How a love of techno music shaped Mirror's Edge
Kraftwerk, Skinny Puppy, and Front 242 inspired not only the sound, but the characters, environment, and overall look of DICE's first-person parkour adventure.
Some games are synonymous with dance music: Rez, Wipeout, and Thumper to name a few. So is Mirror's Edge, though perhaps less obviously.
DICE's 2008 runner summons the underground pursuit in both abstract and concrete ways: the massive architecture and hard lines of the shining city evoke the iconography of techno; the sleek tech-wear of protagonist Faith is similar to that worn by ravers at the trendiest European venues; Solar Fields delivers a pulsating electro soundtrack which kicks into high gear when Faith is pursued at speed across the rooftops.
So it wasn't much of a surprise when interviewing the game's art director, Johannes Söderqvist, to hear he's a techno head. In fact, he is also a fan of trance, post punk, and industrial, genres which all manifest in Mirror's Edge. While talking to him for Design Room's Mirror's Edge oral history, I asked him to break down the influences that helped set the game apart from its peers and gave it an undeniable countercultural edge.
Lewis Gordon