Mirror's Edge Catalyst story details reveal competing factions and city districts

The Mirror's Edge Catalyst website has been updated with information about the three central districts in the city of Glass, as well as the three factions that make the place interesting: the Conglomerate, the Runners, and the ominously-named Black November.

The Conglomerate is made up of 13 corporations who collectively call the shots in the nation of Cascadia, but remain at each other's throats as well, constantly struggling to raise themselves in the ruling hierarchy. The Runners are a ”special group of voluntary offGrids”—capitalized like that—who live outside of Conglomerate society, making money as couriers and burglars, sometimes in the employ of the corporations that are supposed to be hunting them down. The third faction, Black November, is a violent protest group that seeks to “terrorize the authorities and incite a general revolution among the employs,” and is becoming less picky about who it makes a target.

The game will take place in the city of Glass, Cascadia's third-largest, with a population of nearly five million. The Anchor district is one of the city's most affluent, and features the under-construction Bauble Mall, which will be the most opulent shopping center in the nation when it's complete. The Downtown district is home to the Elysium Corporation, and also an area of high Runner activity. And The View is a quieter, more relaxed residential area, home to citizens who are moving on up.

It's a little short on detail, but EA is clearly putting more effort into the Catalyst story than it did with the first Mirror's Edge. I hope it pays off, because in all honest I never really understood what it was that made the bad guys “bad” in the original: I thought the city looked like a pretty nice place to live.

Mirror's Edge Catalyst will be out on May 24.