As creep slowly towards the March 27, 2026 release date for 007: First Light, developer IO Interactive has now started up a new video series where it takes us behind the scenes into the development of the title. The first episode of the series – Beyond the Light – revolves around the thoughts of gameplay director Andreas Krogh and senior level designer Thomas Pulluelo in how helped crafting the title.
The video, coming in at just shy of 17 minutes in length, features Krogh and Pulluelo watching the reactions that various streamers and gamers have had to the title, and what exactly was the thought process that went behind some of the game design decisions in 007: First Light.
Among the things that Krogh spoke about was the fact that, similar to the Hitman series, 007: First Light will also have Enforcer-type enemies that will have an easier time in detecting the player regardless of whether or not they are using the appropriate costume. “It’s not the exact same thing [as Hitman] but it’s related, so we have these NPCs that can see through you because they know the people working there. That’s the idea about it,” he explained.
Krogh also spoke about promoting creativity in players by giving them plenty of ways to accomplish their objectives. However, he also noted that this comes down to players also needing to be aware that these options exist.
“You need to know that there are different options in the game,” said Krogh. “If we start violating that trust as developers, the player will forget those options or not use them, because they don’t rely on them. And then it becomes a much more narrow option space. So you get less creative.”
“The last thing, and I think this is a key ingredient that we also had in our prior stealth games in Hitman, was, and I coined this as ‘uncertainty in execution’. It’s really the thing that, you know your own options, you see the options in the environment, and you get to that point where you think ‘okay, I’m going to try this thing.’ When you get to the other point and get past them, you think to yourself, ‘Oh I did it! It actually worked!’”
Pulluelo spoke about wanting to present all the options available to players in ways where they can be noticed. To do this, the level design revolves around ensuring that players have visuals on every opportunity that is available to them throughout the game.
IO Interactive has been quite open about having learned lessons from its time developing the Hitman titles, and how these lessons have helped with the development of 007: First Light. Just last month, studio CEO Hakan Abrak spoke about the lessons that were learned about episodic releases for the first game in the recent Hitman trilogy, especially when compared to recent releases like Dispatch.
In the meantime, 007: First Light is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2. For more details, check out the Aston Martin Valhalla that will be present in the game.
