MIRROR’S EDGE

You feel each footstep as you kick up to speed

You don’t often think about running in games, do you? Hold W to go forwards, maybe tap shift if you’re really hoofing it. Then there’s Mirror’s Edge, a game so committed to putting you in the free-running shoes of leading lady Faith Connors that you can practically feel the soles wearing out with each jump, slide, and wallrun. Parkour might not be as cool now as it was in 2008, but over a decade later, Faith is still running circles around the competition.

is a first-person parkour-’em-up from creator Dice, who briefly put the guns away to make a game where running away was as dense and satisfying as any FPS gunfight. It’s a game about running and vaulting and sliding your way across rooftops