Mirror's Edge 2 Developer Trying to "Remove Frustration"

DICE is attempting to "remove a bit of the frustration" in its upcoming sequel to the first-person free-running game, Mirror's Edge, CEO Karl-Magnus Troedsson has said.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Troedsson revealed some of the philosophy behind the new Mirror's Edge. Publisher Electronic Arts has decided to allow an unusual development cycle for the game. Instead of big teams trying to get games done punctually, Mirror's Edge is being developed by a small group with permission to spend as much time as needed to make it work. Troedsson explained, "We realized this is going to take some time for us, so we basically said, let's take the time and perhaps have a little bit of a smaller team over a longer period of time."

The team also recognizes that controls in the first game were not great, and as a result DICE is trying to make the next Mirror's Edge more fun and less irritating. "We really want to continue doing that but removing a bit of the frustration that came with that in the first game," Troedsson said. "We're focusing on first-person combat this time around, to make sure we bring that experience into something that is really fun and accessible."

During the interview, Troedsson also revealed that DICE has been playing with virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift. He detailed how the team has been monitoring the mod for Mirror's Edge that added in Rift support, and the developer has decided that it may not be feasible. "There's a guy who did it and he says it himself: after a while this is a bit overwhelming," Troedsson remarked. "You have vertigo and first-person movement. How many people of the population out there wouldn't throw up when they played that?"

However, the concept of Mirror's Edge running with Rift support is still interesting, he admits. "Would it be cool? Absolutely! Do I want to play it? Yes! Maybe for five minutes at a time!"

EA showed off some more concept art and a bit of prototype footage of the next Mirror's Edge at its E3 press conference this year. Nothing is yet known about the game's story, gameplay changes, or release date.