Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge
Cover art depicting Faith
Developer(s)DICE[a]
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Director(s)Senta Jakobsen
Producer(s)Owen O'Brien
Designer(s)Thomas Andersson
Programmer(s)Per-Olof Romell
Artist(s)Johannes Söderqvist
Writer(s)Rhianna Pratchett
Composer(s)Solar Fields
EngineUnreal Engine 3
Platform(s)
ReleasePlayStation 3, Xbox 360
  • NA: November 11, 2008
  • AU: November 13, 2008
  • EU: November 14, 2008
Windows
  • NA: January 12, 2009
  • AU: January 15, 2009
  • EU: January 16, 2009
Genre(s)Action-adventure, platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Mirror's Edge is a 2008 action-adventure platform game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2008, and for Windows in January 2009. Set in a near-future city, it follows the story of Faith Connors, an underground parkour courier who transmits messages while evading government surveillance. To progress through the game, the player must control Faith from a first-person perspective and complete a series of levels that involve performing a sequence of acrobatic maneuvers, including jumping between rooftops, running across walls, and sliding down zip lines.

Inspired by chase scenes featured in Casino Royale and the Bourne films, Mirror's Edge features hundreds of first-person animations to convey Faith's movement and interactions with the environment. Although the game is powered by Unreal Engine 3, a new lighting solution, which is able to reflect colors and create a lot of soft shadows, was created to give the game a unique art style. The game deliberately makes use of strong primary colors, with outdoor environments predominantly featuring white and distinctively lacking in green. The game was written by Rhianna Pratchett, and its score was composed by electronic music artist Solar Fields, while the main theme song was composed by Swedish producers Rami Yacoub and Arnthor Birgisson and performed by Swedish musician Lisa Miskovsky.

Upon release, Mirror's Edge received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its visuals and immersive first-person perspective, but criticized its trial and error gameplay, combat mechanics, and restrictive levels. The game sold around 2.5 million units by June 2013, and won Adventure Game of the Year at the 2009 Interactive Achievement Awards. Retrospectively, Mirror's Edge has grown in esteem and developed a passionate fanbase due to its strong aesthetics and innovative game design. A prequel to the game, also titled Mirror's Edge, was released for mobile devices in 2010. A reboot that explores a new origin story for Faith, titled Mirror's Edge Catalyst, was released in 2016.


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