007: First Light – The Final Preview – Maybe the Most Detailed Bond Game Ever

The international super spy James Bond is certainly no stranger to video games. However, it would be fair to say that many Bond games have often focused more on familiar shoot-’em-up action spectacle while ignoring the rest of what makes 007 so much fun. There’s so much potential for a Bond video game to really lean into those stealthy and socially charismatic encounters that the films capture so well. And that’s what makes Hitman developer IO Interactive’s long-awaited turn towards the James Bond franchise so appealing.

Bringing the Hitman series’ social-stealth and open-ended design for its take on James Bond, 007: First Light has the makings of an incredibly ambitious attempt at a fully realized spy story starring the iconic character. After spending some time with the opening hours of this new James Bond origin story, I came away feeling more confident that the Hitman devs were the right team to take on this reboot, and they may just deliver on the most original take for Bond’s breakout adventure.

Embracing your inner agent

My hands-on time focused primarily on three missions: the opening mission set in Iceland; the MI6 training set in Malta, Italy; and a spectacle-driven infiltration and escape set at a ritzy gala in London’s Kensington borough.

As a modern origin story, 007: First Light focuses on Bond’s early days as an MI6 recruit and on the decisive missions that grant him his status as a true ’00’ secret agent. Kicking off with an explosive mission in Iceland, Bond encounters a ruthless organization stealing secret technology at a remote facility, setting off a global chase to find those responsible. After being recruited into the agency, Bond partners up with reimagined takes on Q, Moneypenny, and other original characters who guide him and help him earn his place within MI6.

There’s been a variety of tones across the Bond franchise, ranging from gritty spy thrillers to more over-the-top, comical spectacles. From my hands-on time with First Light’s opening missions, it certainly lands more so in the slick and punchy style of both the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig eras of Bond. But as a game, First Light is a balance between IOI’s Hitman series and its focus on choice-and-consequence gameplay, within a structured, spectacle-driven narrative similar to Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series.

In many ways, 007: First Light is unique from other Bond games because it allows for time to take in opportunities to speak with characters and learn more about Bond setting outside of big set-piece driven moments. Speaking with game narrative director and Bond IP creative director Martin Emborg, he explained that while First Light could be done as a film, the interactive element creates something special for a Bond video game.

“The cool answer and response to this would be like, “yeah, this could only be a game,” but for sure, this story could be a movie as well – but with the game, you get to experience the many hour version of this story, where you’re immersed in it and you personally get to solve these challenges,” said Emborg. “I think that’s the true quality of games, is that you get to experience and craft your adventure. I think we have about a couple of hours of cinematics, so that matches a movie somewhat, but there’s so much more to it. So in a sense, it’s a much deeper experience because you have that time to explore and see their characters.”

It’s a very character-focused take on a stealth-driven action-adventure game, which packs in a lot of personality and charm, showing how Bond came into his own as a spy – even when his attempts don’t go so smoothly. This aspect also comes through in Bond’s approach to engagements, which really sells his status as a well-trained yet still impulsive twenty-something spy who can make the most of every opportunity.

The training stage in Malta, Italy served as a good primer to the flow of First Light’s take on stealth-action. I gave this stage two attempts to see how much it would change with my choices, which was a good way to comprehend how the balance between stealth and combat works. Generally, the goal is to avoid suspicion from foes, and if you fail, you’ll need to contain the situation.

If things escalate and suspicion reaches a boiling point, guards may become hostile and even call in reinforcements. However, each scuffle with enemies is an isolated encounter, helping keep engagements from spiraling out of control for the mission. Firearms are often a last resort, and that’s where melee combat fits in as the preferred choice for taking out enemies. It does well to showcase how brutal and quick Bond can be in taking down foes. However, I did feel it was a bit cumbersome to find the flow of fist-fights, especially with multiple enemies coming in.

First Light is a spy game through and through, and I certainly had options at my disposal. In addition to ruthless aggression with Bond’s fists and firearms, he’s also got a handy Q-watch and Q-vision gadgets. In a similar vein to Watch Dogs, you can perform quick hacks and dismantle objects in the environment to create set-ups or distractions. This opened up some amusing moments where I could use a broken fax machine or radio to draw a target in, then either knock them out or lock them in a room to keep them out of sight.

However, it should be stated that First Light takes a more punchy, momentum-driven approach to its stealth-action, as opposed to the clockwork world design and slower pace of the Hitman series. This means you likely won’t stay in locations too long to examine character routines or come up with Rube Goldberg solutions, as with Agent 47. I was also let down to see that you couldn’t perform some familiar stealth actions, like picking up bodies and hiding them from view. But the more I played, the more I got used to First Light’s particular take on stealth-action, which is really about making a beeline to your target and getting in and out as quickly as possible.

The core missions I played had a fairly guided approach, yet they still offered plenty of opportunities to find my own way to clear the objectives. The mission set in the gala event was particularly fun and intriguing, featuring a more open-ended design that showcased First Light’s tone and gameplay structure to full effect. To infiltrate the upper floors to secure valuable intel about a key target, this is where the Hitman influence kicks in, and you’re given a different set of ways to infiltrate the facility in ways that tap into social engineering, or even some sneaky brute-forcing.

Sneaky James

In my attempt to eavesdrop, I overheard a phone conversation with a PR agent complaining about a journalist late for their appointment. Assuming their identity, I then talked my way into the meeting, but I first had to get a press pass and a camera to look the part. What initially seemed like clear-cut objects quickly went sideways when the real journalist showed up and had already checked in, leaving me to improvise another way up. I was able to pull that off by listening to a guard complaining about the current state of security in the building.

This opened the door to using one of Bond’s most impressive and valuable skills: his quick wit and charm. With the Bluff skill, which requires action points to pull off, you can actually trick enemies and even disengage hostiles from your suspicious behavior. The power of this skill is improved when you read up on intel or gain knowledge from the environment, which lets you leverage the information to make an in with the NPCs in the level. It essentially turns those familiar Bond quips and one-liners into a gameplay maneuver, leading to slick, hilarious moments where social engineering is in full effect.

One of the more memorable moments from Bluffing was during a tense stealth sequence. After knocking out a guard, another one on patrol caught me shortly after. I quickly activated the Bluff skill and convinced him that the unconscious guard had suffered a medical emergency and had fallen on his own. The deception worked, and the guard disengaged from me and went to examine the knocked-out guard, which gave me time to dispose of him as well.

Eventually, I was able to sneak my way up into the upper levels, which led to an exciting boss encounter against one of First Light’s recurring henchmen. Without a firearm, I had to use stealth attacks and my gadgets to sneak around and set up traps to get the best of him. But in keeping with the need to adapt, the boss learns from his mistakes and will avoid or outright deactivate any similar traps in adjoining rooms. It was a thrilling encounter, and it reminded me of the classic boss fight against Mr. Freeze from Batman: Arkham City, which also focuses on adapting and developing new tactics throughout the battle.

License to Kill

Not long after, I entered a more combat-driven encounter against tactical officers, and that’s when First Light’s full-on combat phase, known as License to Kill, engaged. In keeping with Bond’s status as a spy, combat is often necessary in certain situations, and you’ll have to use whatever methods you can to take out enemies, lethal or non-lethal. Compared to previous Hitman games, First Light features some fantastic action mechanics, and the core shooting feels especially great when in the moment. I had some particularly cool moments where I tossed an empty sub-machine gun at an enemy’s head before pummeling him to the ground, and when I shot a weapon out of an enemy’s hand and grabbed it out of the air to fight him off with it.

Closing out the mission in style, I made my exit from the gala and into another firefight before boarding a garbage truck and barreling down the streets of London in reckless fashion – which totally gave me the same vibes from GoldenEye’s iconic tank chase scene.

The missions I got to play were set in the main story campaign, which also offers some freedom between missions to explore. However, much like the story and characters, the goals and objectives are closely tied to the larger narrative, which, according to the developers, is why they wanted a more focused take on Bond’s stealth-action. However, one aspect of First Light that aims to give players more freedom is the Tac-Sim mode.

While I wasn’t able to play it during the preview, this side activity lets you engage with standalone missions and scenarios based on full missions from the game, with some twists. In a similar vein to the Hitman series, these simulations are open-ended and allow players to use whatever methods – and outfits – they want to accomplish objectives. I think this mode can potentially be a great outfit for players looking to cut loose and try to push First Light’s open-ended approach to missions, and I’m very excited to see what sort of hijinks that skilled players can get into.

According to the narrative director, one of the driving reasons for the Tac-Sim was to allow for more opportunities for players to step outside of the safety of the main narrative and cut loose with stand alone encounters, which affords opportunities to try new things.

“There’s a careful balance happening with the game, there is a sanctity to what actually happens in the story and the missions, and then there’s the silliness that can come out of that, which is sometimes the best and funniest stuff,” said Emborg. “Yet, it can’t always sit in the reality of the main story and universe we’re building. But we have what we call the tactical simulation volume in the Q Branch of MI6, where you can re-experience previous levels and other variations.”

“Within the setting of the game, diegetically, you’re training and honing your skills, which is run by the character Dr. Selena Tan. She trains the system on your missions, and so that’s where you can do a bunch of different stuff,” he said. “So if you want to use your laser more freely, and do stuff that sits kind of outside of what I would consider the diegetic experiences in this world, like gold jackets and weird costumes, then you can do that here.”

It’s been many years since the last proper 007 game, and the larger Bond franchise seems to be in a state of reassessment. And that certainly puts IO Interactive’s latest in a great position to deliver an exciting new Bond game cleverly. With 007: First Light’s character-first approach to delivering a fully realized Bond adventure, it’s so far got the charm, wit, and raw energy to make this spy thriller one to keep an eye on as its May release fast approaches.

Alessandro Fillari is a longtime games media professional. Talk video games with him on BlueSky at @afillari.bsky.social.