Mirror's Edge Catalyst gives Faith some Batman-esque gadgets

Mirror's Edge Catalyst puts more of a focus on combat than the original Mirror's Edge, but it also offers some new ways for Faith to get around the city of Glass, one of which is a tool called the Manifold Attachment Gear Rope.

Faith acquires the MAG Rope early in Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and in its standard incarnation, it allows her to latch onto certain surveillance cameras in the environment by firing a carbon fiber line into them. This comes in handy as a way to swing over gaps that are too long to jump across, for example — think of it like Spider-Man swinging from a web line.

Upgrades to the MAG Rope later in Mirror's Edge Catalyst turn it into a gadget akin to the ones on Batman's utility belt. The first attachment, the VD Torsional Motor, makes the MAG Rope function like the rope launcher in Assassin's Creed Syndicate, allowing Faith to pull herself toward the attachment point. Then she gets a grappling tip for the MAG Rope, which replaces the point with hook extensions that can be used to pierce and grab some objects.

In a post on the Mirror's Edge Catalyst website, producer Jeremy Miller gave an example of the grappling tip functionality, saying that Faith "may grab and pull out a panel, then quickly jump off it, before the panel retracts again." Miller also noted that developer EA DICE didn't want to "make Faith feel like a superhero," so the MAG Rope is meant to be more of "an extension of her movement" than anything else.

"It's not just a gadget you activate, it's part of Faith herself and true to the traversal rules of Mirror's Edge Catalyst," said Miller. Another page on the Mirror's Edge Catalyst website lists a second tool that Faith uses: the Disruptor, which is an upgrade to her glove that lets her "disrupt and destroy KrugerSec and AI systems." (In the Arkham games, Batman carries around a gadget that is literally called the Disruptor.)

For more on Mirror's Edge Catalyst, check out the gameplay developer diary above, in which EA DICE discusses elements like the open-world city of Glass; the variety in the game's combat; and the adaptive soundtrack from returning artist Solar Fields. Mirror's Edge Catalyst is set for release May 24 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One. Interested parties can sign up for the upcoming closed beta on the game's website.