Mirror's Edge Catalyst is DICE's origin story for Faith Connors, a Runner who moves packages, secrets and herself across the rooftops of Glass, a city that gleams from the outside and rots underneath. Built on Frostbite, it takes the first-person free running that made the 2008 original a cult favourite and opens it out into a seamless city you can roam end to end, with the Conglomerate's security force KrugerSec always one wire line behind you.
Faith, Glass and the Conspiracy Beneath It
This is a reboot, not a sequel. Fresh out of juvenile detention, Faith rejoins Noah's cabal of Runners and goes back to the courier work that keeps her off the Grid, the surveillance network that tracks every citizen of Glass. A job goes wrong, Gabriel Kruger's ambitions come into view, and Faith finds herself caught between the Runners, the Black November resistance and a corporation that wants the city entirely under its thumb. The story is told through a run of main missions, but Glass itself is the real character, from sunlit glass towers to the maintenance tunnels and shipping yards that never see daylight.
Traversal Is the Whole Game
Everything in Catalyst is built around keeping Faith moving. The city's rooftops, pipes, vents and wire lines are laid out as routes rather than obstacles, and Runner's Vision paints the fastest line in red so you can read the environment at full sprint. The moveset is deeper than the original's and it grows as you play.
- Momentum and Shift
- Clean landings, rolls and slides build speed, and speed is what carries Faith across the gaps between towers. The new Shift move adds a short burst of acceleration in any direction, while Quickturn snaps a 90 or 180 degree turn when the route ahead suddenly changes.
- Wall runs and wire lines
- Faith can run vertically or horizontally on almost any surface, swing around corners, drop from a pipe into a hang and climb hand over hand beneath an obstacle. Zip lines strung between buildings get her up to top speed in seconds and are the backbone of the longer routes across the city.
- Gadgets and upgrades
- A modest set of hardware widens what Faith can reach. The MAG Rope lets her swing across gaps and pull open panels, the Disruptor cracks locked doors and stuns enemies, and an upgrade tree lets you shape her movement, combat and gear as you complete missions and side activities.
Focus: Fighting Without Stopping
Catalyst removes guns from Faith's hands entirely and replaces them with a combat system that punishes standing still. Free running builds Focus, and while Faith has Focus, KrugerSec cannot land a hit on her. Slow down or take damage and it drains away, so every encounter becomes a question of whether to outrun the guards or take them apart on the move.
- Light Traversal Attacks are strikes thrown mid-run: a kick off a wall, a punch on the way past. They keep Faith's speed up and her Focus climbing, letting her string through a patrol without ever breaking stride.
- Heavy Traversal Attacks use her whole body weight to send an opponent stumbling into a wall, over a railing or into a colleague. They are the answer to armoured KrugerSec units that shrug off lighter hits.
- Shift is a combat tool as much as a movement one. Slip behind an enemy for a kick to the back, land a few rapid punches on a stunned guard, then Shift away before the counter arrives.
An Open City Worth Running
Between story missions, Glass is yours to explore. Districts unlock as you activate gridNodes, and each one is threaded with side content that suits a Runner: deliveries that reward a fast, clean route, Dashes that set a target time for a stretch of rooftops, and collectibles tucked into corners you will only reach by thinking like Faith. The game's own targets and its star ratings give every district a reason to come back, and finding a shorter line on a route you thought you had solved is one of Catalyst's quiet pleasures.
Ready to Run
Mirror's Edge Catalyst is at its best when you stop looking at the ground and trust the line in front of you. Lace up, take Faith across the first rooftop, and see how far you can get without touching the streets of Glass.
