Insomniac Games has finally made one of the most notorious Ratchet & Clank (2016) weapons available for free as part of a surprise DLC drop.
The franchise’s developer shared the news in a post on X/Twitter. It says it’s releasing the add-on pack for the PlayStation 4 reboot’s eighth anniversary, and it’s completely free. You can head to the PlayStation Store to claim it now, and you can see how it uses explosive balls to knock back enemies in the video below.
Bounce back to Ratchet & Clank (2016) for its 8th anniversary! To celebrate, the Bouncer is now available to download at no additional cost. 🎉
— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) April 12, 2024
Complete your arsenal and revisit the re-imagining of the duo's first outing, now in 60fps on PlayStation 5 (via update)! #RatchetPS4 pic.twitter.com/4VX4d1D4Lx
“Been trying to make this happen for like half a decade,” Community Director James Stevenson said in a post. “I couldn’t get it done. Tim couldn’t get it there. But @TheAgentOfDoom (Aaron Jason Espinoza) finally pulled it off with our partners at PlayStation.”
You might think that it’s a bit strange to see Ratchet & Clank fans so excited about a relatively small update for a eight-year-old game, but the Bouncer’s history makes the DLC worth celebrating. Like the R.y.n.o., Glove of Doom, and so many other classic weapons, the Bouncer has appeared in multiple installments throughout the franchise’s history, including its most recent entry, Rift Apart. However, when Ratchet & Clank rebooted the Insomniac series in 2016, fans were warned that they’d need to jump through extra hoops to get the spring-y tool.
For the last eight years, the only way to obtain the Bouncer was by being one of the lucky few who pre-ordered the game. Doing so granted players a code that could be used to unlock the weapon. After spending a few Bolts to purchase it, you could then finally use the powerful weapon for most of the experience. Players pined for the weapon for years, and now, it’s finally available as a free download, though you will still need to fork over 100 Bolts in the game itself.
“Unleash havoc on foes with the Bouncer, an iconic weapon from 'Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando',” the DLC’s description says. “Launch a bouncing bomb that deploys even more bouncing bombs that home in on targets!”
Espinoza, Insomniac's advanced senior community manager, clarified in a Reddit post that the weapon was supposed to release a few years ago but was delayed due to "legal hurdles."
"Because legal reasons," Espinoza said. "It was supposed to drop in 2022 for Ratchet20 but the legal hurdles delayed even that. We had to do a lot behind the scenes to get this out."
Insomniac also reminds players that it released a 60FPS update for PlayStation 5 players in 2021. Ratchet & Clank retold the story of its titular duo’s first interactions when it launched for PS4 in 2016. We gave it a 9/10 in our review, saying, “Ratchet and Clank is a culmination of everything Insomniac has done with the series over the past 14 years.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
