doubles over. The chamber’s empty, so I turn tail and
zigzag back down the corridor, pinging between the walls
to keep safe. Even playing the game in this counter-
intuitive fashion, speed is my armor.
With each small success comes a dose of panic. I’m far
from mastery, and with that first downed cop comes the
mounting pressure to pull it off again, and again, until the
encounter’s over. So it happens that I don’t kick the
second cop in the head as intended, but push the wrong
buttons and spin around in mid-air, falling flat on my ass.FAITH IN ACTION
While the scene reloads, I start looking up YouTube
videos with names like “Mirror’s Edge All Disarms”. I feel
like Neo, uploading martial arts directly into my brain.
Suddenly, I know how to expose an enemy’s back by
chaining a wall-run into a kick, granting me a moment
free from gunfire to disarm them. To make it happen,
though, I have to unlearn Titanfall 2.
In Respawn’s game you can push leisurely off a wall
like a swimmer, redirecting yourself as needed. But in
Mirror’s Edge you ricochet like a bullet. Your point of
entrance determines your angle of exit, and that kick has
to happen near-instantly if it’s going to connect.
Once I get it right, the second cop falls this way. The
third I meet unexpectedly in a doorway as we both hurtle
around the corner in opposite directions. Startled, I smack
him so hard he ragdolls into the wall opposite. His
jelly-limbs wobble gently under his shoulderpads. If it’s
any consolation to him, I’m shaking too.
On comms, Merc is still troubled by Pope’s death, but
in my journey he’s just one body among many. Following
my handler’s directions, I stride out across the hideous
yellow-and-bonsai-tree decor of the journalists’ office,
where news of Pope’s murder already rings from every
screen, and pick up speed as I head out to Centurion
Plaza. Which doesn’t sound authoritarian at all.“Blues ahead of you,” Merc warns. “One at a time,
remember what I told you.” These are street cops, much
less armored than their SWAT equivalents, and the game
wants me to take them out. I jog to meet the first, and he
brings his pistol down towards my head. I duck out the
way, hitting the prompt at the right time to use his own
momentum against him, twisting an arm up behind his
head. I’d read him his rights, but I’m not sure they have
those here anymore.
This gun has bullets in it. I wave it around the plaza
and power up the wide steps of the train station—a grand
facade celebrating this society with concrete brutalism
and bright orange flags. This is my first opportunity to
bring firepower to bear against the SWAT, however
piddly. I take clumsy potshots at those I can see standing
at a roadblock, and watch one fall before making my
escape. For the first time since starting this playthrough I
feel powerful, and at least somewhat in control.SNIPING IN THE SEWERS
My next assignment sends me down a gaping storm
drain, which looks like the Sarlacc’s pit after a deep
clean. I’m looking for an old runner acquaintance
named Jacknife, who might know more about Icarus
than we do, which isn’t hard.
Down here the color switches to a damp shade of
seaweed, the pace slows for challenging jumps, and a low
rumble provides ambience—the constant bass note of vast
underground spaces. “Keep going,” warns Merc. “Don’t
think those Blues won’t come down here.”
Sure enough, a sniper team has set up ahead. Their
sights bob gently on a green sea of gangways as I climb,
promising serious hardware if I can only reach it.
Eventually, by leaping between tall concrete pillars, I get
close enough to disarm a marksman—but make the
mistake of kicking him in the chest as I hop over a gap. He
stumbles, and I plunge straight downward, making a
soggy surface far soggier. Momentum really is life and
death in Mirror’s Edge.
On the second try, with the help of slo-mo and a
rain-slick wall, I yank the weapon from his grip. It looksKEEPING THE FAITH The family
stories that survived Catalyst’s rebootERIKA
Poor mummy Connors doesn’t
live to see any version of
Mirror’s Edge. Her death is
what splits her daughters.ABRAHAM/MARTIN
Faith’s dad is a campaigner
who either died with Erika
or survived her to become
an alcoholic.FAITH
Protagonist Faith is
headstrong and impulsive,
shaped by early family tragedy
and a runner father figure.KATE
Kate believes in improving The
City. Even after her reinvention
for Catalyst, she represents
Faith’s philosophical opposite.1PERSONAL ADVENTURES IN GAMES
DIARY
Faith was warned about
City Pulse’s burritos.