007 First Light review: IO nails the James Bond fantasy with a globetrotting epic

When it was announced that IO Interactive, the developer of the excellent Hitman trilogy, was going to take on the James Bond license, most fans reacted the same way: “That makes perfect sense.”

Anyone who’s played a level from the Hitman: World of Assassination roster can see the James Bond influence clearly: the lavish locations, the campy villains, the love of unconventional spycraft. While the Hitman series is often a pastiche of the 007 formula, most were in agreement that IOI could be the perfect fit for the world’s most famous secret agent.

What few could have expected, however, is an action game with Naughty Dog levels of spectacle and Call of Duty levels of big-budget excess, garnished with the very best bits of Hitman and blended into a cocktail of Bond at his very best—shaken, not stirred.

007 First Light compounds several different genres of games, depending on the situation. Much like the beloved movie franchise, depending on what the mission calls for, you could be bluffing your way through a security room, pretending you’re inspecting the air conditioning, or driving a bin lorry at top speed through a Kensington shopping centre.

The game’s larger chapters involve James Bond going after a mark that’s somewhere within a lavish gala, a chess tournament, or some similarly opulent location. Through eavesdropping, exploring, and good old intuition, you can approach this target or goal in several ways. There’s a clear evolution of the Hitman: WOA opportunity system here, wherein the player is guided through a sequence which will eventually take them to the target.

007 First Light is less free-form than Hitman in the sense that most major missions will have scripted sequences that you have to hit in order for the mission to progress, rather than Agent 47’s sandbox madness, but how you get to that point can diverge greatly. In an early mission, James is attempting to infiltrate a chess tournament; however, he’s blocked by a press entrance and a staff entrance.

You can eavesdrop on a reporter and find out that someone’s left a press pass in a nearby plant pot, you can disguise yourself as a member of staff, or you can simply climb around the outside of the building and enter through a window. There’s a very light element of role-playing wherein you can choose which kind of Bond you want to be.

This extends to the game’s gadgets. Bond has access to a Q-Watch, which can manipulate electronic objects to cause distractions or destruction. A camera that can stun enemies, a false phone that can shoot poison darts and force enemies to flee the scene, and a few other tools of the trade. Players can typically take up to 3 of these gadgets with them on any mission, so how you prepare before you set off from MI6 is key.

“Depending on what the mission calls for, you could be bluffing your way through a security room, pretending you’re inspecting the air conditioning, or driving a bin lorry at top speed”

I did find myself heavily reliant on a few mechanics that I knew were sure-fire ways to clear the room silently; none of the gadgets felt entirely without merit.

Bond’s greatest weapon is his personality. If you’re caught behind enemy lines, you can bluff your way out of the situation by telling the person who caught you that you’re lost, or that you’re a photographer hired by the event.

This is a great not-quite-last-resort game state, meaning that if you fail stealth, you’re not forced to start blasting. The writing in these sequences (and the entire game, for that matter, but I’ll get to that) is very witty. Due to a rare crash, I had to replay a bluffing sequence later in the game, and each time it delivered me a different line (and an entirely different accent from the guard), which makes me think there’s a huge bank of these one-liners for players to rifle through.

When things finally do go wrong, Bond is Licensed To Kill. This is only triggered when the enemy plans to use deadly force to eliminate Bond, at which point you’re permitted to whip your pistol out. The gunplay in 007 First Light is very satisfying. One of the only negatives you could level at the Hitman: WOA games is that the gunplay felt very stilted and almost always came as a last resort. In 007 First Light, it’s responsive, deadly, and sprinkled in the game infrequently enough that it’s always a welcome change of pace.

Gunfights in 007 First Light are satisfyingly cinematic. You’ll sprint up to a guard, grab them by the collar, and ram them into a fire extinguisher. That will then explode, giving you the chance to disarm another guard and blow their head off with their own gun. Once that gun’s out of ammo, launch it at another guard’s head to stun him, then slide over the top of a desk and crash down on top of the guard on the other side. It is often thrilling stuff.

007 First Light is one of the few games where the things you’re able to do as the player are just as, if not cooler than, the things the cutscene version of Bond does when you don’t have control.

“Gunfights in 007 First Light are satisfyingly cinematic. You’ll sprint up to a guard, grab them by the collar, and ram them into a fire extinguisher.”

When the game does take some control away from the player, it’s for sequences that call to mind the iconic train sequence from Uncharted 2, or the jeep chase sequence from Uncharted 4. 007 First Light raises the stakes with the level itself, then the post-level sequence will be ridiculous, then the sequence after that will be even more spectacular. There’s a level of “what are they going to do next,” amazement while playing that is only achieved by the best in the genre.

The only time this falters is during the driving sequences, which aren’t great. I concede that flying down the road in a fancy car is a key part of the James Bond fantasy, and something would be missing if they weren’t in the game, but the driving itself doesn’t feel as good as it could. These sequences are infrequent, and you don’t get the chance to let it bother you as something else explodes at your back.

007 First Light is brought to life by strong visuals, music, and a great central cast. The Bond musical library is a cheat code for heightening the stakes, or tugging on the heartstrings, but it’s used with surgical precision in 007 First Light. The game’s theme, First Light from the American singer Lana Del Rey, would be right at home blasting out of the cinema speakers. In fact, other than Adele’s iconic Skyfall, it’s my favorite Bond tune in a long time.

All of this would be for nothing if the Bond performance let the side down. James Bond is portrayed by Patrick Gibson, making him the first new Bond since Daniel Craig took over the role in the mid 2000s. As the franchise is in a transitional period in which no actor has (publicly) been cast, Patrick Gibson has essentially found himself the current canonical James Bond.

And he absolutely nails it. Gibson isn’t doing an impression of any other Bond; he’s entirely his own man, and the performance will undoubtedly bag him some awards come the end of the year. He’s arrogant, brash, impulsive, and everything a young James Bond should be. He balances that with the game’s quieter moments deftly, and his one-liner delivery always got me.

He even manages to navigate the sexier moments of the adventure, which, seemingly, by law, involve a woman emerging from a swimming pool, without it becoming awkward or stilted, something video games still struggle with. The supporting cast of M, Q, Monneypenny, and Greenway all shine, too.

The game also showcases IOI’s unmatched level design. Each location is a maze of secret rooms and alternative routes. Even players who explore with a fine-tooth comb will probably miss some of the truly niche hideaways across the game’s 14 hours.

“Gibson isn’t doing an impression of any other Bond; he’s entirely his own man, and the performance will undoubtedly bag him some awards come the end of the year.”

007 First Light is an expensive-looking game. The effort that’s gone into areas that most players will never touch is staggering. There are levels in Bond that are conceptually very similar to some of Hitman’s greatest ever locations, but IO has made the levels in 007 First Light feel unique. While there are echoes of 47’s adventures everywhere in this game, this is not a Hitman game with a James Bond skin.

Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the Hitman: WOA games and the stream of new levels that game released for years, but after playing through 007 First Light, I would pay for a new self-contained adventure in a new jet-setting location every couple of months and be very happy. One of my very few complaints is that by the time you unlock all of Bond’s gadgets, you’re coming to the game’s conclusion. The chance to go through new levels, or better yet, another entry in the series, is one I’d jump at.

It no longer shocks me when a licensed game is good, but it still does when one is this good. It’s hard to think of many ways 007 First Light could be better as a first step into what will hopefully be a franchise of IO James Bond games. The love for the character is there, but millions love James Bond, that alone wouldn’t have been enough. The understanding of the James Bond fantasy and its translation to gameplay is the real key. Patrick Gibson’s Bond ties it together to create a game that is a real frontrunner for 2026’s Game of the Year.