If you want to tell the tale of a young James Bond, you first need to pick which James Bond he is going to grow into. This was the task handed to Hitman developer IO Interactive, the studio taking digital custody of the spy in 007 First Light, Bond's first video game in almost 15 years. So what is it to be? Will their agent take baby steps towards Sean Connery's gruff masculinity, or is he practising Roger Moore's arched eyebrow in the bathroom mirror? That is if he is a 'movie' Bond at all. For a generation of gamers, the character exists most vividly as a hand at the bottom of the screen in GoldenEye 007.
As it turns out, 007 First Light's Bond, depicted by Patrick Gibson (cornering a specific market, having played the serial killer-to-be in the Dexter origins show) is an amalgam: the facial scar is an Ian Fleming detail, but the sweet-talking charm is straight from the Pierce Brosnan playbook, and the second you barge a goon into a bookcase you know someone has been studying Casino Royale on a loop. Trying to devise a Bond for all fandoms could risk satisfying none, but in the demo we played, the performance works. Crucially, Gibson brings an outsider's unease that is all his own, anchored by the arrogance that will one day be weaponised by MI6.
A Multifaceted Hero
A multifaceted hero allows 007 First Light to convincingly move between playstyles. Step into a swanky Kensington press conference and you are playing a bite-size Hitman stage. Eavesdropping on guests hints at routes to a target. Do you pose as a photographer? Or sniff out a staff roster to send a yawning security guard on his break? The difference is that, unlike Agent 47, Bond will not break anyone's neck, and is more social animal than predator: get caught where you should not be and you can deploy 'Instinct' to placate an accuser with a smug one-liner.
Slip beyond the red carpet and the game shifts into gadget-infused stealth – a hacking device to trigger electronic distractions; chemical darts to send guards retching to a bin – and bursts of hand-to-hand combat. Getting detected in a Hitman game often means reloading a save as 100 bodyguards swarm you; here you can deescalate, which is a polite term for punching one man in the face and braining his friend with a nearby ergonomic keyboard.
Combat Design Philosophy
Senior combat designer Tom Marcham welcomes any Bond who walks through the door. 'We are truly happy for you to pick whatever [style] you want,' he says. 'We trust you to pick the one you will have the most fun with. We have designed for all of them.' Desks that just seconds ago provided cover for a stealth game can become handy surfaces to bang heads against. When I enter a room with a billiard table – and its oh-so-lobbable cue ball – it takes real restraint not to go loud and chuck it at someone, just for the fun of some crunchy combat.
Did Marcham picture a particular Bond when stitching his together? Daniel Craig is the obvious influence he says, 'just because he has, arguably, the best action sequences. He uses krav maga, so we take a lot from that.' But he also has an affection for the 'craziness' of the Brosnan era, which suits the pitch of a younger, wilder spy. 'We are very keen for him not to be 100% competent from the start. We need a little more mess in there and we get that from Pierce Brosnan, where there are lots of bullets flying – a very high-drama combat.'
Certainly, when Bond flees his captors in a bin lorry, shoving aside jeeps and ramraiding a fashion boutique, you cannot help but think of Brosnan flattening St Petersburg in a tank in GoldenEye. It also brings to mind Uncharted, and the kind of blockbuster choreography that few studios outside Naughty Dog have the appetite or budgets to attempt.
New Territory for IO Interactive
Here, you maybe sense IO feeling out new territory. As Bond dodges sniper fire across rooftops or sprints along a collapsing crane, there is a little clumsiness to the transitions and animations; the very fine details that remind you this is a departure from the clockwork precision of Hitman. That is not to say 007 First Light's set pieces do not get the pulse racing. One scene sees Bond strapped to an interrogator's chair, and has you trying to time your goading quips to hold your captor's attention without succumbing to his torture. It is Goldfinger's laser table, only you are in the room, living the moment.
It is with that sensation, according to art director Rasmus Poulsen, that IO is trying to separate its new game from Hitman. 'Rather than having grand, open sandboxes, it is important for us that you feel certain things at certain times, to bring that story through and have the player feel the forward momentum.'
The price you pay is a little less agency on a grand scale. But you would not call 007 First Light 'IO Interactive Lite'. Putting aside the complexity of the stealth simulation, the Venn diagram of Bond and Hitman is almost an eclipse. They are both globetrotting adventures showcasing international villainy as its most aesthetically aspirational. Call it Blofeld chic. Poulsen also says that Craig-era Bond was a huge influence on his work in those past games.
But that style now bears extra emotional and thematic weight. Poulsen sees IO's Bond as a collision of timeless, romantic adventure and a crisp, modern edge. 'These are the aesthetics that are fighting, just as they are themes that are fighting,' he says. 'It is longevity versus the promise of a tech utopia. How to belong, but also to challenge what came before.'
And so it is for a game studio in 2026: how to draw on reliable experience while finding new ways to challenge and excite? In Bond, there is no better avatar. 'It is really wonderful to be able to use all the aspects of my craft to try to build a world for you where you have a certain sensation – you feel like an outsider, [or] you feel like you belong – with a character who hopefully players can relate to,' says Poulsen. 'To me, that has been a wonderful expansion on our capabilities.' 007 First Light is released on PC, PS5 and Xbox on 27 May; and Nintendo Switch 2 later in summer.
