14 DAY TRIAL // The Mirror's Edge reboot that's currently in development at DICE will focus not just on first-person parkour freerunning mechanics but also on the combat, as that was a lackluster aspect of the original Mirror's Edge that appeared in 2008.
Mirror's Edge was an ambitious project from DICE and Electronic Arts that promised to deliver a first-person platformer experience with elements of parkour as well as sequences where protagonist Faith had to subdue enemies using hand-to-hand combat or borrowed weapons.
While the freerunning sequences certainly attracted quite a lot of fans, the combat ones were somewhat clunky and required often retries as the enemies had great aim and Faith had little health.
For the upcoming reboot, DICE General Manager Karl-Magnus Troedsson mentioned to CVG that combat would also be a point of focus for his team, besides the actual parkour system that allows for a seamless exploration of the environment.
"What I can say is that if the last game focussed on first-person movement, it was definitely shown in the movie here that the DICE team will be focussing on first-person combat as well, to really nail and refine that. But I don't want to go into more detail on what the actual game is."
According to Troedsson, DICE wants to give fans as many glimpses into the development of the new Mirror's Edge as possible, and even showed off a special trailer at E3 2014 that was filled with early concept gameplay sequences that had missing textures and other such things.
"If you actually go frame-by-frame through the movie you'll see there are missing floors and textures etc. We just decided to show something in progress, because it's not the environment that's most important, it's the movement or the message of what we're doing."
Besides the combat and the parkour mechanics, Mirror's Edge will have a lot of other mechanics that, for now, DICE wants to keep a secret until it's ready to make another big reveal.
"Fans of the game will just have to wait and see until we talk more about the actual game is and the vital mechanics of it. We've shown the combat and movement now, but there's so much more to talk about. What I can say is, this is not just going to be the same game as the last one. We're building Faith for a new generation."
The new Mirror's Edge game doesn't even have a release date, so expect to hear much more about it in the future, when DICE and EA are ready to share details and info.