Mirror’s Edge Catalyst: This Is How Faith Fights

DICE has shared in a new blog post how Faith fights in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst.

Faith has a light attack,which she can use while running to deflect and slip by enemies to keep moving rapidly. To really hurt an enemy, Faith will bring her momentum to bear with a strong attack. Light and strong attacks have different functions on different contexts, such as these.

Faith is not a brawler or grappler, so much as she is a hit-and-run striker. She can build up power in her attacks by taking advantage of the environment around her to build momentum, and then exert it on a foe.

DICE has emphasized that they want Faith to feel human, so unlike your cookie cutter protagonist, Faith hurts as easily as an average person. In the lore of the game, Faith usually exerts herself through pain thanks to her determination. However, if she runs out of Stamina, she goes down.

Faith can enter a state called Focus, which is strictly not an attack, but can be considered a defensive maneuver. In this state, she moves so fast that some enemies don’t even recognize her as a running woman and get startled.  She can enter and sustain this state while free running, even when she makes tricky maneuvers around walls and climbs. If she gets hit in this state, a Focus bar receives a hit instead of her Stamina bar.

Faith also has another key move in her arsenal, called the Shift. Shift allows her to accelerate into any direction very quickly, in a brief moment. Faith can use this maneuver to startle enemies, get around tight environments, and make very quick sweeping turns.

Faith’s Disruptor can even be used as a weapon. The Disruptor is powered by Faith’s movement, and superpowered when she enters Focus. Faith can use it to do things like hack a communication system and send out a sound to stun opponents.

Finally, Faith has MMA style takedowns. When she takes down an opponent the view will switch to third person perspective. It happens automatically with every last opponent she takes down, and it’s an opportunity for DICE to show their hardened heroine.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst releases on May 24 in North America for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. You can watch a prior video about combat and movement here. DICE promised refined combat systems as far back as two years ago.