The name is Bond, but before his iconic status as the 00 agent of legend, 007 First Light introduces us to James in an adventure that goes places and fundamentally changes his mindset. With only a few weeks to go before launch, there is a ton of information to glean from various hands-on previews, offering a better picture of how the game plays. Let’s delve into all of it, starting with the core impetus of Bond:
Being A Hero
As the saying goes, Agent 47 is no hero; granted, not an old killer either, but when it comes to wet work (read: Assassination), he’s the man for the job. James Bond, this rendition at least, isn’t like that, and that’s reflected in every single aspect of First Light’s design, right down to the levels and pacing. So while previews have talked about the sandbox and how it compares to Hitman, art director Rasmus Poulsen describes Agent 47 as “an agent of chaos” to Eurogamer. Bond? “Bond is a hero, and has to be a hero.” So what does that mean?
Improvising Without Breaking Character
Think back to all of your favorite 007 movies – you’ll have a hard time finding one without a world-ending scenario. And in every one of those, who else do you call but James Bond to save the day? Going back to one of my favorite episodes of Beyond the Light, head writer Michael Vogt spoke about ensuring players can “feel like Bond.” “In Hitman, you are kind of able to go spectacularly out of character at any given moment, but you can’t really do that with Bond. That feels wrong. He’s too established,” he says.
Not that this is a detriment – it just means that, despite some sections of First Light, at least based on previews, feeling linear or overtly cinematic compared to Hitman, you’re also seeing a wider variety of branching choices. “So, your Bond can be more of a brawler, or he can be clever and talk his way out of situations, or he can stealth around and use gadgets. Those are all valid choices,” says Vogt. “We use choice as a way for players to feel clever and to think on their feet like a proper 00 agent, but without ever actually breaking character.”
Pre-MI6 Era Bond
Think of Bond as many things, but when the game starts, he’s not the brash, idealistic young man in MI6’s training program but rather part of the Royal Navy. Sent to Iceland for a mission, he searches for survivors after they’re suddenly shot down, sneaking past hostiles in the process. It’s your first introduction to his traversal and stealth capabilities, but also to MI6, as an operative serves as his pseudo-handler, tasking Bond with finding an item. Which is all well and good until it comes time to save others, and we see more of Bond’s recklessness (and heroism, of course). The rest you can probably guess, but this marks his journey into MI6, starting with training in Malta (not Italy).
Q Lens and Hacking
We’ve heard quite a lot about the devices at Bond’s disposal, but there’s also the Q Lens. It’s great for keeping track of enemy positions but also for spotting places to hack. Yes, your watch actually doubles up as a hacking device, whether it’s causing devices to malfunction and cause distractions or even manipulating environmental objects – like activating a target in the training facility to hit a guard and knock them out.
Slow-Mo
If things take a particularly harrowing turn, especially when License to Kill is active, take things slow, literally. Activate Focus and Bond essentially enables bullet time, allowing for more precise targeting, which can then lead to more headshots. Combine this with the environment, however, and it becomes all the easier to shoot explosive barrels, or fire extinguishers, or even to bring down any hanging objects onto enemies.
Better Bluffs
Bluffing is another potent tool in Bond’s repertoire – nothing says “secret agent” quite like walking into an area and nonchalantly talking past tight security. However, what’s more interesting is that obtaining more information from a level can make it that much more effective, be it through eavesdropping in the environment, obtaining documents and so on (according to IGN’s preview). In this sense, it’s possible to turn seemingly impossible odds in your favor.
A Quick Blag
Speaking of which, remember in the reveal gameplay when Bond was caught sneaking around and couldn’t talk his way out of the situation? Well, it’s a more reactionary form of bluffing – a cheeky little blag if you will – to try and throw off an enemy. It might not work, and you’ll have to fight your way out. But if it does, they might be distracted enough for a silent takedown or a quick escape.
Generous Checkpoints
Further feeding into the more forgiving nature of First Light compared to Hitman is the checkpointing system. If you’re taken down, then you’ll be sent back to the same, and this can even apply while traversing through guarded areas, resulting in a less tedious trek over familiar ground.
Conditional Approaches
Remember that gala mission that was first revealed alongside First Light’s gameplay last year? It’s back, and this time, previews were able to go hands-on, trying different approaches. And once again, while this isn’t Hitman-esque in its brevity, PlayStation Blog noted something interesting. If you eavesdrop on a public relations director and impersonate one of the journalists mentioned to get in, it can be smooth sailing. That is, until you actually get there and learn that the actual person has already checked in. If you had chosen the other name, it might not have been a problem. You can still get in through methods, like using a phone dart to temporarily impair the person checking credentials and stealing a pass, further reflecting Bond’s improvisation methods.
You Can’t Move Bodies
Unfortunately, despite his extensive skill set, Bond lacks the upper body strength for one key tactic: Moving bodies. According to various previews, you can’t just shift an enemy’s body after taking them down, which means higher chances of alerting their allies. It goes back to the pacing and improvisational nature of the gameplay, but Hitman aficionados will doubtless miss it all the same.
Boss Fights
Not all enemies are punching bags or easily dispatched with a few rounds – there are also boss fights that will test your mettle. One such enemy, who seemingly reappears throughout the story, needs to be taken down using different methods, be it stealth or triggering objects to damage him. The same tactics won’t work twice – a clear callback to Batman: Arkham City’s iconic fight against Freeze – and it leaves us wondering what other bosses may have in store.
Garbage Truck Escapades
We’ve seen Bond driving some slick vehicles, but that doesn’t mean he’s a snob when it comes to… other forms of transport. While escaping the gala, he commandeers a garbage truck and proceeds to tear through the city, fighting off the mercenaries in a high-speed – er, moderately paced chase. It’s pretty chaotic – at one point, he even tears through a mall, destroying shutters and sending one pursuing vehicle into a wall.
Rooftop Rumble
If the set pieces seen thus far haven’t felt cinematic enough, 007 First Light even has a rooftop chase, where you need to quickly navigate the environment, hacking objects to create distractions, and more to catch an assassin. And this is right after Bond is suddenly assailed in his apartment, resulting in a tense CQC battle to the death where you’re smashing them into the surrounding environment.
Not Resolving Bond’s Character
For all the talk about Bond and how he matures throughout First Light’s story, Vogt clarified that it wouldn’t “resolve his character.” Instead, the character is on a “trajectory.” “I think to me, Bond is someone who clearly grows and evolves, but he’s not somebody who changes fundamentally. Rather, he has some innate qualities that make him an agent of change.” To that end, he’ll change the way MI6 operates and is subsequently changed by the influence of other characters. But we can’t help but think that this may pave the way for future stories in IOI’s Bond-verse.
No Generative AI
“Beware of utopia,” says Poulsen to Eurogamer when talking about Bond’s themes, especially about current-day trends surrounding AI. It’s all meant to clarify that IO Interactive isn’t using generative AI on First Light, which was a “combined discussion between core execs in the studio.” “I think it’s a large discussion – I’d rather not dive into the details, because it’s complicated,” he said, but it’s still another feather in the game’s cap.