Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which was initially released four years ago (four years ago!), has a prototype mini game hidden away so well within it, that apparently nobody found it.
Senior designer Grant Parker showed the mini game off during a live stream on Twitch, though developer Insomniac has since shared the clip on its social media.
During this Rift Apart stream, Parker explained how to find the Easter egg for a prototype mini game, which would have allowed players to ride the mechanical bull inside Zurkie’s (a bar-like establishment).
Like I said, the developer is pretty sure no one has discovered this Easter egg for themselves yet, and having listened to him explain it I can’t say that I am surprised. To check it out, players need to head towards the entrance of Zurkie’s, where they will see two signs beside the doorway informing patrons not to bring weapons inside. These are the key to unlocking the bull riding Easter egg.
What you have to do is shoot the left sign five times, then the right one four times, before shooting the left one 13 more times. Nothing will happen, or so it would seem as there isn’t any mystical bell or anything like that that suddenly chimes to let you know you have uncovered something secret. There is literally “no confirmation, or anything,” Parke explained in the video. However, if you mosey on into Zurkie’s and head to the bull, you will get a prompt: Hold L2 to Ride Mechanical Bull.
You can check out the “super duper early” prototype mini game via the embed below. “It’s just something fun that I thought I’d leave in the game,” Parker said.
Eurogamer was full of praise for Rift Apart on its PlayStation 5 release in 2021, with our Chris calling it “another lesson in laid-back, unpretentious fun”.
“It’s just pure craft, pure fun, pure video games – all the brilliant, bizarre ideas this studio has just thrown at the wall and all of them sticking. The only thing it lacks – apart from maybe a tiny bit of restraint – is pretence,” he wrote in Eurogamer’s Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart review. “There’s no self-seriousness, no po-faced melodrama, no insecurity about the form. A game that’s happy to be a game, in a familiar, cuddly shape.