Almost didn’t buy this game.
I have experienced disappointment with licensed games before, you know the kind. They slap a famous name on the box, put out something half-finished, charge full price, and hope nostalgia will carry it through. So seeing the words ‘James Bond’ and ‘new game’ in the same sentence after all these years didn’t exactly set off excitement as my first thought. “Here we go again.”
But a friend of mine, a major fan of the Hitman franchise, messaged me about it, claiming that the studio that produced the game truly mastered their trade. So I decided to pre-order it and took a weekend off to see what all the excitement was about.
And I’m pleased I did. But I did make some mistakes along the way that I want to help you avoid.
So what is this game, actually?
For those who might not be paying attention, some background: IO Interactive, the guys who developed the Hitman reboot trilogy, developed it. I’ll explain in a moment why this game matters.
Unlike other Bond games published in the past two decades, this game does not mention being based on a movie. This game is no Skyfall storyline play-through trick. The story of how the world was born is quite different. You look much younger than James Bond. He’s still a bit rough around the edges, and MI6 is just recruiting him for their 00 program. More of a ‘talented rookie who’s going to make some bad decisions’ vs. a ‘seasoned superspy.’
That’s a big difference to the mood of the game overall. Honestly, that was one of their better moves.
My First Two Hours: A Mix of Confusion and “Oh, I Get It Now”
To be honest, the first hour didn’t really do much for me as I thought it would. There’s a lot of setup, MI6 hallway banter, and ‘meet your new handler’ stuff to get it going. If you want blasts right away, you might get antsy.
But when I got to the first real task, I understood the whole thing.
Hitman is all over this game, and I mean that in a good way. Just don’t run around shooting up the hallways. In this game, you will actually have to think to put on masks, work out patrol patterns, and decide whether you should sneak past a guard or kill him quietly. It satisfied the same desire as Hitman, but every decision seemed to matter more to the tale.
The first time I played, I made mistakes because I thought it was a pure shooter. Guns are firing, alarms are going off, and there is confusion everywhere. It “worked,” but it didn’t feel right. The game certainly rewards patience and observation far more than force. The entire experience improved so much once I slowed down and really explored a place before moving on.
We learned this is not Call of Duty in a suit. Think of it more like a stealth game where you have to sneak around and avoid getting caught. Combat’s just a bonus.
The Story Actually Surprised Me
I thought it would be a dull spy story. The bad guy has a plan. Bond stops him. End of story. What I got instead was a lot more character-driven than I thought it was going to be.
This is early in his career, so he’s not the untouchable, always-in-charge Bond of the movies. He does bad things. And they say, “Don’t,” the ones above him. The tension between him and his mentor makes the story feel more like a workplace drama than a typical spy story, which is a good thing.
It is worth mentioning the voice acting. I didn’t know the actor who played young James Bond before I started reading, but I liked the way he played the part in the first couple of chapters. It’s raw in a way that really works for the ‘not quite there yet’ version of the character much better than a smooth, cocky performance would.
I loved this little detail: the studio scanned the voice actor’s real face into the game, so the character you’re controlling actually looks like the voice actor. It’s a little thing, but the effect of the facial expressions in cutscenes varies depending on how they feel.
Real Talk: Where It Stumbles
I don’t want to make this sound like a paid ad, so let’s go through the difficult portions.
The middle slows down. There are a few hours where the missions begin to seem a little repetitive—infiltrate location, find target, extract. The fundamental gameplay loop is tight, but the game relies on it a little too much for a few chapters before trying something different again.
Older hardware load time. At first I was playing on a mid-range gaming PC and observed that loading between specific checkpoints took longer than intended. Nothing game-breaking, but if you’re on older gear, limit your expectations a little. On a friend’s newer console setup, it ran considerably smoother when I tested it.
No multiplayer. If you were looking for any sort of competitive spy mode, it doesn’t exist at the moment. This is a story first, a single-player adventure. The absence isn’t a flaw, but it’s something to keep in mind so you don’t end up disappointed.
Step-by-Step: How I’d Recommend Actually Playing This
If I were starting fresh again, here’s the approach I’d take:
- Start early on the hardest difficulty you’re comfortable with. The lower difficulties almost make stealth optional, which sort of defeats the purpose of the whole gameplay design. The harder setting makes you actually use the mechanics the way they’re meant to be used.
- Before starting objectives, explore all zones. I ignored this advice early on but missed out on side conversations, gadgets, and shortcuts that made later missions much easier.
- Use gadgets on purpose, not as an emergency button. Q Branch tech is super handy, but I ended up hoarding gadgets like they were rare-to-find loot in an RPG. Don’t do so. Instead, use them regularly.
- Pay attention to guard routines before making a move. This sounds obvious, but I rushed through a couple of early missions, and guards caught me constantly because I wasn’t actually watching patrol timing.
- Save your combat encounters for when stealth genuinely fails. Getting spotted isn’t the end of the world, but treating every mission as a stealth-first challenge makes the whole experience click a lot faster.
Who This Game Is Actually For
Based on my time with it, here’s my honest read on who’ll enjoy the game:
- Almost instantly Hitman fans will feel right at home.
- Fans of the more grounded, human side of recent Bond movies will appreciate the character-driven approach here.
- Trophy/achievement hunters will find a decent amount of replay value trying out different stealth approaches on each mission.
Who might pass:
- If you’re after a fast-paced action shooter with constant set pieces, this might come across as too methodical for you.
- If multiplayer is a dealbreaker for you, the single-player campaign won’t scratch that itch.
Mistakes I Would Tell My Younger Self Not to Make
Reflecting on the beginning of my playing, I have a few things I wish someone had told me:
- The game teaches you specific things only once, early on, and I had to look them up individually later when I clicked thru too fast.
- Don’t skip the tutorial speeches thinking they are filler. Don’t judge the pacing based solely on the first hour.
- It takes time to make, but it’s worth it. Replay missions with a fresh perspective. A stealth first run differs significantly from a chaos first run, and I was genuinely astonished by that. I expected it to feel repetitive.
Concluding Thoughts
I went into the game expecting another disappointing cash-grab riding on a famous name and came out of it pleasantly surprised by how much care clearly went into the gameplay and story. The game isn’t perfect; the mid-game pacing dips and the lack of multiplayer present real drawbacks, but the studio truly nailed the core experience of playing a younger, imperfect version of a character we all thought we knew.
If you have a free weekend and are even slightly curious, I recommend giving it a try. Just go in, patient, and play it more like a stealth puzzle than an action movie, and don’t rush the first couple of hours. That’s where most people, myself included, get the wrong first impression.
Useful links
Official & trusted external links
- Official IO Interactive website: IO Interactive
- Official 007 First Light Steam page: 007 First Light on Steam
- PlayStation Blog – Game Reveal: 007 First Light Reveal
- PlayStation Blog – All 007 First Light News: 007 First Light News Hub
- Official James Bond website: James Bond 007
Gameplay & trailers
- Official Gameplay Deep Dive: 30 Minutes of Gameplay
- Official PlayStation YouTube Channel: PlayStation YouTube
- IO Interactive YouTube Channel: IO Interactive YouTube
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