When I first heard that IO Interactive was trying its hand at developing a brand new James Bond game, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Sure, the prolific Hitman developer has carved out their own space in the gaming landscape with their unique take on social stealth, but Bond has well over 50 years of history spread across novels, films, games, and more. If anything, it’s almost impossible to distill the franchise into a simple sentence or two. If you were to ask 100 different fans what the titular character means to them, you’d probably get a dozen or so different answers. 

It’s fitting then that 007: First Light casts a rather wide net, bringing together just about every single one of the series’ staples – exotic locales, high-stakes espionage, femme fatales, luxury cars, and lethal, often absurdly-designed gadgets – into a slick, polished package. But, unlike some of Bond’s more memorable video game adaptations from the late 90s and early aughts, IO Interactive’s love of stealth sandboxes has made its way into just about every facet, making for a fresh take on a franchise that so desperately needed a proper reboot. 

007: First Light smartly capitalizes on the opportunity to weave together an entirely fresh start for the famed secret agent. Rather than building off of one of the established iterations from the film series, First Light focuses on a fresh-faced Bond, one who hasn’t even been introduced to the world of espionage as the opening credits play out. 

After a few tutorial missions that ease players into the basics of stealth and combat, Bond finds himself as a newly-fledged member of the recently-rebooted 00 program. This incarnation is decidedly more stubborn and is by no means the flawless operative that some fans might have come to expect. Bond is prone to making mistakes, and it doesn’t take long before he finds himself the black sheep among the latest batch of MI6 recruits. It also doesn’t help that he’s one to disregard orders and operate on instinct, a trait which quickly lands him in hot water with his superiors. 

Things quickly shift into high gear, though, as Bond and his fellow agents are sent out to a luxury hotel in the heart of Slovakia, where a former rogue 00 agent is suspected of plotting a nefarious comeback. If this plot point seems familiar, it might be because it’s reminiscent of past Bond films like GoldenEye or Skyfall. Thankfully, First Light finds its own footing before long, and it quickly carves out its own unique story that’s more heartfelt and character-focused than I originally anticipated. Of course, it helps that First Light leans heavily into the idea of teamwork; while the films typically let Bond operate as a free agent with a CIA sidekick or one-off character occasionally along for the ride, First Light almost always pairs Bond up with a few other agents and handlers. 

Whether you find yourself at a black market hub in the deserts of Africa or a massive gala in the heart of London, spycraft doesn’t change all that much, and it’s here where First Light’s ties to the Hitman series begin to emerge. Wading through a sea of NPCs, Bond has to use every opportunity at his disposal, whether that be eavesdropping on conversations to unearth critical information or new paths forward, distracting guards with a well-timed diversion, scaling buildings and shimmying along ledges and hand-holds, or swiping badges and keycards to unlock new areas of the map. You can also get your way out of a bind by disguising yourself or bluffing your way out of a confrontation, though the latter option doesn’t work against some of the more headstrong enemies.

To be fair, Bond has a few gadgets and tools at his disposal to lighten the workload, but efforts have been made to ensure players don’t run amok. For the anarchists out there, no, you can’t run around using your watch laser on everything in sight and dosing every NPC with a chemical concoction that’ll make them temporarily sick. Instead, Bond is limited by a few resource meters that dictate exactly what actions he can take at any given moment. 

Trying to bluff your way out of being caught, or want to lure a guard away from their post? You’ll have to use Instinct, which thankfully can be replenished by performing takedowns on enemies or completing mission tasks. This works well enough, making sure you can’t simply brute force your way through a mission without having to employ some stealth here or there. On the other hand, Bond’s other gadgets, such as his Q-Watch, which can be used to hack electronics, shoot poison darts, or cut through padlocks with a laser beam, need to have their battery and chemical reserves replenished. 

On paper, this sounds reasonable enough, especially since it’s not too hard to scrounge up resources that are littered around every corner, but each use of his gadgets can use up 50 percent or more of a resource. In practice, this means that you’ll use a gadget once or twice, and then spend time backtracking or exploring to find more batteries and chemicals to refill your uses. For the world’s most premier spy agency, you’d think the folks working at the tech-focused Q-Branch would be able to get a few more uses out of each of their inventions before they need to be refueled. 

In most scenarios, staying undercover is the name of the game, and Bond isn’t at liberty to simply knock heads or whip out his trusty service pistol. That being said, when the going gets tough, or if an enemy makes it clear that they intend to kill Bond, the game takes off its training wheels and lets you handle things as you see fit. 

Melee combat is pretty standard fare for the genre, with a punch/grab/counter/dodge setup that most will have experienced in some way, shape, or form. During one-on-one encounters, especially with tougher foes, pulling off a perfect counter or well-timed sidestep, and following that up by grabbing your assailant and ramming them into the closest table or wall is pretty satisfying in its own right. Melee fights, however, become a bit claustrophobic and begin to fall apart if you break stealth and are swarmed by a half a dozen enemies. Moments like this can be a nightmare to successfully fight your way out of, and I often just resorted to dying to trigger a checkpoint reset. 

The same feeling extends to firefights. In smaller-scale shootouts, ducking from cover to cover and using your gadgets to turn the tide of battle evoke the best moments from the Bond films, and feel true to the franchise as a whole. On the other hand, protracted encounters in wide-open areas can feel more like a chore than anything, especially since Bond can’t sustain a lot of gunfire and often has to scramble to find additional ammo reserves. 

More seasoned Hitman veterans might have seen this one coming, then – when 007: First Light builds upon the formula that IO Interactive laid out with their flagship franchise, it fires on all cylinders, offering up some of the best stealth-focused action that we’ve seen in a Bond game to date. Admittedly, it falters in some of its larger combat encounters, and its use of resource management can often feel like you’re a secret agent on a leash, but those missteps are easy to ignore when the moment-to-moment gameplay is this good. While it remains to be seen how and when James Bond will return to the big screen, it’s safe to say that he has a bright future ahead of him on the small screen.

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