Open-world Mirror's Edge isn't a shooter, but it's "very different" compared to the original, EA says

EA won't turn Mirror's Edge into a shooter - but it has vowed to create a "very different" experience compared to the original with the just-announced game.

As expected, during its press conference EA announced a new Mirror's Edge game - not called Mirror's Edge 2 - that's a reboot of sorts. It tells the origin story of Parkour expert Faith and is set for release on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

EA Games Label boss Patrick Söderlund, who gave the game the go-ahead, declined to go into specifics about the gameplay we'll see in the new Mirror's Edge in an interview with Eurogamer, but did encourage fans to get excited.

"I can tell you one thing," he said. "It's a very different Mirror's Edge experience than the first game.

"Obviously as you saw in the trailer there are some things that will clearly remain the same. We're not going to break what the game was good at. But in general, though, there are some changes, which are for the better I think."

Speaking of the trailer, some have expressed concern that it suggests the new Mirror's Edge will be more action-orientated than the first game, which focused more on escaping enemies than it did killing them.

Söderlund promised developer DICE won't turn Mirror's Edge into a shooter, but did confirm that Faith will be a more powerful character than she was in the first game.

"The first game was a lot about running away from things. And, even though you want to have sections with that, you also want Faith... she's a powerful character and you want her to take control. You'll see a little bit more of that in this game."

EA Games Label boss Patrick Söderlund

"The first game was a lot about running away from things," he said. "And, even though you want to have sections with that, you also want Faith... she's a powerful character and you want her to take control. You'll see a little bit more of that in this game.

"Again, we're not going to turn this into a shooter. On the contrary, in fact. But we are going to evolve Faith and the story. Once we show more of this people will be genuinely excited. I am personally extremely excited about it."

Today EA executive Frank Gibeau described the new Mirror's Edge as an "open-world action adventure game".It's built using DICE's own Frostbite engine and is still in early development.

It had been rumoured to be in development for years prior to the announcement, with its existence somewhat of an open secret.

Söderlund said DICE has had a small team working on concepts for some time, but it wasn't until senior producer Sarah Jansson's eye-catching pitch that it was greenlit.

"Mirror's Edge is a game that's been very close to my heart and to DICE's heart for a long time," he said. "It was a new IP we made in 2008. It's a game that was loved by many. It's a game that frustrated some, to be fair.

"We knew we were going to come back to it one day, and we've had a small team on it on and off in conceptual mode. Not until Sarah approached me and [General Manager] Karl-Magnus Troedsson and said, 'I have something I want to pitch to you guys,' - we got that pitch and I was amazed by what she showed us. I said, 'yes, this is it. We're now going to do it.'

"We were waiting for the right idea. I'm so excited that the idea itself is so different and spectacular that it can only work on future machines, like the Xbox One and PS4 and PC. That's when I knew we had the right idea."