For almost 15 years, James Bond was completely absent from gaming. Not on hiatus. Not in development hell. Just gone. The IP holders pulled the plug after 007 Legends landed in 2012 and bombed so badly that nobody wanted to touch the license again.
And honestly? Fair enough. Bond games had been coasting on the franchise’s name for decades. Most were lazy movie tie-ins that ranged from forgettable to genuinely embarrassing. The lone exception everyone remembers is GoldenEye 007 on the N64, and that came out in 1997. One good game across 40 years of trying is a pretty grim record.
So when IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series, picked up the Bond license, there was real reason to be skeptical. A beloved IP, a first licensed game, a franchise fanbase that had been burned repeatedly. The recipe for disaster was right there.
They pulled it off anyway.
007 First Light Is a Different Kind of Bond Game
The concept behind First Light is simple but smart, tell Bond’s origin story. Show him before the double-0 status, before the unshakeable confidence, before he became the guy who orders a Martini while a building collapses behind him. Irish actor Patrick Gibson plays a 26-year-old Bond who is arrogant and reckless and still figuring out who he is.
IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak put it plainly: “He’s not fully moulded yet.” That framing matters. It gives the game room to build Bond’s character rather than just assume you already bought into the mythology.
The result is a Bond that feels earned rather than inherited.
Gameplay That Actually Matches the Character
Here’s where IO did something genuinely different. Bond isn’t just a guy with a gun. He’s a spy, a social operator who reads rooms, works people, and improvises under pressure. Past Bond games mostly ignored that side of him completely. First Light leans into it.
There are Hitman-style sections where you infiltrate events, eavesdrop on conversations, swap identities, and talk your way past security. One early mission drops you into a press conference in Kensington where you need to reach a restricted office. You can pose as a photojournalist, lift an access pass, impersonate a guard — or just bluff your way through using Bond’s built-in charm mechanics. These sections aren’t as open-ended as a full Hitman mission, but they make you feel genuinely clever when they work. That’s the feeling Bond games have always promised and never delivered.
When things go loud, the hand-to-hand combat is where the game really shines. It’s physical and satisfying in a way that recalls the Daniel Craig era – you’re slamming heads into counters, chucking objects at enemies, and generally making a mess of whatever room you’re in. The gunplay is a little lightweight by comparison, but the spectacle of the set pieces covers for it. Planes, rooftops, boats through jungle waterways – IO clearly didn’t want you to ever feel bored.
The Cast Is a Big Swing
Lenny Kravitz plays the villain Bawma, and it’s exactly as flamboyant as that sentence sounds. Lennie James and Gemma Chan round out the supporting cast, and Moneypenny gets a proper field role rather than sitting behind a desk. The theme is by Lana Del Rey. It’s a lot of new faces and fresh choices – some will stick, some won’t land for everyone. But at least they’re swinging for something instead of playing it safe.
Is It Perfect?
No. First Light is a fairly linear game in an era where open-world and semi-open experiences dominate. Some sequences feel locked on rails when you’d rather have more breathing room. The social infiltration sections are good but not as deep as they could be.
But here’s the thing: this is the first Bond game in 13 years, and it’s genuinely fun, genuinely well-made, and genuinely feels like James Bond. After one good game across four decades of attempts, that’s not a minor achievement.
IO Interactive had one shot to make Bond matter in gaming again. They didn’t waste it.
007 First Light is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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