Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is ten years old. Since its release, Naughty Dog has brought us Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, The Last of Us Part II, and a remake of 2013’s The Last of Us. Next up, expected in 2027, is Intergalactic, and while the studio has confirmed the Santa Monica-based outfit is working in tandem on a secondary, as-yet unannounced project there’s no guarantee that this is a fifth mainline Uncharted game.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, modern Tomb Raider, perhaps even elements of Ghost of Yōtei aside, there’s an entire style of tightly choreographed, cinematic AAA adventure that’s becoming increasingly rare in Uncharted 4’s wake. Have swashbuckling, globetrotting action-adventures had their day? Is there still enough appetite for a charismatic character-driven narrative comparable to Nathan Drake’s exploits?
Look – 007 First Light is not the same as Uncharted, but if you’ve been waiting for a game to deliver the same feeling – like you’re playing a movie – then IO Interactive’s upcoming James Bond origin story might scratch that specific itch. It’s hardly Nathan Drake’s return, but 007 First Light could be the closest thing to his kind of blockbuster adventure in a decade.
But first, if we’re assessing similarities between both titles we must address a common misconception: in Uncharted, you hunt for treasure, whilst as Bond, you’re engaging in international espionage. Both operate in cinematic, third-person, action frameworks, with cover shooting, scripted chaos, and spectacle at the core of each experience. Yet, it’s important to note that ‘treasure hunting’ and ‘spying’ are surface-level aesthetics. The underlying design is what matters here. In other words, the Uncharted series and 007 First Light present different fantasies, but underneath is the same structural DNA.
One of Uncharted’s great strengths, and an aspect Naughty Dog all-but perfected by Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, is a consistent sense of forward motion. Exploratory segments often felt like escalation, like a puzzle being carefully put in place purely to blast into smithereens once the next awe-striking set-piece arrives. Now, given IO Interactive’s pedigree, 007 First Light is gathering undue comparisons to Hitman. Whilst Agent 47’s methodical observation, social stealth, and professional improvisation are visible touchstones in 007 First Light, the emphasis is very much on momentum-first design, putting its pacing in league with Uncharted. By bluffing past guards, or deploying gadgets designed for escape and evasion, Bond’s toolset is ample enough to forge through any situation that would otherwise force a restart in Hitman.
And then we have the protagonists themselves. Both Drake and First Light’s version of Bond are charming, steadfast, and occasionally reckless. Drake’s experienced but he’s fallible, whereas 007, in this origin story, is young, not fully formed, and still honing his craft as MI6’s blunt instrument. If there’s a question, it’s this: does he feel like Bond to play? At his juvenile age, his charisma certainly seems less earned. But is he, perhaps, closer to Drake than the developers intended? For sure, his over-confident persona brings 007 First Light’s emotional tone closer to Uncharted, whether that’s intended or not. He’s not a literal Drake with a taste for Aston Martins, but his design veers into a space Uncharted helped define.
So, if the characterisation in both games’ protagonist has overlap, 007 First Light appears to be chasing a similar energy in its set-pieces too. See, this is a huge part of what made the Uncharted series so memorable: how carefully the action was staged. Whether it was a collapsing building, a convoy chase, or a desperate last-second escape, these moments were tightly curated for maximum impact. You maintained control throughout, of course, but the spectacle itself was always guided by cinematic precision.
007 First Light features the same high-intensity set-pieces: vehicle chases, shootouts, explosions, and dramatic encounters. But, unlike Uncharted’s on-rails approach, 007 First Light frequently opens these scenarios up, giving you more agency in how they unfold.
This, contrary to our earlier point, is where a semblance of Hitman DNA begins to show. Instead of simply reacting to spectacle, 007 First Light invites you to shape it. Encounters can be approached through stealth, direct combat, social manipulation, or a blend of all three. Even in those moments where the game leads you to a shooting gallery, it doesn’t insist on taking control away from you. It leans into Uncharted’s style of cinematic framing, sure, but its authored sequences frequently mix in open-ended, pressure-driven problem solving. If Uncharted made you experience its spectacle like you’re inside of a movie, 007 First Light, by contrast, seems able to give you a hand in directing it.
Of course, blending authored set pieces and player-driven actions isn’t easy to pull off. Delivering tightly choreographed spectacle in the style of Uncharted is one thing, layering meaningful choice on top without diluting the experience is another, and this is a challenge facing 007 First Light. IO Interactive has already proven themselves through Hitman’s systemic design, but translating those ideas into a more linear, cinematic framework is a fresh test.
There’s a balance the studio is aiming to achieve: structure without lost freedom; openness that maintains pace. In this sense, 007 First Light feels like it could be an experiment in where cinematic AAA design is heading. Games like Uncharted lean heavily on direction, whereas systemic games like Hitman prioritise player expression. Rarely have the two designs intertwined at this scale. If 007 First Light succeeds, it could signal a shift in how Hollywood-style action games are presented in the future.
And yet, for all the similarities between 007 First Light and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Bond’s upcoming adventure – as alluded to already – ultimately distinguishes itself through the fantasy it’s striving to portray. See, Nathan Drake often embodies a chaotic, luck-driven anti-hero, whilst young Bond leans towards control, precision, and restraint.
Design-wise, you’ll see this difference in how combat encounters unfold. For Bond, with a license to kill which activates once opponents unholster their weapons, violence is more reactive than initiated (Hitman’s reactive DNA again, perhaps). Whilst early impressions indicate that most enemies will open fire despite only light provocation, it’s still a notable contrast to Uncharted’s occasionally dissonant approach, where Drake’s charm sits uneasily alongside the sheer volume of assailants he ruthlessly cuts through. 007 First Light’s encounter design shows shades of the Batman: Arkham series’ controlled flow – a game IO Interactive has cited as influencing the game’s combat – meaning the decision on whether to act or de-escalate hinges on you.
The result is a different, more calculated power fantasy, and this distinction is quite important. Regardless on where your opinion ultimately lands, managing your expectations – as always – is pivotal to getting the most out of 007 First Light. Yes, we’ve proposed numerous similarities by highlighting the emotional comparisons in both games, but 007 First Light is more of a hybrid experience; not fully linear nor purely scripted, but nonetheless indebted to that design philosophy.
With no new Uncharted game on the horizon, there is space for a successor to move in. If the industry has indeed moved away from this kind of game – like we speculated at the start of this feature – 007 First Light suggests, instead, that a few simple evolutions are all that’s required for cinematic, character-driven games to reclaim lost territory. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End defined a genre, but 007 First Light might just show what that genre looks like after a ten-year hiatus.
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