Rumor Mill: New Mirror’s Edge 2 Details

So many "leaks" lately and this time we have some new leaked info for Mirror’s Edge 2. Yea, Mirror’s Edge 2. A game that many gamers, myself included, have been waiting for while EA and DICE had been coy about until last year's E3 when it was announced and they were still coy about everything. Well is would seem that someone over at Rocket Chainsaw claims to have some new insider information that they can confirm. EA and DICE obviously, like every other publisher/developer out there, do not comment on rumors and speculation.

In any instance, here is a list of what they swear they know about Mirror’s Edge 2. Take a moment to read and then we will discuss.

  • Faking nothing, the E3 2013 Mirror’s Edge 2 teaser was indeed entirely real time and generally unscripted, including the combat systems.
  • Target platforms are Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac.
  • Reiterating statements from DICE, Mirror’s Edge 2 is a total reboot.
  • Core goal of the reboot is to create an open world, living breathing city for you to explore.
  • Part of this open world environment includes a persistent, “always online” component. The open world is considered a multiplayer “playground” where other plays can drop-in/drop-out seamlessly, freely choosing their level of interaction with other players and the game world. A comparison to Journey's online feature was given as the closest example.
  • Other general multiplayer components include co-op and competitive modes, such as time trials
  • Rebooting the universe means new enemies. Mirror’s Edge 2 will include many AI opponents, some on equal footing to Faith. Among these are the standard cannon fodder Protectors, melee combat expert Sentinels, and armored gun wielding Enforcers. Faith does not have guns.
  • DICE has taken on a lot of feedback from Mirror’s Edge in shaping the combat system for Mirror’s Edge 2. Heavy revisions have shaped the combat away from useless gun play and one button combats (like the nut-punch) to a deeper system that emphasizes speed and fluidity. Environment interaction is also a key feature of the combat system, Faith able to push, punch, and kick enemies out of the way, over ledges, tables, and railings. These physics driven interactions are combined with 1-2-3 punch/kick style combos, wall running, flips, and other martial arts moves, as well as brief grapples. Occasionally a third person take-down move will be used when an enemy is beaten, and “adaptive slow-motion” is used vary sparingly, mostly just to highlight cool sequences, like the E3 2013 trailer face punch.
  • While DICE are committed to providing a deeper combat system, melee combat is not the single focus of Mirror’s Edge 2. DICE does not consider Mirror’s Edge 2 as a brawler, but instead a racing game at heart. For the development team, the focus is on creating a game all about parkour: speed, fluidity, and mastery of your environment. Even these changes to the combat system are being done to prevent issues with Mirror’s Edge where players would have a stretch of parkour with intermittent pace breaking stops to fight an opponent. DICE wishes to seamlessly integrate encounters and the combat system into the feeling of speed and parkour mastery, so players even while fighting are still on the move, making progress, and interacting with their environment.
  • Its target release date is in 2016.

So if this is supposed to be true Mirror’s Edge 2 is a reboot? A reboot? That is what causes me to question any of this. Almost everything else makes sense based on the E3 trailer from last year (see it below). Even the multiplayer and co-op stuff given EA's normal push for it and the "always online" aspect to their games. But Mirror’s Edge 2 is a reboot? That I can't believe at all and lends to this all being hearsay and nothing solid. Take it all as you will though.

A reboot. I scoff at that but I could be wrong. Maybe it is a reboot just in the case of mechanics and not to the overall franchise. Even though I had no issues with the mechanics from Mirror’s Edge I can understand if DICE wants to 'reboot' that side for Mirror’s Edge 2. Not the story and world. It makes no sense. Do you agree?