For the better part of a decade, IO Interactive has been known as the Hitman studio, but that all changes next month. 007 First Light is the studio’s own take on the James Bond mythos, an origin story that blends IOI’s experience delivering stealth action with a big-budget story-driven blockbuster.
007 First Light May Be a Long-Term Solution to This James Bond Problem
007 First Light is introducing a fresh start for James Bond, and it could prove to be the gift that keeps on giving for franchise fans.
Ahead of First Light's release date on May 27, GameRant had the chance to go hands-on with a sizable chunk of the game to see just what IO Interactive has been cooking up these last few years. Although 007 First Light still has some of that Hitman DNA running through its veins, there’s a lot more to the game that makes it feel wholly unique and mechanically diverse. Most importantly, 007 First Light captures the spirit of the MI6 agent as only a video game can.
How Does 007 First Light Play?
The hands-on preview for 007 First Light featured around 3 hours of the game, broken into three segments. I played the game's very first chapter, leading into the recently-released First Light title sequence. Then we got to play a training sequence that introduces some of the basics of stealth, combat, and Bond’s gadgets. And finally, the largest part of the demo involved a full level that had a little bit of everything: strategic planning, stealth, melee combat, a few shootouts, and finally a bombastic driving sequence to cap everything off. It was a significant taste of what players can expect from the James Bond game, and it left a strong impression on me, not just in how diverse the gameplay can get, but also in how snappy and engaging everything felt.
The combat basics of 007 First Light revolve around the core tenets of James Bond as a spy. We all know he has a license to kill, but it only comes into play when Bond is threatened. For the game, that means using stealth and hand-to-hand combat until the enemies become hostile. In my experience, it seems like it’s fairly difficult to activate that license to kill, which means most of the gunplay occurs when the sequence calls for it.
James Bond Uses Stealth to His Advantage
When he’s not running and gunning, which is surprisingly tight and precise in First Light, Bond is doing his best to move through environments undetected. With a few cool gadgets at his disposal, like the Q Watch and a dart phone, Bond can either create alternate routes to bypass security, pick off enemies one by one, or find a healthy balance between the two. Although players will be able to jump into levels with their own loadout of gadgets, my preview picked the gadgets for me. Still, I could see the experimentation that’s possible in 007 First Light, and that should make Hitman fans very happy.
The first playable sequence during the preview was the first level of 007 First Light. Without getting into spoiler territory, it featured a series of stealth sequences where Bond is merely trying to survive. It shows some of the traversal – think a simplified version of Uncharted’s climbing – and how Bond needs to distract guards to make his way to various objectives.
007 First Light Reveals New Details About Its Characters
Developer IO Interactive puts the cast of 007 First Light on full display in the latest episode of its Beyond the Light series.
Even here, there was a fair bit of freedom in terms of how to get from point A to point B. There still seemed to be a “right” way to go about things, but it didn’t feel scripted. That expands to greater depth once you get into the real meat of the game, but I could see the foundation in this first chapter.
Combat in 007 First Light is a Mix of Melee and Gunplay
From there, the preview jumped to a tutorial sequence where James Bond is training to be a member of MI6. It’s the classic military training ground where the goal is to make it past a set of guards and collect a flag. You could go in silent and distract guards, or go in guns blazing and take the flag only after the body count hits its maximum. Again, this was just a brief taste of what the “real” levels in 007 First Light offer, but it also introduced the basics of melee and gun combat.
Melee combat in 007 First Light is the standard dodge/parry variety. Enemies will attack with either a yellow light on their body or a red one. Yellow means you can either dodge, parry, or attack to interrupt their advance, whereas a red attack must be dodged. Enemies will also block on occasion, which requires a grab to make them vulnerable to a follow-up.
There’s a real weight to the melee combat in First Light, where the hits feel chunky and satisfying. When enemies bash into the environment, you see the damage, and you can even throw items that are strewn about the area, like coffee cups or bricks. It feels like a real brawl in that way, where Bond is willing to do anything to get the upper hand on his foes. At the same time, enemies can wallop Bond if you’re not careful, meaning precision and care are essential for survival. It also means alerting a whole room of guards is ill-advised.
You can also mix in some gadget use during combat, like hacking an air conditioning duct to create dust cover and give Bond the advantage. Or you can use the dart on your smartphone to incapacitate an enemy for a few seconds, allowing Bond to hit them with a finisher. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is Batman Arkham combat, either in fluidity or gadget use, but there was a bit of that feel to it. You don’t just have to exclusively punch and kick your way to success.
Bond's License to Kill is a Last Resort
Gunplay revolved around found weapons, which included pistols, machine guns, and shotguns. It’s cover-based in nature, where precision will quickly clear a room of bad guys, with a few requiring some extra shots to remove a helmet or body armor. Where Hitman gunplay was more of a last resort, First Light treats it like a part of the combat whole, and therefore it feels just as satisfying as the melee stuff.
I also really liked how Bond could shoot a gun out of an enemy’s hand and start using it in one fluid motion. And when the ammo runs out, he can even toss it at a guard to disorient them for a second. Given IO's expertise with Hitman, you knew they were going to nail the stealth, but the melee and gunplay are crucial to the Bond experience, and both feel satisfying to execute, with a lot of options at your disposal.
Letting the Super Spy Loose on a Level
The third portion of the preview was the most substantial, offering a full chapter set in Kensington from beginning to end. After a bit of narrative preamble and a stylish chase sequence, James Bond finds himself infiltrating a gala in much the same way that Agent 47 might try to get closer to a target. There were several ways to get to a secure second floor, like posing as a photojournalist or stealing a keycard from an absent-minded guard, and it's up to the player to figure out how they want to tackle a series of problems/obstacles.
At this point, the Q Watch and the dart phone are essential tools, but they aren’t without their limitations. The watch requires battery energy, which can be found by picking up electronic items, whereas the dart phone needs chemical energy. Certain actions, like hacking a device or using the Q Watch’s laser to cut a lock, consume that energy, making it so you need to choose your routes wisely. It’s an interesting way that 007 First Light imposes limitations on Bond’s prowess, but resources are plentiful enough that you can experiment.
The Kensington chapter was surprisingly meaty and highlighted seemingly everything that First Light has to offer. I felt like I had enough freedom to choose my path toward an objective, but there were sections where stealth was more favorable than direct confrontation. However, if you’re skilled enough with the melee combat timing, you can survive a mistake or two, or even go in and throw some haymakers.
007 First Light offers amazing set pieces and visuals that are complemented by great music.
First Light also plays into Bond’s charisma with the options to Bluff or Lure targets at the cost of a third resource separate from the “battery” or “chemical” meters. If you’re caught, a fistfight isn’t the only option, and I appreciated how varied the solutions to a given problem could be.
Visually, 007 First Light is stunning, taking full advantage of Path Tracing on NVIDIA hardware. Whether it was bombastic set pieces, a room full of gala guests, or driving a garbage truck through UK streets, the game looks gorgeous. And fans can rest assured, the music is on point as well, especially when the signature Bond theme kicks in.
007 First Light: Final Thoughts
007 First Light has the Hitman DNA all over it, but it feels like its own adventure. IO Interactive has taken the gameplay mechanics it has perfected over the decades, given them a James Bond twist, expanded some concepts with completely new mechanics, wrapped a globetrotting story around it, and found something that is fresh and new. I can’t speak to the full game, but what I played had so much variety both in terms of what you are doing moment-to-moment and in how you can approach a given challenge. If First Light is the beginning of the next era of 007 video games, then the James Bond franchise is in great hands.
007 First Light
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 88/100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- May 27, 2026
- ESRB
- Teen / Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
- IO Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- IO Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
- Franchise
- James Bond
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- May 27, 2026
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- May 27, 2026
- PS5 Release Date
- May 27, 2026
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- May 27, 2026
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
