Mirror’s Edge Catalyst: Our Corporate Future
Story driven video games are often praised for the “main story” in which the player engages in. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is one of the rare exceptions where the main storyline is sort of flat, but the world in which it takes place is so interesting and relevant that it evokes more thought out of the player than the actual main story.
What I played:
In a not too distant future, the city of Glass is governed by a conglomerate of corporations which strictly enforces its policies. A young woman named Faith Connors is released from juvenile hall and rejoins the other members of a cabal of “runners.” They use parkour to deliver messages or other sensitive information/items to avoid detection by officials in the city. She comes across information on an upcoming technology “Reflection” and her cabal is targeted, causing her to seek shelter with a radical resistance group Black November. She then unravels the truth about her family and what Reflection is truly capable of.
What I experienced:
Starting off, I must say that the creators did a fantastic job on designing the setting. This is evident from the very beginning, as we see Faith in her cell with propaganda coming out of speakers, then as she talks with the cyclops KrugerSec guards who interact with the world using camera and a screen rather than their own eyes. She is then provided with a device that overwhelms her with all the information/advertisements occupying her vision using augmented reality.
The world of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is very similar to Western society if the corporate consumerism were ramped up a few levels. In this future, there is no real public government anymore, since the wealthy families decided to drop all pretense of open elections and used their corporate might to control everything. There are no laws, only policies. There are no citizens, only employs with one simple contract — if you are alive, you work and contribute to one of the many corporations.
In return for being a good employ, one has the opportunity to consume (disposable) goods and maybe climb up the corporate ladder for access to even more luxuries. However, if an employ is found to be in violation of that contract or any other policy, they can be subjected to work in the Greylands; a presumed hellish landscape with no access to basic necessities like food or clean water.
Of course in this world there are various degrees of compliance and resistance to the structure. The compliant employs of Glass are the equivalent of those who truly believe in the American Dream, where if you just work hard and dedicate yourself to the system you will be rewarded with stability and possibly rise in the ranks. The problem with such a system is that our success is built on the fact that others have to remain in poverty in order for us to enjoy the luxuries promised to us. Then of course there are the ones who are in power (the 1%), who do everything they can to influence the system to help them stay in power and keep their luxury, which is at a wholly different level than many of us will ever experience.
As for those who resist, on one extreme is the group Black November, using violence to try and shock the public from their stupor (terrorists). In the middle there is the runners like Faith and her cabal, as well as hackers like the character Plastic (gangs/outcasts). The runners live disconnected from the grid (our equivalent of the internet) and pass information, black market goods, and all around run amok for those who justifiably have some distrust for the societal structure. Then of course there is small bits of resistance from the employees themselves who protest openly, such as Faith’s parents (union/political activists). Each form of resistance has it’s own price to pay for challenging the system.
It is easy to see the parallels between the city of Glass and how our Western society is currently structured. Everyone is willing to admit that there are separate class levels in which most people fall under, and in Glass there are those in the Greylands, then then the lo castes and hi castes. However, what people don’t like to admit is just how much it can effect a person’s way of life; everything from health care, access to clean water, education (which is often used to move up in class), and even general safety. One may not be able to buy happiness, but they can certainly provide stability even in the toughest of times.
As for the governing structure, it’s not hard to see Glass as a potential future. American history has given rise to the corporation as we know it from a landmark decision of a post civil war lawsuit which ruled the corporation has the same rights as a person. These rights currently include establishing contracts, owning property, free speech (through where they donate their money), and even religious freedom. Not only that, but practically every public service that the government typically provides has a private corporation vying to take over, such as prisons, libraries, charter schools, even the military (remember Blackwater?). In fact, there are still several “company towns” all over the world which a corporation will own a large swath of land surrounding a particular resource and have everything their employees need, such as housing, stores, and the like. Therefore, it’s not so much of a stretch to imagine corporations banding together and forming their own city-state where the rule of law is company policy.
While the conglomerate makes up the governing structure, each corporation has a CEO with a wealthy family. Each family is fighting for influence over the conglomerate, with the security company KrugerSec being the one on top during the game. However another corporation is trying to rise to the top, and the owner married off his daughter Beatrix to the son of another strong corporation to ensure a strong alliance. The players come across this scenario with the futuristic cityscape in the background, and it is somewhat jarring because the concept reminds you of medieval times when European royalty used to do the exact same thing. You would think such customs would be left behind in history rather than being implemented in a not too distant future.
But again, it’s not so different that what our world is like now. I’m not talking about some figurehead monarch like England’s royal family, either. While America is technically a democracy, (well even more technically a republic), there are a lot of awfully familiar names in it’s politics across the generations. I am talking about political families, like President’s George Bush Sr, who beget President George W. Bush, Jeb Bush (the other son who tried for the presidency), as well as the Kennedy Family (who have their own Wikipedia article regarding the generations of political involvement), the Clintons, and…you get the idea. Once you look at America’s political history, it can start to blur into a royal lineage more than a true representation of the people.
Now what about the main story? Like I mentioned in the beginning, the main story is bland compared to the setting. It revolves around Faith, her sister, and a new technology Reflection. Faith’s character arch goes from someone who is trying not to be involved in the world, to being forced to pick a side once she learns Reflection is going to be used as a means to make the population docile (it uses the gridLink to control people’s emotions/thoughts). She is somewhat torn on her loyalties upon discovering her sister was adopted by CEO of KrugerSec, and believes in the caste system. The sister’s character arch is used to set her up as a potential villain for a sequel, if they end up making one.
In conclusion
The idea of freedom is the overarching theme with the characters and setting. The conglomerate wishes to limit freedom of the employs in order to make it easier to keep the current power structure. Black November and the runners are looking to thwart the governing structure and keep their freedom, just using actions on different extremes. In some of the side missions there are covert deliveries where people are exchanging information on technology which can benefit those in the Greylands, and want to leak it so it will not be left only for those who can afford it. The idea of basic human rights are not lost to the employs of Glass.
I loved the visuals of the city and the first person perspective of doing cool parkour moves. There were tons of side missions, but they became repetitive really fast as only the first few of each type gave any insight to the city and it’s people. Another frustrating part was that a lot of details in the history of the world was pushed off to the side as hidden documents that you had to find throughout the map. With the setting being the biggest draw to the game, this felt like a misstep, and I think it would have been better to have the characters bring up these anecdotes and effect the story rather than read about it. Most of the character interaction was done over Faith’s comms, which saved the developers from having to animate characters but sort of reduced the impact, especially if you accidentally went too fast and triggered the start of the mission which would cut off the dialogue.
Despite it’s flaws (which were awfully similar to the original Mirror’s Edge), I would look forward to playing a sequel to learn more about the world…and I guess about Faith too.