At its E3 press conference today, EA showed a few new glimpses of the long-awaited sequel to Mirror’s Edge, a first-person action game that places a heavy emphasis on parkour. Mirror’s Edge 2 is once again being developed by DICE, an EA subsidiary headquartered in Sweden.
The sequel appears to be in the early stages of development, so there’s not a lot of game footage to show the public at this point—and the existing footage looks a lot like the original Mirror’s Edge (not a bad thing). With little to say and a three-minute slot in EA’s keynote to fill, DICE used the venerable time-killing technique of interviewing the developers. Design director Erik Odeldahl notes that players can “analyze the geometry in a combat encounter” to kick a guy in the head. Another member of the team observes that DICE is “recreating” the game’s hero, Faith, “for a new generation.” This presumably refers to generations of hardware rather than people, since the first game came out only four and a half years ago. Best of all, art director Jhony Ljungstedt entices potential players by noting that Faith “is a girl who actually tattooed her eye.” Why would someone do that, you wonder? Ljungstedt explains, “You do it for a reason. It’s to make a point.” Point taken…?