Mirror's Edge Catalyst

If I’m being honest, I couldn’t care less about Doom’s story. That’s not what drew me in. Instead, I loved Doom for its pitch-perfect controls, inspired level design and well of surprises I didn’t know I could expect from a first-person shooter.

Eight years is an eternity in video games, and perhaps that's why it feels like it's been longer than that since the first time we booted up Mirror's Edge. The ambitious first-person parkour experience was one of two games that defined EA's 2008 --- the other being Dead Space --- and while that survival horror franchise went on to spawn two sequels proper (and a rail shooter), a potential follow-up to Mirror's Edge has languished in development forever. It almost seemed like we would never see Faith again, but then DICE surprised the gaming world by announcing a follow-up (technically a remake) for a new generation. Now, Mirror's Edge Catalyst is here with nearly a decade of hype and hope to live up to. While it doesn't quite shatter the mold, Catalyst is a welcome return to a once-forgotten world championed by a dedicated few.

The first-person parkour prequel to Mirror's Edge is getting its own special Collector's Edition.

During EA's 2014 E3 press conference, the improbable resurrection of the Mirror's Edge franchise was the highlight of the event for me. The long wait for more information was made possible only by the idea that a new entry in the series was actually coming, it was just a matter of when. This year, it finally happened. The brilliant, blinding white city skyline returned, and so had the hero who would save it all. Mirror's Edge: Catalyst isn't a sequel. This entry offers a re-imagining of the game and its hero, Faith; one which pays tribute to what came before while presenting nearly every aspect in a new light. From the seemingly more distant futuristic setting and the focus on corporations ruling the world, to the improved melee combat and wide-open world, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is setting itself up to be everything fans wanted from a sequel while still being completely accessible to everyone that missed out on the first entry.

EA's E3 2015 trailer for Mirror's Edge Catalyst retells Faith's origins and features its own Morgan Freeman-like father figure.

There are few things in the world of fiction that I love more than stories about dystopian futures where the corrupt and ruthless power structure can only be brought down by a very specific recreational activity. Car racing, breakdancing, even competitive cooking, these are the things that will pave the way for a brighter future. And in Mirror's Edge, as I understand it, that activity is parkour. Renegade parkour! Now, we finally have a chance to find out why that particular future society is so vulnerable to quickly traversing urban obstacles: Dark Horse has announced Mirror's Edge: Exordium, an upcoming miniseries serving as a prequel to the upcoming video game, written and drawn by the writers and artists who worked on the game.

EA has confirmed that the game formerly known as Mirror's Edge 2 will now be known as Mirror's Edge Catalyst.