Story
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst has been described by its developers as a soft reboot of the franchise, meaning you won’t have to play the first game to enjoy this one. Catalyst has also been touted as the origin story for protagonist Faith Connors.
The game takes place in a city of Glass, where conglomerates and large corporations have taken control of everything. It’s essentially a city where the elite prosper, and the poor continue to suffer. There is civil unrest in the city, and the Black November resistance movement eventually emerges, taking peaceful protests to more violent ends. Faith is a Runner, a person specialized in parkour skills who traverses the landscape quickly, delivering messages for anyone willing to pay up.
She’s a bit of a neutral party at first, but released material for the game suggests that she’ll quickly come face to face with the conglomerates, and start taking a stand against them.
Gameplay
One of the biggest changes in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is that guns have been completely removed from player possession. While the first game did give you the chance to use firearms sparingly, Catalyst will have you rely completely on Faith’s melee prowess. As Faith, you’ll be able to use the environment to your advantage, performing jump kicks, sliding kicks, and probably really awesome roundhouse kicks too. Faith will also be equipped with a grappling hook, which she can use to reach high positions.
Unlike the first game, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst will feature a large open world for you to explore. While the first game gave us a rather linear campaign, Catalyst will provide players with multiple ways and paths of reaching their destination and completing their objectives. There will also be collectibles called Gridleaks, which players can pick up while exploring the city. Another cool thing about Catalyst is that there will be no loading screens in the final product, meaning you’ll be able to traverse the city with no interruptions.
There is also a multiplayer component in the game. While you can’t exactly engage in online co-op with your friends, you will be able to race with your friends in Time Trials. Players can set checkpoints in their world, race from one point to another, and then challenge their friends to complete that race in a faster time. There will also be side activities and environmental puzzles for players to tackle when they’re not progressing with the main campaign.
Lastly, Faith will be able to unlock new abilities after earning enough experience points through the completion of side activities and collecting Gridleaks.
When Is It Out?
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst was developed by EA DICE, and will be published by Electronic Arts. The game is set to be released on June 7 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. At the time of writing, there has been no news about whether the game will have DLC or microtransactions.
Will you be picking this one up on launch day? Let us know in the comments down below.
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