007 First Light gets first gameplay deep dive

Developer IO Interactive have finally given us more of a taste of their take on the original super spy with a gameplay reveal for 007 First Light. During today’s special State of Play, there was both a gameplay trailer and an extended reveal of the highly anticipated Bond title.

The extended reveal features a 20-minute gameplay walkthrough that shows off Bond’s first-ever field mission and 10 minutes of developer commentary. In the gameplay, Bond, of course, immediately goes rogue. Quickly finding himself investigating a black tie event, spotting infiltration points, questioning NPCs and doing general espionage stuff before getting into a high-speed pursuit. You know, a classic 007 affair.

IO Interactive have been on a bit of a hot streak with the recent Hitman Trilogy, and while it is early to say, this looks extremely promising. Taking the structure they’ve refined over the last decade and expanding beyond the strict objective of murder seems like a winning pitch. I’m glad they’re going with a more gadget-oriented Bond, with tech like a handheld laser on display during the developer commentary.

Bond is far more capable than Agent 47 in large-scale action scenes, and the gunplay appears to be a notable step up from the Hitman series. Along with a sort of slow-motion focus mode, there also appears to be some light environmental destruction, mostly thanks to the typical videogame red barrels.

There is some concern over the admittedly choppy framerate in this extended deep dive, but given this is pre-release, there are likely many optimisation passes to go through before it hits shelves.

Regardless, we should all look forward to getting our license to kill when 007 First Light launches March 27th 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC.