The 007 series has been the world's longest-running espionage franchise for over 60 years, beloved globally, yet it has struggled to find its footing in the gaming industry. While 1997's 'GoldenEye' achieved a 96 on Metacritic and enjoyed massive popularity in the West, the most recent title, '007 Legends,' scored a 45—a testament to the rocky road '007 games' have traveled.
This is why '007: First Light,' the upcoming title from IO Interactive—the studio best known for the 'Hitman' series—is generating so much anticipation. It is a rare opportunity to encounter James Bond in a game after such a long hiatus, and the premise of playing as a 26-year-old Bond in an entirely different timeline is a unique twist.
Ahead of its May 27 release, I had the chance to experience the core gameplay of '007: First Light' during a media demo held in Shanghai, China.
The Bumpy Career Change of a Young Soldier, James Bond
The protagonist of '007: First Light' is the 'youngest-ever' James Bond at 26, portrayed by actor Patrick Gibson. The demo showed how he transitions from a naval aviator on a joint SAS mission to working for the British intelligence agency, MI6.
The demo featured three missions: a tutorial level in Iceland, MI6 training in Malta, and a mid-game sequence at a Kensington gala.
In Iceland, the game depicts Bond struggling to survive after a helicopter crash, naturally teaching the player the control scheme. One impressive feature is the use of the R1 button (on DualSense) for both sprinting and stealth/cover; if there is a cover point nearby, pressing R1 allows you to dash quickly into position.
Otherwise, movement feels similar to other stealth-action games. The mechanics are intuitive: moving carefully through tall grass to avoid detection or sneaking up behind an unsuspecting enemy for a takedown follow the standard conventions of the genre, making it easy to adapt.
At the MI6 training facility in Malta, you undergo drills as a fresh recruit. The atmosphere of completing missions alongside fellow agents feels reminiscent of the mid-section of the movie 'Kingsman.' Here, Bond is tasked with infiltrating a training base and capturing a flag on the roof while facing off against simulated enemies.
This is where you learn to utilize MI6's cutting-edge technology for stealth action. Most of the 'special abilities' in '007: First Light' come from gadgets designed by Q. In the demo, I was able to use the standard-issue wristwatch (Q-Watch), smartphone darts, and lenses (Q-Lens), which allow for various interactions using two resources: batteries and chemicals.
The Q-Lens acts as a radar, highlighting nearby enemies and interactive objects. It is incredibly useful, as pressing the designated key reveals the location of enemies even through walls. Since it doesn't consume time or resources, it significantly lowers the difficulty of stealth segments.
Battery resources can be used to hack specific electronic devices or fire a laser cutter. This means you can hack electronic locks to open doors, cut through padlocks, or activate nearby radios to distract enemies.
Chemicals are primarily used to fire 'poison darts' from your smartphone, making you feel like Detective Conan. You can use them to briefly stagger a target to pickpocket them during an espionage phase, or, if a fistfight breaks out, fire them at an enemy to trigger an immediate takedown.
These resources are conveniently placed throughout the environment. While I'm not sure what kind of alien tech is involved, you can recharge your watch battery directly from nearby battery-powered electronics, and chemicals can even be replenished using hand sanitizer (!) found in lounges.
While the demo only allowed me to use the Q-Lens and watch, the full release will feature a wider array of gadgets. We can expect to see the 'cool' gadgets we associate with 007, such as a shockwave-firing camera shaped like a Leica Q or a telephone that fires darts.
It's Not Assassination, It's Espionage
IO Interactive's 'Hitman' franchise is a legendary work as an assassination simulator. Agent 47's bizarre methods of completing missions are so novel that there are countless shorts dedicated to them. The thrill of killing a guard, stealing their clothes, dumping them in a trash can, and approaching the target has long been a unique joy found only in 'Hitman'.
However, no matter how much of a rookie he is, James Bond is an MI6 agent. This means he can't just go around killing people and stealing their clothes just because he has a 'license to kill.' If that were possible, 'First Light' would be nothing more than a 'Hitman' game with a 007 skin.
Fortunately, 'First Light' has put a lot of effort into keeping the game feeling like '007' throughout. From the intro cutscenes and snappy one-liners to the somewhat linear narrative, it feels like they've packed in almost everything we expect from a 007 film.
The 'Kensington' mission was the perfect showcase for the game's core mechanics. After a series of events, our rookie Bond ignores orders to stay put and infiltrates a gala event alone to find a suspect. There, the player performs the role of a spy, solving given missions one by one.
The game is structured into two main modes: 'Guided Play' and 'Core Play.' The former is linear and cinematic, focusing on sudden plot developments or story-driven sequences where the player follows a path but chooses their own action style.
'Core play' refers to sections where players must literally find their 'own' solutions within a specific open space. Players decide for themselves how to proceed—whether by choosing specific equipment, focusing on stealth, or simply knocking out every guard in their path.
The 'Gala' segment I experienced is a prime example of 'Core Play.' Upon entering the gala, Bond realizes he needs a ticket to get into the main event. After pickpocketing a ticket from another guest, he must infiltrate the security room to locate the suspect. The player chooses exactly how to carry out this infiltration.
Looking at this, you can clearly smell the influence of IO Interactive's previous work, 'Hitman.' In fact, almost every mission in 'Hitman' was this type of 'Core Play.' While the choice of approach is similar, the biggest difference in 007 is that 'you cannot kill anyone in the process.'
Like a true spy, Bond talks to bartenders, eavesdrops on guests, and sometimes uses a fake identity to find clues to enter the security room. Just like Bond in most 007 movies, he communicates with Moneypenny via earpiece while meticulously searching for elements to exploit. It's a segment that captures the feeling of being a spy rather than an assassin quite well.
If you wander around the gala slowly, you can gather clues for several routes. A corporate PR rep is waiting for a prominent journalist to arrive, and a guard protecting a restricted area is complaining about a colleague who hasn't clocked in yet. A waitress has a keycard to a restricted area in her pocket, but a guard is hitting on her, making it difficult to pickpocket.
Players can choose to follow one of these clues or pursue all of them to see how the situation changes. For example, you could pick up an idle camera to impersonate a journalist and enter the restricted area, or pickpocket the waitress to gain access and walk in with confidence (?).
Bond has one more unique skill to help him: a special espionage activity that uses 'Intuition' as a resource. Intuition is gained by performing various mission-related actions and can be used for three functions.
First, there is a 'Distraction' function to divert guards' attention and enter restricted areas. There is also a 'Deception' function to use if you are caught by a guard. While it doesn't work on every enemy, a successful deception buys you time to move to a location where you can return to stealth. Finally, 'Focus' can be used to slow down time for aiming or when precision is required in a tense situation.
Delicious Combat and the 'License to Kill'
Of course, espionage doesn't always go smoothly. A moment of carelessness can lead to an unexpected encounter with a guard in a restricted area, or a well-planned deception might fail. That's when you're forced into combat—and that, too, is a treat.
Basically, James Bond cannot 'kill' enemies unless he is in a special situation. This is because the 'License to Kill' is not active. This license only activates when enemies aim weapons at Bond with lethal intent, meaning you cannot shoot enemies who are just charging at you with their fists.
Before the 'License to Kill' is activated, the player must deal with enemies using their bare hands. Thanks to the unique, weighty animations, every punch feels very 'satisfying,' but enemy attacks are equally lethal. Since you can get a game over after just a few hits, it's best to avoid combat situations entirely.
Bond can throw surrounding objects during combat, and his fighting moves change depending on whether he is charging at an enemy or not. There is also a button to block enemy attacks, which are highlighted in yellow, allowing for quite strategic combat.
Grappling is a very powerful technique, and the same goes for when enemies use it. Grapple attacks are indicated by a red light and cannot be blocked, so against large guards, it's best to keep your distance or use the Q-Watch to fire a poison dart and neutralize them before executing a takedown.
Getting caught by a guard during a stealth mission doesn't mean the game is over. While some areas have guards who call for reinforcements, generally, if you neutralize all alerted enemies, an 'All Clear' message appears, and you can return to a stealth state.
Therefore, the penalty for being caught isn't as severe as in 'Hitman.' If you want, you can knock out all the surrounding guards and continue the mission, but as mentioned, it's not recommended because you can end up on the floor after just a few hits.
So when is the 'License to Kill' unlocked? From my experience, it felt like it mostly unlocks during linear gameplay sequences. Think of the 007 movies: our agent 007 always attends parties in enemy territory in a sharp suit (without even using an alias), only to be ambushed and wake up in a dark interrogation room. It's the same in the game. After being placed in such situations, you unleash your adrenaline by taking down armed enemies to escape the base.
In a way, the activation of the 'License to Kill' acts as a boundary between the game's espionage and action phases. The gunplay I experienced, however briefly, was quite solid. With the character's weighty movement, the crisp feedback of the DualSense, and the clear explosion effects created by the Glacier engine, it's hard not to be reminded of a 007 film.
A '007 Game' Worth Waiting For
'First Light,' the 007 game we've been waiting for, carves out its own niche by carrying over the stealth-action DNA IO Interactive has built up, while adding the mood of the film series and the constraint of the 'License to Kill.' If 'Hitman' was an 'assassin simulator,' 'First Light' is closer to a 'spy simulator.' The process of gathering clues, using fake identities, and approaching targets without being detected is at the heart of the game, while cinematic combat sequences serve to alleviate the stress of stealth. Within the demo, the balance between the two felt surprisingly well-tuned.
Of course, there were some questionable points within the limits of the demo build. First is the barrier to entry for melee combat. While the weighty impact is a strength, enemy attacks are equally fierce, leading to frequent game-over situations. Users unfamiliar with combat will likely need some time to adapt.
The checkpoint design also left some questions. I was caught in the security room and forced into a multi-enemy fight; even after dying and restarting, I resumed from the moment I was already caught, forcing me to repeat the same section until I knocked out all the guards. Regardless of the game's design philosophy that penalties for being caught aren't severe, it's a shame that you have to go back much further to undo a failed stealth attempt.
There were also bugs to be expected in a demo build. In one instance, while waiting for a guard to leave after I leaked a clue to them, the guard stopped moving entirely, making it impossible to proceed along that route. However, these issues are likely to be polished by the official release.
Despite these few limitations, there was hardly a moment where I lost immersion during the demo. As I slowly walked around the gala picking up clues, I naturally fell into the feeling of 'I have become a spy,' and even in sections where that feeling wavered, I was too curious about what would happen next to put the controller down.
On May 27, we are on the verge of finally meeting a 'proper 007 game' after a long time. Considering the rocky road the series has traveled since 'GoldenEye,' it's too early to gauge exactly how far 'First Light' will go. However, the approach IO Interactive showed in this demo is, at the very least, one that makes the possibility worth taking seriously.
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