank Future saga. The game is single-player and story driven, returning to traditional Ratchet &amp; Clank gameplay. It is a shorter adventure then a full length release but is the longest downloadable-on-release Ratchet & Clank game, being much longer than previous short adventure Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty. The plot involves Ratchet and Clank being stranded at the edge of the galaxy after two criminals escape from a detention facility. They find an inter-dimensional event that threatens the universe and Ratchet is forced into deciding what is really important.

Every physical copy of the game comes with a download code (in UK versions it comes in the Disc Benefits) for Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty.

Gameplay
Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus is a single-player platform adventure game. The game features a variety of weapons and gadgets typical to the Ratchet &amp; Clank series. It is a more traditional Ratchet & Clank game with Creative Director Brian Allgeier stating he wanted to "make Ratchet feel like Ratchet again."

Some environmental changes, such as earthquakes, effect the gameplay.

Among the gadgets included are ones compatible with one of the game's themes of gravity. Various puzzles include zero-g space using gadgets to navigate the area. Clank puzzles also involve gravity and allow the player to control Clank in different ways to complete areas in an alternate reality known as the Netherverse which are 2D platforming based action puzzles, in addition to his use in Ratchet's moves with his Heli-Pack.

The game features travelling between planets and exploring the darkness of space. There is significant freedom allowing the player to travel between planets and choose paths or even explore open areas. Some sections are optional while others can be explored in whatever order the player decides.

Skill points, cheats and gold bolts are included in Into the Nexus as is the game mechanic of collecting bolts to purchase weapons. Raritanium is collected to upgrade weapons in addition to experience gained when using each weapon.

Previous Ratchet & Clank games
Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus includes elements from previous Ratchet & Clank games such as arena combat and upgradeable armor. GrummelNet weapon vendors include a firing range allowing weapons to be tried out before purchasing them, similar to the VR deck in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Into the Nexus also has a focus on replay value, including Challenge mode.

The control system is similar to the one used in Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault.

There is also an area similar to the Insomniac Museum.

Trophies
The game has 23 trophies including a platinum trophy. The trophies, excluding hidden trophies and the platinum trophy, were first revealed on Insomniac Games's website through a 'Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus Interactive Trophy List Super Adventure'.

Difficulty
Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus has three difficulty settings: Cadet, Hero and Legend. There is also a challenge mode.

Insomniac Games Tweets
On July 9, 2013 mysterious Tweets appeared on Insomniac Games referencing Thugs-4-Less. The first Tweet was a link to the Ratchet &amp; Clank wiki's Thugs-4-Less Henchman article. Shortly after a link to a Thugs-4-Less Prison clip from Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando was Tweeted. Later that day two more related Tweets were made. The first asked who Thugs-4-Less' next employer would be, with another link to a YouTube clip from Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando. The second used the hashtag "#THUGLIFE" and an image of a Thugs-4-Less Henchman. The PlayStation official Twitter page Tweeted an image to Insomniac Games on July 10, 2013 with the text "When Worlds Collide Heroes Return." Insomniac Games then posted the image stating there would be big news on July 11, 2013.

Announcement trailer
On July 11, 2013 Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus was announced and a trailer was released.

Ratchet & Clank: Before the Nexus
A mobile application, Ratchet & Clank: Before the Nexus, allows players to earn Raritanium for upgrading weapons in Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus.

Production
The game was released on November 12, 2013 in North America and November 20, 2013 for most PAL regions, on the PlayStation 3 in both disc-based formats and also digitally through the PlayStation Store‏.

It was released on November 6, 2013 in Australia, November 15th, 2013 in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, November 21, 2013 in Spain, November 22nd, 2013 in Italy, and December 6, 2013 in Japan.

Gameplay development
During early development a prototype level was created to ensure the game felt as it should for a traditional Ratchet & Clank game. One of the game's key themes is gravity with various puzzles and gadgets based on the use of gravity.

While developing the game inspiration for many of the gameplay features were taken from previous games in the series. The developers played through many of the previous games and took inspiration to bring back many favorite featured and also to tweak the game engine.

The 2D sections using Clank were inspired by a concept of turning Clank into a shadow. Insomniac Games's creative director Brian Allgeier used a projector to demonstrate Clank changing gravity. This eventually developed into the 2D Netherverses with gravity changing mechanics.

The game uses Insomniac Games's newest PlayStation 3 engine.

Plot development
The plot maintains the Ratchet & Clank series' expected humor but also has a scarier direction while exploring the darkness of space. It continues Ratchet's personal story-arc and acts as an epilogue to the Ratchet & Clank Future saga. Into the Nexus was written by TJ Fixman‏‎. The villain's connection in finding their species is a key part of the plot in Into the Nexus and it follows previous Ratchet & Clank games in connecting Ratchet with the villains. The plot is also about Ratchet coming to terms with his decisions in Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time.

Title
The title shares some similarities with a cancelled project from 2006 titled Ratchet & Clank: NEXUS but no other similarities with the project are present. A working title for Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus was Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nether Regions referencing both the exploration of the darkness of space and acting as an innuendo common to the Ratchet & Clank series.

PlayStation Vita
A PlayStation Vita version is possible but Insomniac Games are being cautious after previous problems in developing the Vita version of Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault. On July 19, 2013 Amazon France listed Ratchet & Clank: Nexus on PlayStation Vita for release November 4, 2013. It was removed shortly after.

The Trophy lists for the game show a PS3/Vita list, as well as having a Cloud Upload feature in the game, both normally intended for sharing progress between PS3 and Vita games, showing that the idea was at least planned for during development.

Soundtrack
The composer for Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus is Michael Bross who also composed the music used in the announcement trailer. The soundtrack is orchestral with spooky elements to go with the theme of some haunted areas. The music for the final boss is divided into three pieces and some themes from previous games are referenced in the soundtrack. Certain pieces of the soundtrack were recorded from a live orchestrated performance by Nashville Music Scoring at the Ocean Way Nashville Recording Studio.

Voice cast

 * Ratchet - James Arnold Taylor
 * Clank - David Kaye]
 * Qwark - Jim Ward
 * Cronk - Daniel Hagen
 * Zephyr - Paul Eiding
 * Talwyn - Ali Hillis
 * Plumber/Smuggler - Jess Harnell
 * Vendra Prog/Zurkon Jr. - Nika Futterman
 * Neftin Prog - Fred Tatasciore
 * Dave B. Mitchell
 * This was the last R&C game to star Javier Romano as Ratchet in Spanish dub.

Transporting Vendra Prog
The game begins with Ratchet and Clank escorting the dangerous criminal Vendra Prog on the Nebulox Seven Prison Ship to the Vartax Detention Center, where she was set to serve a quintuple life sentence for a violent assault on Pollyx Industries and the kidnapping of CEO Pollyx.

As they approached the Vartax Detenion Center, Ratchet and Clank had to re-couple the ion converter after damage to the ship from Teratropes. As they completed this task, they received a transmission from Polaris Defense Force captain Talwyn Apogee. She made Ratchet promise to wake Cronk and Zephyr, who were asleep on the ship, before bringing Vendra Prog out of cryosleep.

On route to waking up Cronk and Zephyr, they met The Plumber, who was picking up contract work between fixing toilets. After being woken up, Cronk and Zephyr accompanied Ratchet and Clank to take Vendra Prog out of cryosleep. As she was removed from cryosleep, the power core was disrupted because of a power fluctuation which disabled gravity on the ship.

While Ratchet and Clank went to secure Vendra, Cronk and Zephyr attempted to restore gravity to the ship. After avoiding several attempts on his life from Vendra manipulating hazards on the ship, Ratchet repaired the containment cell, restoring the[proton field and restraining her. By this point, Cronk and Zephyr had managed to reroute power to the external generator and had Ratchet reactivate it from outside the ship.

After restoring gravity, Vendra's twin brother, Neftin Prog, who was also a wanted criminal for taking part in the assault and kidnapping at Pollyx Industries, attacked the ship with hired Thugs from the company Thugs-4-Less. Thugs-4-Less invaded the ship to free Vendra. Ratchet and Clank fought their way to the Nebulox Bridge to find Cronk and Zephyr restrained and the ship loaded with Pyrocidic bombs. Vendra and Neftin escaped and the explosives were detonated. Ratchet and Clank were blown out of the bridge into space, but Cronk and Zephyr were consumed in the explosion.

Vendra realized that Ratchet and Clank had survived the explosion and she commanded the Thugs to attack them in the debris of the ship. They defeated several Thugs hunting them and avoided several attempts to be rammed by a ship piloted by the Thug Satch. By Grav-Leaping to parts of the destroyed Nebulox, Ratchet managed to avoid Satch's ship and jump onto it, where they would then head to the planet Yerek in the Zarkov Sector.

Yerek: Search for the Prog Twins
Once on Yerek, after mourning the loss of Cronk and Zephyr, they contact Talwyn and explain the bad news. Despite her pleas for Ratchet and Clank to return to Meridian City to avoid losing them as well, they vowed to make things right by recapturing the twins. While tracking down the twins on Yerek, they found several abandoned cities that were seemingly haunted and soon learned that Yerek and the rest of the Zarkov Sector was abandoned 20 years ago due to becoming haunted by ghosts and that Vendra and Neftin originated from Yerek. After receiving a Grav-Tether from Pollyx's assistant, they tracked down Pollyx in Azeril Caverns where he gave Clank an upgrade to travel into the Netherverse. Eventually they found that it was the Nethers escaping into their dimension through Nether Rifts. Ratchet and Clank realized that the "ghosts" were actually Nethers and upon finding Vendra's holo-diaries in the nearby orphanage, learned that Vendra and Neftin were responsible for the evacuation of the sector. They quickly discovered Thugs-4-Less were protecting Neftin and Vendra Prog, and Ratchet and Clank infiltrated the Thugs-4-Less outpost with assistance from Talwyn. After tracking the twins to a cave underneath the orphanage, they learned that Vendra and Neftin built a home-made Dimensionator in order to bring Nethers into Ratchet's dimension. They also saw the leader of the Nethers, who went by the name of Mr. Eye. Mr. Eye noticed Ratchet and Clank and commanded the Nethers to attack them. Captain Qwark arrived in the nick of time with Aphelion and saved them from the monsters. Realizing that the twins were headed to Silox, they traveled there to stop them from unleashing Mr. Eye on the galaxy.

Silox: Preventing the Release of Mr. Eye
Upon arriving, although he still wanted the twins to pay for Cronk and Zephyr's death, Ratchet became more sympathetic towards them as he understood that they wanted to be reunited with their race, but that their plans were a great danger to everyone else. He and Vendra began communicating and Ratchet tried to reason with Vendra not to unleash Mr. Eye but to no avail. After reaching the Sky Train Station, Neftin tried to stop Ratchet, but Ratchet managed to defeat Neftin. In the end; however, he was unable to prevent Vendra from bringing over the Nethers and Mr. Eye. As Ratchet predicted, Mr. Eye betrayed Vendra and imprisoned her in the Netherverse.

Igliak: Stopping Mr. Eye
After barely escaping the Nether leader, Ratchet and Clank agreed to meet Neftin on planet Thram, so that they could make a deal. In exchange for helping Neftin steal the Dimensionator to free Vendra, Neftin and Vendra must turn themselves in. After Neftin agreed to the deal, Ratchet and Clank headed to the Intergalactic Museum of History in Meridian City. After trekking through the museum and finding the Dimensionator, they gave the device to Neftin. Shortly after, Mr. Eye attacked the city in order to destroy the Dimensionator. They fought Mr. Eye and initiated a two-fold plan with Ratchet fighting Mr. Eye while Clank searched for Vendra. After a lengthy battle, Ratchet stunned Mr. Eye long enough for Vendra to return and helped seal Mr. Eye and the Nether army back into the Netherverse. Keeping true to his promise, Neftin, as well as a disgruntled Vendra, turned themselves in.

Later, Ratchet and Clank sat in the museum and observed the Dimensionator, watching it fall apart and falling into a short laughing fit. Clank asked Ratchet what would have happened if the device was functional when it was used. Ratchet decided that despite wanting to find his race, he settled on staying there with Talwyn. Ratchet then left to meet Talwyn, not knowing Clank swiped the Dimensionator.