[EXCLUSIVE] 007 First Light: A Reckless Recruit, A Familiar Style, and a Promising Game

If you enjoy independent indie game coverage, consider supporting Indie-Games.eu on Patreon. It helps keep the site independent.

At Gamescom, we had the exclusive opportunity to see a private showing of the upcoming game 007 First Light. It is being developed by IO Interactive, immediately bringing their well-known Hitman series to mind. It shares a similar aesthetic, including the art style, character design, and even some familiar gameplay elements.

What truly surprised me in the small cinema was that they didn’t just show a trailer; they played the game live on a PlayStation 5. Although the quality was at times “questionable,” with drops in the frame rate (FPS) during heavy environmental destruction, and melee combat and finishing animations looking a bit clumsy, 007 First Light is a graphically impressive title. The level of detail within the massive manor they showed us and the quality of the character models looked really good.

Four key points

During the presentation, IO Interactive highlighted four key points to expect in 007 First Light. First, James Bond is a young, resourceful, and sometimes reckless MI6 recruit, he’s not yet the world-class agent we know. We saw that he often disobeys orders and prefers to rush straight into the action. Another notable feature is the in-game relationship system, where characters can become friends, romantic interests, or rivals.

A prime example of this comes from various movies. At the beginning of the movie, Bond chases the bomber Mollaka through a construction site, and the chase turns into a “parkour” sequence. In this scene, Bond is shown as reckless and disobedient, which is a key trait of the character in both the film and the game. He isn’t portrayed as the perfect agent we’re used to. In the movies he is also portrayed as a flawed character with issues like excessive drinking, poor adherence to orders, questionable judgment, and a history of difficult relationships, particularly with women, so we can expect something the same in the game as well.

Second, every puzzle and objective can be approached in multiple ways. They showed gameplay where Bond had to enter the aforementioned manor and follow a suspicious man. You could sabotage items to distract guards, climb buildings, silently eliminate enemies, or even talk to people to blend in. There isn’t just one solution. It was actually quite fun to see James Bond climbing buildings like a character from Assassin’s Creed.

Action looks really good, but optimization is questionable

Continuing to the third point, there are car chases filled with obstacles, and the transition from one type of action to another felt smooth. Fourth, and this made me a little suspicious, is the combat system. You can’t kill anyone unless the game identifies them as a lethal threat. Only then can you use your gun or engage in close combat. The great thing is that you can pick up and use practically any weapon on the floor.

This brings us to the “00” designation, which refers to an elite agent who has a “license to kill” while on duty. According to Ian Fleming’s novels, an agent earns this status by performing at least two killings during a mission. The “00” prefix means the agent’s actions were sanctioned and they will not be held responsible for any deaths. In this game, the number “7” simply identifies James Bond as a specific person within the “00” section.

I won’t lie, the action looked really good. This isn’t a straight-up shooter where you can just go in everywhere with guns; you are gently forced to be stealthy and only engage in full combat when necessary. However, from blowing up gas trucks to enemies being vulnerable when you shoot them, everything looked a little too deliberate. For example, why were there ten gas trucks/barrels at the airport we could blow up? You start asking yourself questions like that.

If Hitman had a baby with Uncharted

Aside from that, the game has a lot of suspense. In one scene, James Bond was chasing a large plane with a moving crane, and you truly didn’t know if he would succeed, just like in the movies. There are also interesting gameplay mechanics, like hacking a plane to move it left or right to make enemies fall off so you can get to the cockpit.

In another scene, James Bond was flying through the sky and had to find a parachute while also fighting other enemies. So, the game definitely has its surprises. I think they only showed us about 10% of the game, and I believe there will be more, like additional hacking moments and opportunities for stealth. I must point out that the voice acting was excellent as well as cinmeatic cut scenes, which brought every character to life. However, one must be very careful about the game’s optimization. Certain moments looked odd, so I’m not yet convinced how it will run on platforms like the PC.

007 First Light may not be a typical James Bond or Hitman game, but it could definitely appeal to a wide audience, especially big fans of the films. The current impression is that it is a vast, large-scale game with excessive action sequences, but it still has to prove itself. It definitely looks like Hitman had a baby with Uncharted.