Ratchet stays the male protagonist throughout, with no established characters race- or gender-swapped. The lead writer Sam Maggs later tweeted that Rivet is 'canonically a lesbian' and described fighting internal pushes for stereotypical feminine design features like breasts and makeup on the alien character, though neither the sexuality nor any romance appears in the game itself.

Insomniac Games has internal DEI efforts, but no external consultancy involvement or narrative lectures on identity, patriarchy, or systemic issues are present. Audience complaints in Steam reviews occasionally mislabel Rivet as 'replacing Ratchet' or criticize 'safe' dialogue about feelings, yet critic scores remain high (Metacritic 88-89) with no major review-bomb tied to ideology. The elements are incidental rather than foundational.