Mirror's Edge™

A modern classic absolutely everyone should play at least once
Mirror's Edge is one of the most beautiful games of the late 2000's, and its amazing art direction is sitll spoken of to this very day because this is the sort of games that gets its atmosphere and exploits it to its maximum potential.

i've got story with this game, its one of the first games i ever knew off as a baseline, and getting to play it again few years back really made me appreciate the insane risks big companies were willing to take

Mirror's Edge might seem at first like a FPS with heavy parkour elements, but this is first and foremost a puzzle game.
the puzzle being a wall, and your skills the solution
the game uses its color use to guide you through the depths, heights and very beating heart of the city, having you traverse it all and fight off cops in the way

you can run on walls and kick disarm a cop like what else you want me to say
though i will say, the combat is not great, this game does the parkour insanely well but the shooting slows it down a lot, and while i was fine with this many peopel might feel it detracts from the experience
ill let you reach your own conclusions

the story is dead simple and i feel theres not much to talk about, so i'll leave you to find it out for yourself if you play the game

it goes on sale pretty often for like 2 dolla go get it

!!READ BEFORE PLAYING!!:
if you're playing this on an NVIDIA GPU, this game TANKS with default
PhysX and you can fix it by doing the following:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\mirrors edge\" if on Steam.
Once there open the folder called Binaries and delete the following files/folders.
PhysxLocal folder/directory
PhysXCore.dll
PhysXDevice.dll

Enjoy!

(credit to rotanixel for coming up with the steps)

The parkour action is a blast. Combat elements, not so much. If evasion becomes impossible later on, I might dislike those missions.

An amazing looking game, even to this day. I absolutely love the baked lighting and colour palettes. It has an atmosphere unlike any other game I've played so far that I still think about a lot.

The game can feel a bit clunky today by today's standards, but it has a nice sense of mastery to it. Great soundtrack and the story is fairly compelling.

Note that this game has PhysX hard programmed into the physics of it. I have an AMD GPU, so I was getting massive framerate drops during these sections. I would highly recommend installing the Mirror's Edge PC Fix mod if you are also having these issues. It fixed the framerate issues for me completely.

Relatively short game but very fun! Parkour is nice, combat is pretty solid. Story is good and enjoyable. Great soundtrack, and the overall aesthetic of the city is very pleasing. Recommended, but you'd probably would want to buy on sale.

Mirror's Edge is a parkour game that challenges players to quickly traverse obstacles and dodge enemies in order to reach the end. The player is challenged to maintain momentum by quickly stringing maneuvers such as leaping over or sliding under obstructions, as well as more gravity defying stunts such as wall running and zip-lining. Although combat is an intrinsic feature in the game, the player is often incentivized to evade and elude antagonists - and when forced otherwise, using their environment to create the momentum to make your attacks lethal. The most accurate comparison I could make would be playing one of the older Sonic The Hedgehog games. Yes there are enemies, but you've gotta-go-fast.

Substance and style. A game that could come out today and noone would know they were playing a 15+ year old masterpiece. A clever use of bloom, solid color pallets, and 'clean' environments/world building has produced a nearly timeless aesthetic despite being more-or-less realistic.

Mirror's Edge is the product of when vision, talent, and direction meet to harmoniously construct a game that does not fight against itself to deliver an outstanding experience. This game became my most memorable and favorite single player game of my teenage years and has stubbornly held the title of remaining my favorite today.

Runs great on the Steam Deck! Banged it out in abt 10 hrs across a couple of my lunch breaks.

Short and sweet. The parkour in this game is insane, there’s really nothing like it that I’ve played before. When you get into a good flow and you’re climbing and jumping over everything so smoothly, it feels really satisfying.

Only mark I have is the combat. I got the impression Faith is not supposed to engage in combat at all, but there’s some sequences where it feels like fighting is the only option and it feels kinda janky. Really easy to die and easy to whiff hits.

Amazing and revolutionary gameplay for its time! Ok story.

I played this twice or so 10+ years ago, and even after all these years my muscle memory of all the controls are still there! Really intuitive.

This game has aged like fine wine!
It definitely still hold up and I for sure it offers great relay value.

Would recommend.

The game is okay, but some sections (The Boat) are miserably designed, and the combat is inexcusably dogshit.

Unique and refreshing. Mirror's Edge makes much of the movement look so smooth you'd think the game automates most of it just from watching, but believe me when I say it is controlled very manually. Yet, despite that, the game is easy to get into.

Not to mention, it has a beautiful timeless look, and utilizes PhysX really effectively! Though, the PhysX did not work out of the box for me, and I had to do some things to fix it. Can't complain with older games like this though. This is the era of games that weren't Alt+Tab friendly.

this game needs a map workshop to make it inmortal.

Par for the course with DICE's non-Battlefield titles of this era, yet another extremely flawed game that was nonetheless unbelievably important to the evolution of video games. Mirror's Edge is not the birthplace of structured movement tech but was the first game where endlessly chaining those building blocks together was both allowed and encouraged. Despite several near-fatal missteps it remains a very important experience to this day.

thoroughly enjoyable game. timeless masterpiece.

don't recommend doing pacifist as your first playthrough like i did, though... very difficult when you're also trying to figure out where to go

Gotta be at least my fifth play through. This some peak stuff.

The part I find most important in these parkour games, that Catalyst and the Dying Lights after don't do anywhere near as well, is that what you're parkouring on has to be interesting and novel. The level based campaign works so well for this game and the levels themselves are so good, always varied throughout.

I know some people don't like the slower interior portions but I thought they were some of its best sections, I love the feel of a lonely, utilitarian space.

9 / 10

Not exactly my cup of tea, but I can respect what they are trying to do here. This is certainly an artistic piece.

Just remember to turn off PhysX if you have a 50 series or later card, since Nvidia no longer supports 32-bit PhysX which this game uses. The game will still run, but you will be getting low framerates when the fancy proprietary physic stuff happens.

The GPU market by the time I wrote this review is just god awful.

If you haven't played this game recently just do yourself a favor and force yourself to. It's sort of unreal how high quality it is in almost every category compared to what's being released nowadays. And it literally came out in 2009.

Honestly can't recommend this. I loved it when I was younger, but mainly because I thought the combat was fun. The parkour is really clunky and inconsistent. You CONSTANTLY miss ledges that you should have grabbed, jump wonky distances, and sometimes key presses just don't even register. Also, the story is suuuuuper short. It's a fine game, and I'm sure it was great back in 2009, but MAN, it is NOT worth $20. For how much hate the second game, (Mirror's Edge: Catalyst) gets by the community, it is still LEAGUES better than the original. Better parkour, better graphics, etc.

TL;DR: This game is OK. It has terrible controls, isn't worth the price, and has aged horribly, but it's OK. If an "OK" 3-4 hour experience is worth $20 to you, then go ahead. But it wasn't for me. Catalyst is the same price, and, (in my opinion) way better.

This is one of those legendary games that deserves to be in the MOMA. It has some combat flaws, but it's a work of art.

Another 15 year old game that shows how art style can beat graphic fidelity. Though, it still looks well, even by modern standards.
Great soundtrack, the typical for the time "crack-cocaine" gameplay, cheesy dialogue with great voice acting. Dystopian and sterile atmosphere despite the great colors, stunning skylines and contrast.

I played Mirror's Edge for the first time around 2014, and at the time I thought it was pretty cool. The art direction and aesthetics really stood out and left a lasting impression on me. While I didn't finish the game at the time, I kept it in my backlog as something I really wanted to get back to.
Almost 11 years later, I gave it another go, and I just didn't like it. Maybe it's because I've played many more games since, but a lot of what Mirror's Edge does is clunky, repetitive, and honestly boring.
Art direction aside, which, as I mentioned, is top-notch still to this day, there's not a lot for me to love in Mirror's Edge. The story is bland, forgettable, and very surface-level—almost as if the writers were a bit hesitant to dive too deep into the corporatism criticism. Same goes for the characters, which are pretty one-dimensional. Faith obviously gets more character development, but it's still not enough to really make me care about her quest.
Now, as for the gameplay mechanics: while Mirror's Edge clearly paved the way for player movement in many modern games, its parkour often feels clunky, unresponsive, and mostly repetitive, with a few set-pieces that are genuinely captivating. But it's mostly climbing pipes and jumping fences. The parkour feels best when you're running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, but the game frequently makes you stop in small puzzle-like sequences where you must figure out how to climb to a certain area. These not only break the flow of the game, they're also pretty frustrating, as the game allows you to grab things you have no point in grabbing, allowing you to get stuck in weird places where your only option is dying and resetting.
To improve this flow, the game has fighting mechanics, and a few enemies are peppered progressively through some levels to raise the stakes. Unfortunately, the fighting is very bare-bones, and most times it feels like a chore. Supposedly, you can avoid all combat, but in practice, you'll get shot down in many levels if you don't clear the area first.
To end this review on a positive note, the soundtrack is very fitting and memorable, making the most of its aero-futuristic setting.
I won't say to not give it a go, as it's an inexpensive game that was genre-defining for its time, but it didn't land with me.

A little janky to play in 2025, but was innovative at the time. This game still has the smoothest parkour in a game I've played to date. Although, I haven't played too many in the genre.

This game is so Frutiger Aero coded, amazing graphics for 2009 game, I love the main female protagonist - Faith <3

Very great game despite me getting stuck on the tutorial initially, like genuinely a beautiful game in terms of graphic design and art direction with really great gameplay alongside it. The game itself is relatively short but is 100% worth playing.

You know that feeling you get when you are in a really high place and there is a strange urge to jump. Don't play this game if you are the type of person who would actually jump.

Played this game on the Xbox 360 when I was 9 and now 16 replaying it. Still as good as I remember and is still a great game. Highly recommend.

Great parkour. Great music. Simple but neat story
10/10

An absolute genre defining title. The game was ahead of its time in both graphic fidelity, and overall gameplay mechanics. No game had done it like this prior to the release of the title.

Better than the sequel/reboot. Better artstyle and feels just like a more focused game in general in terms of design, catalyst feels a lot more like it was developed by committee.

It doesn't overstay its welcome and is worth the ~10 hours of campaign.

I would recommend this if you're looking for a quick, story-driven game with the occasional action in-between. The parkour is smooth and it's satisfying to progress forward with it. All the levels have clever designs and endearing settings that never makes the game feel dry. I don't think I was too keen on the story, however, it's still an enjoyable game overall. W game.

The art and music is nostalgic ,and the story is entertaining. Peak.

This is Not a Game But Art, Beautifully Designed Game with Soothing Music, This Game is Relaxing and Chill to Play, Team Behind Mirrors Edge has Put Creativity and Dedication to The Game, Worth Playing 🏃🏻

The tippy tappies and thuds and thumps of this game make maneuvers satisfying. It's a trip into the unexplorable, the flatly colored urban environment of a low-poly city. The story doesn't matter, it never matters to me. I wish there was more exploring to do, more ways to combo, less sweating for that perfect timing. But it's memorable and fun.

Mirror's Edge is an admittedly flawed game, albeit with a concept soo good that it leaves you thirsty for more. The parkour mechanics alone carry this entire game and its fan base. Games have tried to replicate it but none have come quite close to the satisfaction this game gives. The art style is also really cool, opting for a more simplistic and "clean" look to other typical games of the time.

However, every other aspect of the game unfortunately bogs it down. Firstly, the story is poorly executed. None of the characters are developed enough for you to actually care about them and the plot is pretty lazy and predictable. The lore and world design is interesting but underdeveloped. Mechanically, the game made a lot of mistakes too, especially when it comes to the combat. Mirror's Edge is a game that should have purely focused on traversal and, if combat was going to be a prominent part of the game, they should have implemented it in a way that would compliment the otherwise fast pacing. The fps elements are a huge burden on this game, especially those sections that force you into using guns as they are so sluggish to get through. The disarm mechanic was a cool idea but feels so tedious to achieve and disrupts your momentum so you feel inclined to avoid it altogether. Lastly, the game is unbelievably short with a majority of the game filled with boring sections deducting from the actual fun game play.

With all that being said, because of how unique this game is and with the community keeping it alive, I'd still recommend. Even if the main game is kind of a let down, the time trial levels this game has, demonstrates how much fun it can be when stripped down to those parkour mechanics alone. There are also plenty of community made levels you can install. As you can see, I managed to milk 50 odd hours out of the game so there is something there to credit for.

I love the fuck out of this game.

If you're booting it up after a long while of not playing and your screen says "unsupported", the resolution might be set too high, for some reason the game set itself to 3840x2160 for me, which is too big, and I was only able to fix it because I have OBS set up and I could see the game using the capture on another monitor.

If you can't do that, you might be able to feel your way through the menu:

Start game
move 3 right to get to settings
move 1 down to get to video, press A (or whatever select is on your controller/keyboard)
move 2 down to get to resolution
To adjust resolution, simply use right and left to change it, you can guess, or:

Assuming the resolution setting is the issue, and also assuming that the game defaulted to 3840x2160, if you go
That's a lot of supported resolutions! If you go right> from 3840x2160, all of that will be in reverse order.

I hope this helps anyone having this issue!

Played this game back on 360 and it's still great now.

There are a few weird things about this version of the game, like that the screen will have a kind of layered stuttering to it in long vertical pan shots. There is an option to turn vertical sync on, but that didn't fix anything as far as I could tell. One time when I opened a door, the game locked me in place until that door came back and closed on top of me, killing me. I don't recall any similar glitches in the original, but I may have just been lucky that time and unlucky this one.

Also the frame rate did tank in the first office after meeting Kate, but it recovered after that. Haven't continued playing the port enough yet to see if it happens again later.

Regardless though, the game is still great, and if a PC is all you have then this version will do.

Pros

1. First things first, kudos to the devs for making a non-sexualised female mc back in the day against the norms (even if it was today, we all know a large portion of "Gamers" would lose their mind screaming DEI and woke lol).

2. Secondly, the art direction is superb and it shows that stylistic approach stands the test of time better than realism (look at any REALISTIC graphics game from back then that people lost their shit over, now they just look ugly af).

3. The parkour is unique, feels great to play on controller, and is easy to learn but hard to master. When you pull off some cool wallrun-turn-jump-walllrun combo, you'd feel like a total badass.

4. The voice actors have done a terrific job giving personality to the characters. I really enjoys Merc's voice guiding me through the levels, and the others were NOT far worse too.

Cons

1. The story is dogshit. It works well enough to connect one parkouring stage to another, but don't go in expecting any story that might emotionally involve you lol.

2. The combat sections feel unnecessary and underdeveloped. Maybe it's just my problem, but I felt like the game would've been better if they scraped the combat totally and added a few more parkouring challenged instead.

Some points to note

1. The game is short. I died a lot of times, stayed afk during game time watching game of thrones (lol) and yet i completed the game under 6 and a 1/2 hours. It might be a deal breaker for some, but I think this was well worth the money.

2. When you play, turn OFF the PhysX, or the game would suffer severe framerate drop everytime a glass shatters (any combat section, really).

Conclusion

Albeit short and emotionally not gripping, Mirror's edge boasts fun and unique gameplay with great visuals to date and a pure good fun time. I recommend this.

Score; 6/10; Needs more Edging

It's one of the greatest classic games ever, yet it remains one of the most innovative. Not to mention its sleek and polished design, along with its captivating parkour action and thrilling gameplay, which make it truly one of a kind.

Certified classic. Total OG game. Gameplay, graphics, art style and direction, music, vibes, and main character. All great!

By the way, don't alt+F4 to quit, the game will freeze. Also, if the game crashes right after the tutorial/prologue, make sure you disable PhysX or w.e in the settings.

The best fps parkour game out there, very well executed for it's time, and still surprisingly beautiful graphics by today's standards

Mirror’s Edge is an adrenaline rush parkour like no other game. The parkour gameplay is fluid, innovative, and rewarding when mastered. I really like the city or the world in Mirror's edge because its clean and very vibrant.
The story is short and simple, it never was really that crazy though it was enjoyable.
While the combat can feel clunky at times and lackluster in modern standards, the game shines brightest when you focus on the pure joy of movement. For its time, it was groundbreaking and it still holds up today.

Had to turn off the physic off cuz it cause the game a load lot of stutter issues

Ratings:

Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Story: 7/10
Soundtrack: 10/10
Overall: 8.5/10

Would recommend

You can't live on the edge all your life, Faith.
-John Mirror, 2009, probably.

As a parkour game - it's still one of the greatest. Colours. Wall run. Lisa Miskovsky. RATS.

Even with some flaws in the combat, I still love playing this game. me like to run :)

It was cool until the warehouse with all the guards shooting at you and you don't know where to go. Fuck this bullshit game up the ass with a cactus.

I understand this is a beloved franchise for many players, and it was very innovative for it's time, but I did not enjoy this game. Firstly, the game kept crashing my computer just before starting the first mission, and it wasn't fixed until I disabled Phys X settings. The "combat" is pretty awful and inconsistent. Even with Runner Vision and Faith's camera pointing me in the direction of my objective, the way forward was often difficult to figure out, and even then half the time the platforming just did not work the first time. I found the story so dull and uninteresting, and by the time I got to the final chapter, I didn't have the motivation to play anymore and uninstalled the game. There's elements of a good game here, but not enough to make it fun for me, and the jankey combat and occasionally broken mechanics do nothing but age this game. Nowadays there are plenty of other parkour games you can be playing that likely do everything better than this game (except maybe the roll animation, that was the game's highlight for me).

Parkour, but Make It Art

You play as Faith Connors, a runner navigating a dystopian city where information is tightly controlled, and parkour is her tool of rebellion. The story is a decent excuse to keep running, involving corporate conspiracies and family drama.

The parkour mechanics feel intuitive yet demand precision. When you’re chaining movements seamlessly, it’s poetry in motion. When you’re not, it’s an awkward interpretive dance with the respawn screen. Combat feels deliberately clunky, a reminder that Faith is a runner, not a fighter. Disarming enemies is satisfying, though, but half the time it's better to just run away and leave them confused.

The game’s visual style is striking—a minimalistic palette dominated by stark whites and splashes of vibrant reds. These reds aren’t just decoration; they’re guideposts, a silent language telling you where to run, where to leap, and where to trust that gravity won’t betray you. Light is used masterfully, painting the sterile urban environment with sharp shadows and gleaming reflections. The minimalism isn’t just aesthetic; it’s functional, allowing the player to focus on the rhythm of running, leaping, and navigating.

"Mirror’s Edge" is a game that rewards perfection and punishes hesitation. It’s an unforgettable experience—a game that values innovation over convention, style over excess.

An amazing game - I always love a good story and Mirror's Edge has it. Along with great gameplay and not too complicated objectives, this is a great game to experience! I can't believe I've never decided to play it any time sooner! Thanks to the team and developers for giving us a good game and a great story!

This game always Interest me tho.

Easy Mechanics, But Hard Platforming but that's just a me thing.
Story is Fine.
I love the our Main Character.

PARKOUR! PARKOUR! PARKOUR!

This game is a masterpiece, the gameplay is amazing and the graphics for 2009 are beautiful. It has aged incredibly well. The story is very good too.

Pretty fun and creative, but some levels are frustrating. Doable, but frustrating. It's a good story as well.