Set in a near-future city, it follows the story of Faith Connors, an underground parkour courier who transmits messages while evading government surveillance.

To progress through the game, the player must control Faith from a first-person perspective and complete a series of levels that involve performing a sequence of acrobatic maneuvers, including jumping between rooftops, running across walls, and sliding down zip lines.

The game deliberately makes use of strong primary colors, with outdoor environments predominantly featuring white and distinctively lacking in green.

Retrospectively, Mirror's Edge has grown in esteem and developed a passionate fanbase due to its strong aesthetics and innovative game design.

Mirror's Edge is an action-adventure platform game where the player must control the protagonist, Faith Connors, from a first-person perspective and navigate a city.

[3] These include jumping between rooftops, running across walls, climbing pipes, walking along ledges, sliding down zip lines, and getting past opponents controlled by the game's artificial intelligence.

[5] Her momentum is an important aspect of the gameplay,[6] as preserving it through multiple obstacles allows the player to run faster, jump farther and climb higher.

[5] Although the player can perform melee attacks and disarm opponents,[6] using weapons is generally discouraged as they slow Faith down and hinder her acrobatic abilities.

An underground crew of parkour couriers, called Runners, operate independently from the city's security and surveillance measures, delivering private goods and sensitive information.

Lacking other leads, Faith investigates Pirandello Kruger, a private security firm that has begun aiding the police forces in capturing Runners.

[13] Mirror's Edge was developed by the Swedish company DICE as part of an effort to create something fresh and interesting, anticipating a need to diversify away from the successful Battlefield franchise the studio was known for.

[16] Originally, the development team experimented with the player being able to drive vehicles, but the idea was ultimately dropped because they felt it would break the flow of the game.

[17] Creating all the first-person animations proved to be an ambitious task, but it was considered essential to help orient players in the game world.

[15] The only information that is visible in the game's heads-up display is a small reticle in the center of the screen, which was added to lessen the simulation sickness associated with the free movement of the camera in first-person view.

[19] Mirror's Edge deliberately makes use of strong primary colors, with outdoor environments predominantly featuring white and distinctively lacking in green.

[20] According to senior producer Owen O'Brien, this stylistic choice grew out of the gameplay, as it allows the player to focus on the Runner Vision guidance.

[21] Getting the lighting right was a difficult process for the development team, as it involved a lot of hand tweaking and a considerable amount of time to render each level.

[15] To speed up the rendering process, DICE invested in around 400 CPU cores, which were kept cool in a separate room by a very big air conditioning unit.

[24] The game was formally announced by Electronic Arts at E3 in July 2007, where DICE stated that they wanted to bring innovation to established first-person mechanics.

[22] To stimulate interest in the game's universe, Electronic Arts partnered with WildStorm to produce a six-issue comic book adaptation drawn by artist Matthew Dow Smith and written by Pratchett.

[30] If the game was pre-ordered at certain retailers, buyers could gain access to a time trial portion of the demo and get a Mirror's Edge T-shirt by Fenchurch.

[36] Unlike its console counterparts, the Windows version supports Nvidia's PhysX technology, which improves graphical effects such as glass shattering, debris, and smoke.

[45] The Windows version was considered superior to its console counterparts due to its more accurate controls and extra graphical features such as PhysX effects.

[52] Critics remarked that the game's interactive soundtrack makes Faith's runs more fluid,[3][49] while sound effects such as her breathy heaves and noisy footsteps were said to enhance the sense of speed and tension.

[2][48][50] GameSpot remarked that the scenarios that involve getting past opponents are particularly annoying and require careful planning because Faith is extremely vulnerable to gunfire.

[55] DICE marketing director Martin Frain initially projected Mirror's Edge to sell a total of three million units be sold across all platforms.

[59] Although Mirror's Edge received satisfactory reviews upon release, the game has since grown in esteem and developed a passionate fanbase,[60] reaching cult classic status.

"[66] The game's moderate success led DICE to develop and release Mirror's Edge Catalyst, a reboot that explores a new origin story for Faith, in 2016.

[60] DICE has paid tribute to Mirror's Edge in a content update for Battlefield 2042, titled "Eleventh Hour", where Faith's red shoes can be found as an easter egg hidden atop the arm of a mobile crane on the newly released map, "Flashpoint".

[67] On March 21, 2023, Electronic Arts announced that Mirror's Edge will be delisted from digital stores, among several Battlefield games, with the last day to purchase being April 28, 2023.