Seeing IO Interactive at the helm of a new James Bond video game is like watching two pieces of a jigsaw perfectly slotting together. It’s a pairing that just makes sense given the Danish developer’s track record, having recently wrapped the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy. Each game had players running a gauntlet of stealth missions, visiting stunning locales around the globe while switching disguises and employing a deadly arsenal of high-tech gadgets. In many ways, 007 First Light feels like an evolution of the Hitman formula, though it’s one that forges a new path for the studio, stepping away Hitman’s non-linear level design in favour of a more guided, cinematic experience. It’s certainly a change of pace for IO Interactive, though one the studio effortlessly adapts to.

Not a James Bond fan? That’s a-okay. While there are definitely nods to the blockbuster spy films and Ian Fleming’s original novels, First Light requires zero prior knowledge of the 007 universe, offering a completely new take on familiar settings and characters, taking place in a contemporary world and updated for a new generation.

Given the level of prestige surrounding Bond – and the sheer volume of cherished source material – it takes a brave team of writers to tackle such a project, especially when you mention the words “origin story”. Thankfully, James Bond actors have passed the torch plenty of times over the decades, so seeing a new face is hardly jarring – especially as the films look for their next star. If anything, it’s quite refreshing. Patrick Gibson’s rendition of the British super spy is no less charming or resourceful, and his youth and inexperience add interesting dimensions to a character that has been a constant throughout many of our lives. He’s supported by a team of mentors, handlers, and fellow agents who you can’t help getting attached to, mainly thanks to stellar performances from Kiera Lester (Moneypenny), Noémie Nakai (Isola Vale), and Lennie James (John Greenway) to name a few.

007 First Light kicks off with a fumbled covert mission in Iceland, Bond serving as a crewman who survives when the SAS aircraft he’s aboard gets shot out of the sky. Thrust right into the thick of it, he has to infiltrate a compound overrun with mercenaries (with a little help from MI6 taking over his radio comms) and stumbles upon a highly valuable “asset”. Having defied all odds as a complete unknown, Bond’s performance lands him a fast-track pass into MI6’s spy training program as the organisation prepares to reboot its previously shuttered 00 initiative.

Iceland is the first of two tutorials, the cinematic opener followed by a series of intense drills that take place in Malta, schooling players on the game’s fairly deep and creative web of mechanics. These play out in a montage-style fashion as Bond flits between the firing range and fisticuffs before practicing stealth and even getting behind the wheel. Needless to say, IO Interactive spends a fair chunk of time onboarding players and it works pretty well, reinforcing those early story beats while teasing more advanced gameplay concepts.

If you’re expecting First Light to line up one bombastic gunfight after the next, then you’re in for a surprise. Sure, it has those, but there’s also plenty of non-combat exploration segments, usually taking place within gorgeously rendered locales that have you hunting for clues, navigating your environment, and interacting with other characters. The comparisons to Hitman are hard to shrug off in these moments, especially given the game’s world-class environmental designs with hundreds of NPCs milling around. Not only do locations look stunning and well-crafted, they also feel organic and lived-in.

Naturally, as you cross off objectives and push the story forward, the game’s focus will narrow, though there’s usually multiple pathways and solutions. At various points you’ll be able to eavesdrop on conversations to get hints for overcoming an obstacle, for example, and are then able to pick which opportunities to follow up. This freedom of choice is reflected in the more action-heavy scenarios, many of which can be approached depending on your preferred playstyle, whether you want to play around with Bond’s gadgets or get up close and personal. Complete stealth is often an option, tasking players with tracking enemy movements and quietly taking them down without being spotted, but there’s always the fallback of all-out action if you need it.

That’s aided by the handy Q-Lens, creating an overlay that highlights hostiles as well as any resources and other points of interest at the tap of a button. In addition to simply hacking electronics remotely, the gadgets you equipped from the full set of options will determine how you can interact with these points of interest. For instance, you can fry padlocks using a laser, shoot chemical darts at people to make them queasy, drop smoke bombs or stun mines, and more. Such actions help to manipulate and incapacitate foes, but they’re far from the only weapons in your arsenal. Bond’s gift of the gab can also help avoid tough confrontations, shouting to lure guards from their posts or just bluffing your way through checkpoints and confrontations.

Melee combat is highly effective with IO’s fighting system sitting somewhere between Uncharted 4 and the Batman Arkham trilogy. Red and yellow icons appear on enemies to telegraph what they’re about to do, forcing players to react with either a well-timed parry, a dodge, or a combination of the two, usually followed by a punishing counterattack. Waiting for your target to throw the first punch can be effective, though First Light does encourage players to go on the offensive, giving you the option to grapple enemies and lob projectiles that are within arm’s reach. During fistfights, Bond will make use of his surroundings, slamming grunts into walls, hurling them over tables, kicking people as you vault over objects, or even barging them off ledges. While the game’s melee segments aren’t especially challenging, the level of immersion and interactivity make them an enjoyable highlight.

The same can’t be said during First Light’s shooting sequences. There are some parts of the game where gunplay is inevitable, forcing Bond into cover as enemies close in, spraying bullets in his direction, and they can become trial-and-error scenarios. Looking back to Hitman once more, and while Agent 47 had a glorious glut of firearms at his disposal, gunfights always felt like a last resort, the weapon handling in those games being fairly barebones. This is something the team at IO Interactive have clearly worked hard on addressing and while long ranged firefights aren’t as engaging as those close quarter encounters, there’s still a certain flow and flair to them.

This is thanks to both Bond’s array of gadgets and a Focus meter that can slow his perception of time. As limited ammo runs dry, you can fling a gun at an enemy to stagger them for a quick takedown, Bond seamlessly snatching their weapon in the process. Players going for a nonlethal playthrough can even nullify targets by performing leg shots or disarming enemies – these often happen dynamically, and it’s a lot of fun to see guns go flying into the air. On the flipside, there are plenty of explosives and other hazards that can be fired at to wreak havoc, becoming somewhat of a necessity when facing larger platoons of armoured mercenaries.

Driving sections are another part of the game where we see IO Interactive forced out of its comfort zone. The vehicle handling here is serviceable: a bit floaty at times, but it gets the job done during First Light’s infrequent car chases. They’re fun spectacles that help break up the on-foot action but also feel like an exercise in box-ticking, given how flash motors play such a core role in every Bond caper.

Still, they provide yet another cluster of gameplay set pieces that the developers carefully arrange into a mosaic that’s spread over the roughly 15 hour story – a very healthy runtime for a single player action game. The frequent shifts in gameplay, pacing, and locale are designed to keep players locked in while fully immersing them in 007’s world, populated by interesting, likable characters with depth. The narrative here is also intriguingly layered and topical with a smattering of pivots and surprises to keep players on their toes. Again, this is elevated by strong writing and performances that some may even find preferable to the more recent run of Bond films.

And, after the credits roll, there’s still more to do. First Light features a bevy of small self-contained missions as part of its Tactical Simulations game mode that are split between Escalations and Operations. The former are multi-part gauntlets that tend to focus on a particular set of gameplay mechanics, such as brawling your way through the Malta training drills. Operations, on the other hand, repurpose some of the larger open-ended battlegrounds from the campaign, cramming them with enemy patrols to either fight or sneak around. What’s particularly interesting about the TacSim mode is the way it handles progression. At first, all you have is your Q-Watch and service pistol, but by completing simulations and their challenges, you’ll level up and earn points that can be spent to unlock new gear and even upgrade gadgets, helping to refine your playstyle over time. IO Interactive has plans to expand the number of TacSim missions post-launch, giving agents a reason to check back in with Bond over the coming months.

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Will: Follow the Light is a cracking videogame name. Especially when it fades in after a few trailer shots of first-person striding across frozen wastelands and carving a wave-battered yacht through stormy seas. The mystery and peril of some unknown journey, pierced by a beam of hope and determination, all conveyed in four words and a colon.

Then you play the thing, and it’s mainly about a Norwegian bloke doing DIY in sheds. Will is just his name. Øh nø.

In the interests of reviewing the game that actually exists, not just the one in my head, Follow the Light does occasionally take the shape of a bracing Nordic adventure. Will, a grieving lighthouse keeper, sets off seawards to track down his son and dad after they both disappear during a mudslide: a long and isolating trek across oceans and glaciers, with plenty of stops for soul-searching and puzzle-solving. In a Firewatch fashion, these puzzles mostly aim for grounded, naturally diagetic labours, maintaining the Will’s-own-eyes perspective for almost his entire voyage.

Within a couple of hours, sadly, it starts feeling like more of a busy Saturday of household chores – even if your house does have some lovely coastal views. Partly, this is thanks to Will’s fatherly plight being quickly stripped of urgency. Minutes after arriving in the stricken town, it’s established that the missing son is simply in the care of Will’s dad – a bit of a bum to Will himself, though by all accounts an able and loving grandparent – and that they’ve just… gone to his house? Even if it’s on a neighbouring island, Will lad, that’s not a rescue mission. That’s picking your kid up from the babysitter, and hardly justification for the multiple life-risking exploits that follow.

The strangeness of this setup is at least mildly balanced by a parallel plot around Will’s internal toils. Which, in fairness, is handled more compellingly, even with some underdeveloped dips into the surreal. But still, the prospect of a family reunion never convinces as a suitable driving force for the game’s remaining six hours. It’s a compromise, an attempt to spin just enough worry to get you sailing into the fog but not so much that you can’t stop to listen to some audio logs and repeatedly undertake electrical maintenance work.

These puzzles are the other reason why Follow the Light starts dragging. The vast majority fall into two categories: menial tasks completed by trial and error, or menial tasks where an obvious solution is gated behind a succession of other, smaller menial tasks. The former extends to such tediously mundane jobs as placing identical-looking pieces of glass back into a smashed lamp lens, and the latter… alright, put it this way. Early on, you’re asked to get a spark plug off a shelf. I’m going to be vague here so as to not ‘spoil’ the ‘solution’, but it goes something this:

1. Try the warehouse hoist controls
2. Check a fuse box
3. Find a fuse
4. Replace the fuse
5. Play the same fuse flip minigame you did 30 minutes ago
6. Talk to a mechanic
7. Walk outside
8. Play another minigame
9. Walk back
10. Play the same fuse flip minigame you did in step 5, and also now 35 minutes ago
11. Use the hoist
12. Retrieve the spark plug

Twelve steps! To get a spark plug off a shelf! The queues at Norwegian B&Qs must be awful.

I particularly resent this kind of puzzle format because it stretches out the proportion of time that Will spends in beige offices and grey huts, or traipsing between them, when all of Follow the Light’s best bits take place out in the wilderness. Sailing, for instance, is a genuine pleasure. Your craft is rife with pleasantly tactile ropes and pulleys, and while I’m not Bristolian enough to hold forth on technical accuracy, TomorrowHead Studio have successfully built a tub that skirts the waves with a tangible sense of weight and shifting heft. The moments where you’re riding the wind away from another batch of land-based puzzle bores, sitting back to appreciate the sight of the horizon and the sound of varnished wood slicing through saltwater, could have made a respectable no-walking walking sim by themselves.

Even back on terra firma, taking Will further away from civilisation tends to make his game better. There’s an enjoyable, if somewhat indulgent dog sled ride through some mountains, and despite the ennui-inducing handyman duties not entirely sodding off, the subsequent Arctic venturing does show Follow the Light at both its most contemplative and its most visually arresting. Environmental art standards are high throughout, in fact, and I’ll concede that the interiors – as often as they herald another bad puzzle – are carefully lit and often heavily furnished with signs of their previous occupants: discarded tools, stacks of research papers and such.

It’s a shame that the rest of Follow the Light isn’t so smartly detailed. There may be a dash of Firewatch in its slow-paced rural traversal, but Will isn’t animated nearly as expressively as ol’ Big Hands Henry. Most of the time, unless you’re looking down at his legs, he’s barely animated at all. And with apologies to former STALKER dev Andrii Verpakhovskyi, Follow the Light regularly descends into Eurojank, only without the usual charm or depth. Its subtitles only sometimes match the dialogue. Its autosave points are baffling. It can bug out and refuse to accept you’ve completed an objective, leaving you stuck until you load an earlier save. Which, see point 2, might be just before a cutscene or mandatory tea-making vignette.

I did eventually power through to Follow the Light’s climax (also disappointing, for reasons relating but not specific to the aforementioned not-actually-missing child issue), and the only thing that could tempt me back is some kind of dedicated free-sail side mode. It’s frustrating: a game that’s so good in places at weaving that sensation of impetus, of literally moving forward with the wind at your back, also being so willing to bog you down in busywork. And I’d rather be dashed on the sharpest rocks in Scandinavia than have to poke at one more circuit breaker.

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007 First Light is built on the bones of IO Interactive’s Hitman, and makes no effort to hide that fact. But it’s far from just Agent 47 in a wig and doing his best posh English boarding school accent. The section that properly convinced me of this, ironically, is when First Light gets closest to resembling one of Hitman’s murder sandboxes.

James Bond has been Bondily bundled off to a remote resort in Vietnam, to help solve some bureaucratic bother with his trademark extreme Bondulence. Arriving in the guise of toff holidaymaker St John Smythe, wearer of a garish pink shirt and short shorts, Bond immediately starts being a smarmy dick to the staff. There’s a clear difference between this behaviour and Bond’s usual mannerisms, despite both being strains of the same insufferably establishment Englishness that infests the southernmost reaches of Sadness Island like a particularly nasty case of genital warts. Bond is a smug git, a symbol of mainstream English aspirations and ideals as he’s always been, but he’s got enough unique substance behind his buttery witticisms and self-satisfied grin not to be an insufferable presence.

As with all of his predecessors, Patrick Gibson’s Bond drips with privilege and leads a life no regular person can relate to in anything more than very abstract terms. Yet, I’ve still really enjoyed spending time in his designer loafers. In this Vietnam mission, he wanders around The Pearl, the exact sort of ludicrously luxurious paradise for the ultra-rich that IO have become masters of bringing to life through years of CEO-death-backdrop-sculpting for Agent 47’s ops. For a lot of its runtime First Light is a deliberately pacey romp from action set piece to infiltration sequence, but here IO pump the brakes just a little, freeing you up to hunt opportunities to make three targets swallow one of Q’s magical techno-cocktails. These sections aren’t as complex or leash-free as a Hitman level, but the eavesdropping on conversations and finding ways into restricted areas nails a similar rush.

Rather than poisoning drinks so he can follow queasy guards into the loo and nick their clothes, Bond relies on a suite of special watch-powered MI6 gadgets to get what he wants. Staff get briefly blinded by a quick blast of his watch strap-mounted laser so Bond can pilfer their keycards, the same vomit-inducement 47 relies on is dispensed via a dart fired from 007’s phone, or a camera flash can be used to fire a stunning burst of electricity. Oh and the classic pen that doubles as a rocket launcher is also present and accounted for, in case things get really hairy. Hitman’s always had its own gadgetry, but First Light’s emphasis on these cartoony contraptions certainly helps its more open sections not feel like a bald assassin tribute act. Bond also has a power MI6 could only dream of bottling up. The ability to tell a big fat lie when caught in a restricted area, which temporarily pacifies groups of enemies so you’ve got a window to get in and out sharpish.

Though, the fact First Light’s designed from the ground up not to have both melee and gun combat be a last resort does a lot of the heavy lifting. Lest you fear you’re walking into Call of Duty, Bond’s bound by the strict codes of the MI6 rulebook not to go into massacre mode the moment the stealthy approach will no longer cut it. His first resort is his fists, locked and loaded for a fairly typical action game blend of sneaky button-press takedowns, quick bursts of battering to take down small groups before they call for backup, and open brawling based around punches, timed parries/dodges, and the ability to throw blocking foes into walls.

I’ve found the latter the toughest and most frustrating aspect of First Light. That’s not a total surprise. I’ve long struggled with timed parrying in games which aren’t charitable with their reaction windows, but Bond often feels like he’s given up on blocking towards the end of an enemy’s two-or-three-hit flurries. The kicks which finish such sequences are particularly nasty and absorbing just one tends to leave Bond barely standing. Melee hits from enemies on the standard difficulty might be tuned up a tad too high, with baddies feeling like they can tank about 20 punches while Bond’s done for in three to five tops. Ironically, I’ve had an easier time using my fists when I run out of bullets in gunfights than when the battle’s billed as a boxing match from the off.

In order for Bond to whip out his gun, someone has to shoot at him first, at which point he goes into licence to kill mode. An arsenal of pistols, rifles, SMGs, shotguns, and the occasional sniper rifle can be used to plink foes to death with bodyshots or take them out with a single uber-satisfying headshot. Well, unless they’re a tank, in which case they’ve had the good sense to pop on a helmet you’ll need to shoot off before turning their brains to mush in the name of king and country. While nothing totally fresh, First Light’s gunplay is slick and simple to get to grips with, and shootouts boast numerous enough enemies that you never feel like you’re breezing through too easily.

The brief driving sections, on the other hand, have clearly been designed to serve as no more than conveyor belts between action set pieces (and an opportunity to show off Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover’s brand placements). Cars, bin lorries, and even a dump truck have no tangible feel to them as you turn, jump and smash through objects. That said, these sections are never any more than brief breathers between being dumped back onto foot or into a cutscene, so the fact they’re miles away from what you’d need in a racing game or even the likes of GTA isn’t too big a deal. You’re far more concerned with watching the cinematic destruction unfold than you are trying to get a proper drift on.

Finally, get ready for some quicktime events, baby! You will press A to do push-ups! You will hammer X to break the grip of an enemy in the latter stages of a boss fight! You will push a different button to set off an explosion in very cinematic fashion! You will flick the right stick to tie a bow tie! You will also press Y to select one of seven watch strap colours! That last one, luckily for me, doesn’t have a timer attached to it. All of this is as meh as quicktime events always are, if a serviceable way of giving you something to do in set pieces that’re intimately choreographed.

As for the tale of Bondulence that these many secret agent activities power you through, it’s one that to my eye fits in well with the plots explored by Bond movies since the cold war sputtered out. Bond’s battles with the likes of international crime syndicate SPECTRE were arguably a bit ahead of the curve we’ve seen with the likes of military shooters moving away from traditional nation vs nation battles of jingoistic patriotism to more apolitical battles with felons or rogues. So is true here, with the central battle pitched around internal conflict over the future direction of MI6.

Here’s your warning to skip the next few paragraphs if you don’t want any spoilers more specific than that last line.

As IO teased prior to release, First Light’s conflict is a philosophical debate between man and machine. Its Bond starts off as a new recruit to a 00 programme restarted by a freshly promoted M following a decade or so of MI6 opting to entrust the thrust of their espionage to a supercomputer dubbed Theia, rather than flesh and blood superspies. Bond, naturally, is a complete counterweight to that data-driven approach, a brash and instinct-driven human positively overflowing with disregard for what the numbers say.

Initially, that recklessness sours most of his new colleagues on him, but because he’s brimming with charming Bondiness, he’s able to gradually break down everyone’s walls through the power of smiles and well-timed one-liners. The early hours, which are also very tutorial-heavy, focus on establishing Bond’s relationships with his fellow 00 recruits. Cressida and Monroe, the pair of them who become his flatmates, are given a commendable amount of fleshing out as decent mates despite being higher on the toff-o-meter than Bond himself. It all feels very much like a cheery spy university, up until a mission which turns Bond’s world upside down. The narrative’s breakneck pace doesn’t allow the spy lots of time to confront the shredding of his idyllic and chummy existence in the fashion a more expansive or openly structured game might. That said, it dedicates at least as much time to dealing with the loss as a Bond movie would. Young Bond also arguably isn’t yet at a point in his character arc where he’s endured enough emotional punishment that his stiff upper lip should start to wobble a bit more noticeably.

With that as the emotional underpinning, Bond and his more experienced superiors also grow closer as they grapple with the threat that emerges, the emotional journey that the young spy and his dour mentor John Greenway go on being a particular highlight. Encounters with mysterious thief Isola Vale, more than a match for Bond in the wits department, also stand out memorably. The baddies, on the other hand, aren’t very memorable. Lenny Kravitz’s African underworld overlord Bawma, for example, makes a surprisingly brief cameo that ends rather unsatisfyingly. Reverberating around the entire plot thematically is the subject of AI, how it’s used, and how much humanity should be comfortable relying on it. While a Bond game’s never going to pause the action to write a thought-provoking essay delving deep into all of arguments at play in that particular nest of wasps, in my estimation First Light’s writers have done a good job of not getting lost in buzzwords and presenting the issue of the day in a way which matches the fairly down to earth tone they’re going for.

Right, we’re out of spoilerville.

Overall, 007 First Light’s a thoroughly enjoyable romp I recommend to any fan of the Bond films, games, or IO’s work on Hitman. It certainly lacks the replayability that’s long been one of the strongest points of the latter’s sandbox levels, so the ability to enjoy a more linear action world tour’s a must. Well, unless First Light’s more arcadey tactical simulation mode, which has you replay mission sections with quirky new rulesets à la Hitman’s escalations, really takes off. As of right now, though, I think the main story’ll remain First Light’s calling card.

With that in mind, I reckon its legacy will be more in line with that of MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle than any of Agent 47’s recent adventures. A reference-stuffed blend of game and movie built on the tried and tested foundations of a well-established developer’s main offerings. One well worth seeing the credits of, even if you put it down for a good while not long after they roll.

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The latest UK charts are in, and just like last week, the top spot has been claimed by a newcomer — another one that’s heading to Switch 2 at some point, no less.

It’s 007 First Light that’s snuck off with the gold in its debut week, beating last week’s champ, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and sending it down to second. We can’t wait to check both of these out on Switch 2… whenever they give us the new release dates.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book has taken a tumble down to sixth in its second week, and the golden child of the last month, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, has fallen off the grid completely!

Here’s the full top 40, with platform breakdowns for games available on Switch, Switch 2, and other consoles:

[Compiled by GfK]

< Last week’s charts

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