Mirror’s Edge™ Catalyst

I know they're owned by EA but I wish DICE would branch out more from the EA ordered Battlefield slop more often... Both Mirrors Edges and NFS Hot Pursuit are their BEST games.
You're capable of incredible things, DICE. Come home.
Also, looking at you when I say this, EA; it would cost you like $10 a year to keep the servers up for this game's simple leaderboards and you couldn't even handle that. Bravo.

It's been eight years and I can't move on. It's also been almost sixteen years and it's even worse.
There was nothing like Mirror's Edge, there is nothing like Mirror's Edge, and there never will be anything like Mirror's Edge again.
TL;DR: Despite its flaws, Mirror's Edge Catalyst cemented itself as one of my absolute favourite video game experiences of all time. The City of Glass is a place that never gets old and the gameplay associated to it never ceases to amaze me.
Back when the first game released I didn't hear much about it. That's until it randomly popped up in my YouTube recommendations one day, and that's when the obsession started. Nowadays it comes and goes, but that's when it all started: in 2009 sitting at my computer after school.
It wasn't even good enough to run the game then. I had to hog my mother's laptop to play it as I obsessed with everything the game had to offer. Coming from the Xbox 360 demo, young me ended up mind-blown by the game's presentation, aesthetic, soundtrack, and gameplay. It was smooth, fluid, like anything I had ever played before.
Fast forward to 2015. There's this new game that gets announced, promises to be bigger and bolder than the previous one. This was rumoured for years. At the time everyone thought Mirror's Edge would have been a trilogy. After all, that's what DICE had in mind.
Teenager me's jaw was on the floor. Did this really happen? That childhood obsession making a return? And it's releasing... "When it's ready"? I was burning up with excitement. There are very few moments in my life that I remember this dearly, let alone video game and Internet stuff. But seeing Faith running and jumping from building to building with a style I was all too familiar with, alongside mind boggling visuals and colourful environments amongst the minimalism that engulfed its world, all in an open world... At first it was a choice I questioned.
This open world is a choice I respect. It was a bold decision, and it paid off. Although The City was an abandoned metropolis losing the shine of its former glory, seeing a cleaner and bustling location in Glass was a great change of pace. Even though at times the city felt way too clean, but I'm fine with this flaw. None of this obscured the even smoother and fluid movement that now feels even more polished than the first game after replaying both a bunch of times.
While the story certainly is far from being a masterpiece that also happens to mirror a lot of the first game's plot points (and locations), it still felt coherent even if it felt like certain parts were vaguely stitched together using filler content. I still enjoyed the rivalry between Icarus and Faith which grows into an odd bond of two opposites. Seeing both characters having to work together despite their issues led to interesting dynamics between the two alongside further development of Icarus's character. This was the highlight of the story to me, which is unfortunate given how much is happening in the game and how little changes upon its ending. I wish Isabel was less of a plot device and more of an actual character. By the end, nothing between her and Faith changes despite who they are to each other. I wish she had a presence during the end-game, with Isabel finally getting a grip and breaking from her Kruger branded shackles. I could appreciate her more in the first game which has a much better introduction to its plot as well as a more natural development.
But those flaws are things I can look past thanks to everything I mentioned already alongside... The soundtrack.
Solar Fields coming back was a big concern I had back in 2015. No one else could capture the essence of this game better than him, and so no one could replace him. Fortunately, and a big sigh of relief ensured then, he was enrolled to compose an excellent soundtrack for Catalyst. And once more, everything clicked together: it was an exact fit. Nothing feels better than running and jumping while hearing Solar Fields's synths and soft drums. This time, DICE have implemented something they couldn't for the first game: a fully dynamic soundtrack. The music now reacts to your every move, fading in and out different elements of the songs and applying different effects to them. This experience is still mind-blowing all these years later.
Despite its many flaws, I have a strong connection with this game. I enrolled in the beta then, thoroughly enjoyed every second of it, pre-ordered the game in 2016, and fell in love immediately. I am unbelievably sad that there will never be something like Mirror's Edge again despite DICE still showing a ton of love for it. The first game, after all, were the best times DICE ever had working on a video game (or so they claimed back then). Catalyst, to me, had the same amount of love poured into it. While there are mechanics that feel out of place, the way the original premise was expanded into more than made up for it. I loved, I love, and I will love this game.
Then the servers got shut down. You should have been there when it was alive: user generated beacons we'd sign with our name and date to tell "Hey, I was there too!" as we challenged each other to reach improbable places, player made time attack runs with some coming up with the most insane of routes and some blazing through the courses... It wasn't much, but it brought a whole lot of wealth of content to the game. Even though you would be alone most of the time on those roofs you would still find ways to connect with other people. These connections, even though I have never met any one else, are things I will always remember. Dear runners, thank you for those good times.
EA, DICE. If you are reading this, bring this franchise back. It doesn't have to be a sequel, a prequel, or another reboot. We all want more of it, we hunger for it.
As I listen to the game's soundtrack while writing this entire review, I can only smile at the times I had with this franchise. At some point it made me want to get into parkour. Now that I grew older, it is motivating me to go just a bit further: find some time in my life to take better care of myself and just have fun. After all, if there are two things this game taught me, it's to keep enjoying things no matter what other people have to say.
The second thing?
Keep running Faith,
and never look back.

Thanks to modder community we are able to host own local server to make this game playable once again

Please do not listen to the reviews about the server being shutdown. This game is literally still playable. You just have to close the server shutdown messages when you load the game and all is good! Sometimes they may popup but never during gameplay.
This game still saves properly and does everything that it used to do for except maybe leaderboards? You can finish the whole campaign and still enjoy it to it's fullest.
I love the game, the graphics were ahead of its time and it's super relaxing to play.

Not sure why people are saying it doesn't work because I was able to load in with no problems whatsoever. I got a message saying servers were off for leader boards and then put me right in. Game is absolutely gorgeous, played the first one loved it, this one has stepped it up with the combat and parkour moves. Art design is some of my favorite in a game and as someone who plays The Finals I can see where a lot of the inspo comes from. Awesome game and currently for $2 can't beat that!!

The game was pretty entertaining. Plays like the first game with some new movement tech. Idk if people are braindead or something but the game isn't unplayable... it's just not online anymore and most of the achievements don't pop. Even though EA blows as usual, you can still play the game, you doinks, y'all look stupid.
A slight workaround for the achievement bug without downloading anything to your PC can be found from this guys guide. It doesn't work everytime but it still helps getting some of your achievements that you should have earned:

Makes you more nostalgic for the original more so than being good.
The gameplay and story is improved, but the level design and atmosphere is very lacklustre.