Mirror's Edge: Catalyst - 10 Huge New Details You Need To Know About
6. Capitalist Dystopia
As a relatively new IP Mirror's Edge has had to set itself apart from other, more mundane, first person experiences. Part of what contributed to that differentiation was its setting - taking science fiction dystopia to a whole other level entirely. As a premise it's certainly intriguing, and one that's not all that far fetched either. Mirror's Edge basically exists in a world where Capitalist economies were left uncontrolled, reaching a point at which huge, multi-national companies came to dictate governmental policy over that of the electorate. It resonates because to an extent, this is already happening. This is a potential future where companies come to dictate society's norms as we know it, with unfettered surveillance micro-managing the populace in a way I imagine none would be too happy with. It makes a change from the countless apocalyptic wastelands gamers have had to navigate in recent years, and does something fresh and unique with an aging genre that's not really made an impact on consoles since the days when Mass Effect reigned supreme.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
