It's hard enough to create an artificial setting for a video game; what's even harder is to make it "come to life" - to make the fictional world look as real as possible.  However, Mirror's Edge:  Catalyst had catapulted on a few tricks - technologies - of the trade.

Many developers, then and now, had been using rendering techniques in creating their video games.  To acquire and to use these technologies is, succinct to say, costly.  And that is, if the studio had been allowed to or given a huge budget to do so.  But to do away with it, is like committing suicide.  Now, with ever-increasing power of mainstream GPUs and consoles, it's hard to go against the flow, as it may prove to be detrimental in the success of a video game.

And a great example of this is DICE's Mirror's Edge:  Catalyst.  According to Gear Nuke, "In order to fit a slew of heavy processing tasks into its tight budgets, DICE has employed new techniques specific to modern graphics processors and the new console generations. By taking advantage of Asynchronous Compute, the developer is now capable of reaching new levels of in-depth optimizations, with which it has been able to squeeze more work out of the graphics pipeline."

As we know, the Glass City is distinct compared from other usual gaming environments.  As described in a Bidness Etc report, "Electronic Arts Inc.'s sequel to Mirror's Edge, titled "Mirror's Edge Catalyst," features a rich, crisp, and clear world."

"This is why Frostbite Engine and a new reflection technology were implemented in the game. For now, Mirror's Edge Catalyst is the only game that features this technology developed by EA, but more games are expected to feature the new technology in the near future."

According to the game's Senior Producer, Sara Jansson, "it's a combination of three different reflection technologies that just makes this very clean world come to life with how everything reflects in the environment."  And since the Mirror's Edge:  Catalyst did not rely on building huge terrains; what it did was make the buildings, the whole environment, interactive.

This is also the reason why players can do whatever they want with Faith within the Glass City - from roaming on the rooftops, going down abandoned tunnels, and climbing skyscrapers; players can have as much freedom in exploring the mirrored city as the protagonist.

Mirror's Edge Catalyst will be released on February 23, 2016 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.