Mirror’s Edge | Through the Shattered Lens

Like Daniel Craig’s character in Layer Cake, I had this plan of getting out of videogaming. I haven’t been amazed with the way the industry is moving, and there are only a few remaining games I know I want to play before finally hanging up my controller. Splinter Cell: Blacklist is next week. Grand Theft Auto V is next month, along with NHL 14. I felt that after these 3, I could walk.

And then this happens. Dying Light, under development by WB Games and Techland is a mixture of Zombie Survival and Freerunning. Using the first person design EA started with Mirror’s Edge (how I love that game), Dying Light puts you in a world with the infected. While this sounds a lot like many of the survival games of recent memory, this game adds an angle with it’s nighttime sequences that start to feel like I Am Legend. Zombies that normally shuffle and drag their feet during the daytime become parkour ninjas at night, running just as well as you can over obstacles and the like (from what I can tell). I’m not sure how the story is going to explain that one, but the dynamics of it feel good, and personally, I’m just happy that anyone was able to apply the freerunning system of Mirror’s Edge to a different environment. Let’s hope they’ve also dealt with the long load times that plagued that game. So much for getting out.

Dying Light is due out sometime in 2014.

This video was originally posted on IGN.com.

One of the best surprises for me during yesterday’s E3 show was the announcement that another Mirror’s Edge is on the way, though no date’s been set for release. It’ll be out “when it’s ready”, which leads me to believe that they still need to form a story around the visuals. Hey, At least Dice is giving it a try. That’s more than I can ask for.

Mirror’s Edge was a quiet release in 2008, a first person platformer that implemented some the same Parkour elements as the Assassin’s Creed series, though with more concentration on the techniques. While the graphics were simple and polished, that sense of vertigo from staring over the edge of a drop was always there (for me, anyway). The only drawback to the game were the loadtimes in the elevators. Hopefully, on the next gen systems, they’ll find a way around this. This trailer seems to focus more on the fighting than anything else, and it’s nice to see that, but I’m hoping that in the future, we’ll get to see some of the level designs and perhaps some added features. If they can get Rhianna Prachett back on board for the story (who had a lot of success with the recent Tomb Raider game), they should be fine.

Looking good so far.