007 First Light Preview: ‘We’ve Built a James Bond For Games’

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Bond is back, but you’re not going to recognize him.

In the first Bond game since 2012’s dire 007: Legends, a game so bad it lost publisher Activision the Bond rights, the iconic spy is reborn as a 26-year-old rookie agent yet to earn his stars.

According to Christian Elverdam, CCO of 007 First Light developer IO Interactive, the pitch to Bond custodian’s Amazon MGM was simple: what if the people behind the Hitman series turned their hands to an even more iconic assassin?

“We’re very comfortable building a lot of different locations with social gameplay,” Elverdam tells Newsweek. “And completing your missions without shooting. And so a big part of that [pitch] was actually just showing how Hitman plays as everything but a shooter – a very creative, stealth-action/spycraft game.”

There are plenty of crossovers between James Bond and Agent 47. They both travel the globe undertaking vital missions against shadowy villains, are well-trained in stealth and subterfuge, and equally comfortable shooting off firearms as well as their silver tongues. They’re also fond of the odd disguise.

Elverdam says 007 First Light will deploy every facet of Bond in delivering a similar plurality of gameplay styles, with multiple routes towards completing your objective.

Is 007 First Light a Shooter?

“This version is a Bond 360-degree experience,” says Elverdam. “We also wanted to up our game when it comes to melee combat, shooting, also the fluent shift between melee and shooting, and then up the spectacle moments.”

For examples of 007 First Light‘s open-ended approach, Elverdam lets slip a secret: “Dissect the trailer because we left a few clues in there.”

007 First Light Trailer

At one point in the game’s one and only gameplay trailer, you’ll see Bond pick someone’s pocket, suggesting his nimble fingers will let you steal keys and potentially plant evidence.

There’s also a look at the amateur agent’s messy shooting technique, which sees him improvise by throwing his pistol when it runs out of ammo. This is a more desperate firefight than a polished enemy dispatch.

007 First Light Cars

The frantic car chase is another staple of any Bond film. In the trailer, we see him speeding his gleaming motor through a sleepy European village. Add to copious use of gadgets (a laser watch, drone, and earpiece letting you communicate with handlers), and you have a game that finally seems to be getting Bond right.

Elverdam calls them “gameplay verbs” – different actions you can take aimed at making you feel like Bond. For IO Interactive, the key consideration was propelling players through a faster story. That, however, comes at the cost of map size.

007 First Light Map Size

007 First Light‘s maps aren’t on the scale of Hitman‘s sprawling but sedate social sandboxes, which invite replay after replay. IO Interactive discovered that leaning too far in this direction risked diluting Bond.

“James Bond is a character-driven game, and it’s a character-driven story. So you need obviously some forward momentum that is centred around James and his motivations.”

Is 007 First Light Like Hitman?

That forward momentum comes in the form of funnelling – in other words, when the levels get narrower and the only way is straight ahead. Elverdam says 007 First Light is structurally similar to 2012’s Hitman Absolution, albeit executed a whole lot better.

“I think we’ve integrated the story very smoothly into the different missions. So it doesn’t feel staccato,” says Elverdam.

“But the idea is obviously that you don’t feel like this big distinction between when you’re playing and when you’re in cutscenes. It’s much more fluent this time around.”

Action isn’t Hitman‘s strong suit. Shooting has always felt stilted, and melee is more of a button-matching mini-game. That all changes for 007 First Light.

007 First Light Shooting Gameplay

Shooting-wise, you’ll be getting some extra help in the form of gentle auto-aim. “You just tend to hit some shots that you might, let’s just say, behind the scenes, you might have missed them a little bit,” says Elverdam. It’s more about having fun than mastering the mechanics.

Melee, meanwhile, has plenty more depth. “There is what I would call a real game in there,” says Elverdam. “In Hitman it’s much less of a game and much more of just pushing a button.”

007 First Light Engine

A dramatically updated Glacier engine powers the spectacle, with vastly more detailed NPCS, better animation, and overall higher world fidelity. We see Bond strut around glitzy hotel resorts, explore mountain chateaus, and parkour across nighttime cityscapes.

IO Interactive even had to learn fresh filming techniques to make the game feel more cinematic, from nailing the camera motion to applying the right lens. It’s all part of the new 360-degree Bond.

“It’s important to get that mixture right. It’s almost like mixing the perfect cocktail. You need the right amount of everything.”

Hopefully shaken, not stirred.

007 First Light Release Date – When Does 007 First Light Release?

007 First Light is set to release for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S in 2026. There is no specific release date at this time.