Mirror's Edge has earned a reputation for two things: being extremely cool and not getting any new games. Indie developer Viridian Matters has decided to address that gap with its own take on the freerunning formula.
Called Panline, the game now has a Steam store page featuring screenshots and brief gameplay clips. The aesthetic immediately signals its influences. While it shares Mirror's Edge's gleaming dystopia of spotless white skyscrapers, it swaps the franchise's iconic red for bright blue, orange, and algae green hues.
The game wears its love for the late 2000s on its sleeve. The first screenshot on the Steam page features an in-game gadget that resembles one of Sony's gaming handhelds from that era. It's a detail that underlines Panline's design philosophy: this is a love letter to a specific moment in gaming history.
What makes Panline potentially interesting beyond pure nostalgia is how it diverges from its inspiration. The world has no map, relying instead on players learning the environment to navigate. This represents a deliberate design choice that pushes back against modern open-world conventions, where mini-maps and waypoints are standard.
Some observers have pointed out that Panline looks visually similar to Mirror's Edge in both its aesthetics and animations, raising questions about whether EA might take legal action. However, developer Viridian Matters created a previous parkour game called Ikarus Parkour, suggesting that much of the baseline technical work has been developed independently.
Mirror's Edge launched as an instant classic in 2008 and spent years with fans begging for a sequel. The 2016 follow-up, Catalyst, failed to meet expectations, and with DICE now focused on other projects, a proper new Mirror's Edge game seems unlikely.
Panline arrives at a moment when indie developers have become the primary stewards of genres abandoned by major studios. The parkour space remains relatively niche, and the absence of new, quality entries from established franchises has left room for independent creators to step in. For Australian players, this means another indie title to keep on Steam wishlists—assuming the project reaches completion and sees proper release.