IO Interactive’s 007: First Light is not just your average James Bond game, but perhaps the first true 007 video game. Unlike the largely action-focused games of the past, the Hitman studio’s upcoming adventure aims to incorporate all parts of Bond into one title: stealth-based espionage, hand-to-hand combat, gunplay and, of course, deliciously rendered vehicle chase scenes.
As the Hitman studio also preps for Hitman 4 in the background, the team behind First Light have already explained that the upcoming game improves on many of the things that made their past game great. However, in a new interview, the studio explains that the upcoming Bond adventure is largely focused on a greater level of choice compared to many other third-person action games.
Speaking to Game Informer in a recent YouTube video, gameplay director Andreas Krogh explained that the new game is focused around the prospect of player choice. “We try to strive for a way to give choice to the player,” Krogh said, “Two NPCs are in front of you, what do you do? And there you have choice: do I go around them, do I distract them, do I take them out?”
“Showing you new options all the time because you did something will kind of drive you towards that option which we then try to always make you go forward basically in any given encounter.”
007 First Light gameplay director Andreas Krogh
Krogh explained that 007: First Light is designed so that the levels themselves have multiple options for players to choose from while also having a large number of gadgets that further expand those options. Every level has clearly sign-posted options and some not-so-clearly-signposted options that will help to make the game feel both emergent and replayable.
While the core gameplay of the title may seem like a Hitman successor, James Bond is a much different character than the stoic Agent 47. James Bond will be able to distract characters with gadgets and the like, but also with wit and charm with social mechanics allowing the spy to convince NPCs he belongs where he is. This is another layer of choice.
Krogh explained that the “icing on the cake” is that every action you take in the game also comes with some degree of risk. If you decide to sneak past a group of guards, there’s still a chance that they will see and catch you, and that uncertainly surrounding success is what keeps the game fresh and engaging.
Additionally, there are ways out of being caught with a system called “situation contained”. If you’re spotted going somewhere you shouldn’t be, you can solve that with a quick bout of fisticuffs, but maintaining your cover becomes increasingly harder if you keep getting caught.
Even when it comes to the game’s all-out gunplay sections, IO Interactive is keen to make sure that players have enough choices to make every replay feel different. In gun fights, cover can be destroyed forcing you to move, guns run out forcing you to disarm someone and take their gun or even throw your current empty weapon at their head to continue your onslaught. Of course, there are video game explosive barrels and tankers, and even they lean into the game’s choices.
Krogh explains that gunplay has an “ideology to move you forward in any given chance”, a design philosophy that ties into environmental destruction. “It’s also in the environment where if you explode something, maybe something crumbles that creates a new path for you”.
“Showing you new options all the time because you did something will kind of drive you towards that option which we then try to always make you go forward basically in any given encounter,” he concluded.
007 First Light launches on May 27, 2026 for Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. The game features a brand-new Bond that will display “modern values” that matches the tone of today. Additionally, the game is planned to have a considerable amount of post-launch content, similar to IO’s current Hitman: World of Assassination.
