IO Interactive is known for its post-launch support of the Hitman franchise, and it looks like the studio won’t be stopping any time soon with 007 First Light. In an interview with Eurogamer, developers offered some insight into what they have planned for the Bond game, with many ideas revolving around the expansion of the Tactical Simulations area—or TacSim—in the MI6 headquarters.
While acknowledging that this might make it sound like a challenge mode of sorts, senior combat designer Tom Marcham went on to say that it will be “a bit more than that as well,” with remixed levels and spaces that will pit players into entirely new situations. For example, areas that previously didn’t have any combat encounters might be host to a firefight. He noted that TacSim will be a major way through which IO Interactive will be able to remix the various levels of 007 First Light.
The studio’s chief development officer, Véronique Lallier, has also confirmed that there is more content planned for TacSim after launch, and that there will also be a roadmap of IO’s plans for post-launch support.
“Because for us, the way we see things is: launching the game is just the beginning, and it’s important for us to learn and listen to the feedback of the players and everybody, and see, okay, how can we do it better? What should we do more? What should we do less? And that’s something we’ve been doing with Hitman over a decade with a World of Assassination, and we’re going to definitely try to bring more content [here],” said Lallier.
“It’s completely different from Hitman and that’s something very important to say. Hitman is sandbox and by nature feels more open to repetition. This one is more narrative driven, so once you’ve done the story, what else can you do? And that’s what we’re trying to do with TacSim. There is definitely a desire for us to continue to make things evolve.”
Marcham also noted that TacSim might offer more than just a new way to experience challenges for players, and even mentioned the idea that its leaderboards could be home to fans of Hitman speedruns, for example.
007 First Light has been officially released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S all over the world. IO Interactive celebrated the launch with a new trailer featuring CEO Hakan Abrak, who expresses gratitude to fans. The title has seen positive critical reception, with our own review giving it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to a variety of factors, including production values, level design, and a fresh take on Bond.
IO Interactive has also confirmed that it is working on a Nintendo Switch 2 version of 007 First Light as well. While originally planned for release alongside the other versions, the studio announced that the Switch 2 launch is getting pushed back to later in the summer. When asked about this, Abrak confirmed that the studio already has it running on the platform and that it is actively working on polishing it up and making sure that it doesn’t suffer from performance issues.
