Bond can't afford to be seen doing anything suspicious
At Gamescom 2025, IO Interactive offered the world a glimpse of something studios rarely achieve: a game that honors its creator's past without being imprisoned by it. 007 First Light places a young James Bond in the unglamorous margins of espionage — guarding exits, maintaining covers, improvising his way upward — and in doing so, asks whether a studio defined by assassination can learn the broader grammar of a legend. The demo suggests not only that IO has learned it, but that the franchise may finally have found the comprehensive treatment it has long deserved.
- IO Interactive, long synonymous with the contained, puzzle-like world of Hitman, is now navigating the far wider demands of James Bond — driving, social engineering, open terrain, and explosive action — with its reputation on the line.
- The stealth sequences feel immediately assured, carrying Hitman's DNA into a new context where Bond's cover, not a kill, is the prize — and the environmental creativity on display suggests the studio's instincts translate cleanly.
- High-speed car chases down Slovak mountain roads and a sprawling airfield firefight push IO into genuinely unfamiliar territory, and the cracks show — third-person gunplay lacks the elegance of the stealth sections and risks feeling blunt rather than cinematic.
- Yet the tone holds: Bond throws an empty rifle at an enemy, kicks a fresh weapon into his hands mid-stride, and commandeers mobile stairs to board a departing cargo plane — absurd, but never quite unbelievable.
- The overall trajectory is one of cautious confidence — not a flawless game, but one that finally seems to understand Bond completely, arriving at a moment when fans have been waiting a very long time for someone to get it right.
At Gamescom 2025, IO Interactive unveiled a James Bond game that refuses to be defined by the studio's own legacy. The demo opens not with spectacle but with restraint: a young agent in a chauffeur's uniform, assigned to guard an exit while his MI6 colleagues attend a chess tournament upstairs in a Slovak hotel. He's meant to stay put. He doesn't.
What follows carries the unmistakable DNA of Hitman — careful observation, environmental puzzle-solving, the constant pressure of maintaining cover. A garden hose distracts a guard. Dried leaves ignite in a wheelbarrow. Bond scales a drainpipe and talks his way past hotel staff with improvised charm. IO noted this was just one solution among many, but the restraint is what matters: the game understands that Bond's greatest weapon is his ability to move through the world without triggering alarms.
Inside the hotel, the tone shifts toward something more social — Bond mingles with guests, uses his Q watch to gather intelligence, and quietly pursues a suspicious bellboy. The writing captures a junior agent who is still learning but already willing to ignore orders. Then things go wrong. The target flees. Bond, now disheveled, finds himself behind the wheel of an Aston Martin chasing a fugitive down mountain roads.
This is where IO enters new territory entirely. The car feels heavy and real, tires squealing through tight turns, a collision deforming the windscreen and trailing barbed wire. The chase is kinetic and convincing. When the target reaches an airfield and a single gunshot ignites a sprawling firefight, the demo shows some strain — the third-person shooting lacks the precision of the stealth sections, occasionally feeling blunt where it should feel choreographed. But there are moments that sing: Bond throws an empty rifle at an enemy, kicks a fresh weapon into his hands mid-stride, and commandeers mobile stairs to board a departing cargo plane.
It's the kind of stunt that strains credibility, yet IO never loses the tone. The game walks a line between arcade spectacle and grounded authenticity, and it mostly holds. The gunplay could use refinement, and some sequences feel more polished than others — but IO has demonstrated it understands not just how to make a Bond game, but how to make a complete one. That's something the franchise has been waiting a long time for.
At Gamescom 2025, IO Interactive unveiled a James Bond game that refuses to be confined by the studio's own shadow. The demo opens not with explosions or martinis, but with a young agent in a chauffeur's uniform driving a car up a mountain road in Slovakia. It's a deliberately unglamorous beginning—Bond on his first mission, assigned the least desirable job while his MI6 teammates attend a chess tournament upstairs. He's meant to guard the exit. He's meant to stay put.
Of course he doesn't. What unfolds is a masterclass in how a studio known for one thing can stretch into something larger without losing its identity. The infiltration sequence that follows carries the DNA of Hitman—the careful observation, the environmental puzzle-solving, the need to maintain cover at all costs. But this isn't an assassin game. Bond can't afford to be seen doing anything suspicious. A rogue garden hose distracts a guard. Dried leaves ignite in a wheelbarrow. In the chaos, he scales a drainpipe to an open window and talks his way past the staff with the kind of improvised charm that defines the character. IO's representatives noted this was just one solution among many, but what matters is the restraint: the game understands that Bond's greatest weapon is his ability to move through the world without triggering alarms.
Once inside the hotel proper, the tone shifts. Bond mingles with wealthy guests, uses his Q watch to gather intelligence, and asks a bartender about his target—a suspicious bellboy. The writing here is assured, capturing a junior agent who's still learning but already willing to ignore orders. There's self-assurance without arrogance, competence without invincibility. Then the demo jumps ahead: things have gone wrong. The target is fleeing. Bond, now visibly disheveled, finds himself behind the wheel of an Aston Martin, chasing a fugitive down mountain roads.
This is where IO enters genuinely new territory. The Hitman games thrived in dense, contained spaces. Driving and open terrain are different animals entirely. What the demo shows is encouraging. The car feels heavy and real—rubber on tarmac, tires squealing through tight turns, the landscape blurring past. A collision deforms the windscreen and bumper, trailing barbed wire. The chase is frantic and kinetic, the kind of sequence that belongs in a Bond film. It's not perfect—a hands-off demo can only reveal so much—but it works.
The target reaches an airfield. Bond pursues on foot. A guard spots him. A single gunshot ignites a sprawling firefight across the tarmac, the kind of explosive set piece that would feel at home in a film's climax, not its opening. Here the demo shows some strain. The third-person shooting lacks the precision of the stealth sections; the action gets lost in the midground, feeling more like the blunt force of The Expendables than the choreographed elegance of a modern Bond film. But there are moments that sing: Bond throws an empty rifle at an enemy, transitions into close combat without hesitation. He kicks a fresh gun up into his hands mid-stride. Later, he commandeers a set of mobile stairs to climb aboard a departing cargo plane.
It's absurd. It's the kind of stunt that strains credibility. Yet IO never loses sight of the tone. The question the reviewer posed to himself—could Daniel Craig pull this off?—rarely yields a no. The game walks a line between the arcade spectacle of Uncharted and the grounded authenticity of Bond, and it mostly holds that line. Where it stumbles, it's a matter of format rather than execution. IO didn't invent the third-person action game, but it's learning to speak the language fluently enough.
Going in, the biggest fear was whether a studio built on stealth could handle everything else Bond demands: the driving, the gadgetry, the social engineering, the raw action. The demo suggests that fear was misplaced. This isn't a perfect game yet—some sequences feel more polished than others, and the gunplay could use refinement. But IO has proven it understands not just how to make a Bond game, but how to make a complete one. That's something the franchise has been waiting for.
Notable Quotes
IO representatives noted this was just one solution among many— IO Interactive (regarding infiltration puzzle solutions)
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What surprised you most about watching IO Interactive step outside the Hitman formula?
That they didn't abandon it. The stealth sections are genuinely clever—Bond solving a puzzle with a garden hose and some leaves. But what struck me was the confidence. They weren't trying to hide that they were new to driving and large-scale action. They just did it.
Did the action sequences feel like Bond, or did they feel like IO trying to be something else?
Both, honestly. The driving is excellent—you feel the weight of the car. The shooting is less refined, but the tone carries it. When Bond throws a rifle at someone and transitions to hand-to-hand combat, that's pure Bond. The mobile stairs bit is ridiculous, but it's the right kind of ridiculous.
You mentioned the gunplay felt like The Expendables rather than a modern Bond film. Is that a fatal flaw?
No. It's a limitation of the format. Third-person action games lose precision that way. But IO knows how to write around it. The set pieces are designed to feel cinematic even if they're not perfectly choreographed. That matters more than technical polish.
How does this compare to what you expected from a Hitman studio making a Bond game?
I expected them to nail stealth and struggle with everything else. They nailed stealth and didn't struggle as much as I feared. The driving surprised me most. That's not a small thing to learn.
What's the one thing that still worries you?
Whether the third-person action holds up over a full game. A demo can hide repetition. But if IO can maintain the tone and variety they showed here, that worry might be unfounded.