Two thoughts: first, I think the developers are at least aware of the reasons why a first-person perspective is significant in a game like this. You’re right that they don’t make the argument themselves, but quite a bit of this short interview is spent on the ideas that are the foundation for an interesting experiment with agency, control, and perspective.

Second, when was the last time a mainstream game featured a female lead from a first-person perspective? There was Metroid and Perfect Dark, but I’m struggling to think of others.

The gender issue is interesting. To have a female lead in an action adventure game isn’t necessarily new, but to do so in a FP perspective is especially cool.

It’s interesting too that Faith “may not have weapons” but that doesn’t mean she can’t fight. Why no weapons? Cuz she’s a girl? As the dev says in the interview, you sacrifice agility and speed when you snag a weapon from an enemy. What does all that mean, exactly?

All of it very curious but I definitely want to play it when it comes out. It looks gorgeous.

I don’t know how significant it is, but a lot of the games I can think of that had female leads are pretty “innovative.” Oni, Portal, and Beyond Good & Evil all come to mind.

I don’t think the reduced mobility with weapons thing is new or really gender-based; Oni certainly did it (admittedly with a female lead), and Halo 3 does, too. Drew points out that it’s also common in class-based games like Tribes and Team Fortress. A lot of games trade mobility for accuracy, too (Battlefield, Call of Duty, and so on).

In the context of Mirror’s Edge (at least as I’m imagining it), I think it’s a pretty good idea to provide a disincentive for players to do the thing they can do in every other game in order to encourage them to more fully explore what’s actually new.

Then again, I basically always order chicken tikka masala at Indian restaurants.