Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart's strongest weapon is a video game multiverse Easter egg machine

Since its inception, Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank franchise has boasted some wild weaponry, from a grenade that makes enemies dance on the spot to a shotgun that converts anything in its spread to 8-bit pixels, and those are just in the 2016 reboot. The strongest weapon in each mainline entry, however, is the RYNO — short for Rip Ya a New One — and it's making a return for the upcoming Rift Apart. 

Earlier games had the RYNO be all powerful missile launchers, but Rift Apart's central gimmick is alternate dimensions, even down to the new playable lead, Rivet. So the eighth iteration of the big freakin' gun has to follow suit and as such, opens a portal to drop in items from other dimensions on enemies. In this case, this means PlayStation franchises, with Insomniac teasing the gun's feature earlier in the day by referencing Naughty Dog's Uncharted franchise and Sly Cooper from Sucker Punch. You can even call in a Thunderjaw, a giant robot beast from Guerilla's Horizon Zero Dawn. (The Thunderjaw, sadly, only sticks around a short while, delivering a triumphant roar before vanishing.)

Before officially revealing the RYNO 8, Insomniac briefly gave a shoutout to their 2014 Xbox One game, Sunset Overdrive. It didn't take long for fans to wonder if a sequel was happening, and ditto Sly Cooper, who hasn't been seen since 2013. While Sucker Punch has moved on from Sly to Ghost of Tsushima's samurai stealth, it's not clear if Overdrive has a future just yet, since Insomniac is also heading up Spider-Man. Time will tell, but the reactions to the tease of the RYNO 8 show that at the very least, there's an audience for Sly and Overdrive that would like to be sated. 

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart dimension hops to the PS5 on June 11.