James Bond has returned to gaming after a bit of a hiatus, but this time it is an origin story. The team at IO Interactive has created a really fun origin story for everyone’s favorite spy. 007 First Light features a bit of stealth and a whole lot of spycraft. There are also multiple ways to tackle a situation, which really helped throughout the journey. While playing the game, I would always try to use stealth whenever possible. That approach means it might take longer to accomplish an objective, but there is also a much higher chance that you survive long enough to do so. I look forward to subsequent playthroughs, in which I will approach situations differently to see how they play out.

After a brief intro, the game begins as James survives a crash and tries to get his bearings. No one knows what is going on, other than there is a cleanup crew on the scene, and they are trying to deal with any potential survivors. This is where you get your first action as Bond. The stealth mechanics are introduced, and it is immediately clear that if you want to survive, patience is key and the ability to move through the area without anyone noticing your presence. Eventually, James makes his way to a camp he needs to infiltrate, complete some objectives, and escape.

Once you get through that opening sequence, you begin training as an MI6 recruit, and the adventure really begins. As you progress in the game and more opens up to you, there are a number of different things at your disposal. Information is currency in the spy game, and there is a lot of it. If you need a refresher course on what your current objective is, or perhaps you want to change which objective is being tracked, all you have to do is press a button to look at a menu of different options. You will see a tab for objectives to help keep you on the right track, and as I mentioned above, sometimes there might be multiple objectives, and the game will let you choose what you complete and how you do so. You can also check which gadgets you have equipped that will help you get out of some sticky situations.

This is all based on your Q watch. Before each mission, you get a chance to equip some gadgets that might be handy for that particular mission. My favorites were always the dart phone and the laser strap. I had another favorite as well, but you don’t get that until late in the game, so I won’t spoil it here. With the dart phone, I could discreetly shoot someone with a dart, which would temporarily make them sick. This would cause them to leave their station, allowing me to sneak by and read a memo I wasn’t supposed to read, gain access to a restricted area, or whatever. The laser strap could temporarily blind someone, distracting them and keeping them from knowing what I was doing, and it could also be used to shoot a padlock off an item. This was all done with the Q watch, but you don’t have unlimited “ammo” or anything. I had to constantly search the environment for items to recharge the Q watch so I could continue using its special abilities.

To further help with replayability for 007 First Light, there are a lot of optional challenges to try and complete. One of these challenges might be a pacifist challenge where you need to get through an area or level without killing anyone. Another challenge might be getting rid of someone using your charm or through intimidation. Another challenge is taking out 100 enemies in close-quarter combat. One of the challenges that made me chuckle was “Marble Madness,” which is killing five mercenaries with marble slabs during one of the missions. There is quite a bit here, and if you are the type of person who likes to complete everything in a game, this will keep you busy for a little while.

While going through the different missions, there are a number of different collectibles to find as well. There are cards such as the Ace of Acorns or the 7 of Acorns. There is intel to find, including information on the recruits, some of the characters, different companies, and more. There are also mementos, postcards, and legacy items, such as a concert poster. There are achievements tied to these as well, so if you are going for the platinum or the 1K gamerscore, you will want to pay attention to your surroundings. Fortunately, there is Chapter Select, so none of these collectibles is truly missable. The development team is nice enough to tell you what you have found, though, so at least you don’t have to try to search for something you have already discovered.

Gameplay for 007 First Light is similar to Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and the Hitman games. It is a great combination that offers a nice variety of gameplay if you want to experience the game that way. I mentioned earlier that there are multiple ways to go through the game. There are instances where you can just go in guns blazing and hope for the best, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You might suddenly find yourself swarmed with enemies, especially if someone calls for reinforcements. The best route (at least for me) was the quiet one where no one knew I was in the area. You also can’t kill people whenever you want. After all, you are an MI6 agent, and there are rules. You can always take out an enemy, but a lot of the time, you will just knock them out. Only when you get discovered will the mood shift, and you will get your license to kill in that moment. At that point, you can try to wipe out the squad, or you can still try to get past them with the least amount of violence possible. There are also environmental factors to use to your advantage. If someone is standing under a red pipe, shoot it to cause an explosion and take care of the enemy. If you see a laptop near an enemy, use your Q watch to sabotage it from a distance. Once the soldier goes to check it out, sneak up from behind and quietly eliminate them. I really enjoyed the strategy aspect that the development team lets you employ throughout the game.

If you really enjoy the gameplay in 007 First Light, there is also the Tacsim mode. This is completely optional; you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. The Tacsim mode is full of stealth and combat challenges, as well as training tutorials if you need a refresher course on anything. The more you place and succeed, the higher your clearance level becomes. The challenges will escalate in difficulty. As you progress, you will earn intel, which is the currency here. You can spend this currency to unlock 007 First Light outfits, upgrades, gadgets, and other weapons. It is a great optional mode that adds even more replayability to 007 First Light.

With this being a game about James Bond, it has that certain type of flair and British humor to it. James is a smooth talker, and there are times when he can talk his way out of a situation as well. Then, of course, there are the Bond girls, and James always finds time to give them some attention. The opening for the game is a music video similar to what you would see at the start of a movie, and the song was sung by Lana Del Rey. She did a fantastic job on the song, and the development team also did a great job making you feel like it really was the beginning of a new Bond movie. The achievements and trophies for this game also mirror the Bond universe. For example, the trophies for main storyline moments and missions feature different movie titles or other pieces of Bond-related media. It is a nice touch I appreciated, and it made me chuckle a few times.

While my overall experience with 007 First Light is very positive, there are a couple of annoyances. One of the big ones is the loading screen. It has been a fairly long time since I have seen a game with such a long loading screen. I’m not talking necessarily from mission to mission or anything like that, but if you ever fail a mission, the loading screen to get you back to the action is really long. Theoretically, these were supposed to be eliminated on PS5 and Xbox Series X, but they are fairly egregious here. It would be nice if the game was a bit more optimized in that regard. My second annoyance is the disconnection notices. While you can play 007 First Light offline, they recommend playing online for the optimal experience. To be clear, 007 First Light is a single-player experience. The online connection is mainly for in-game mission challenges, global leaderboards, and similar features. There were multiple occasions while going through the story where I would get disconnected from their servers. I chose to reconnect and then had to wait for it to do so. It really broke up the action at times, and not in a good way. I’m playing this game on a PS5, so I don’t know if it was IO Interactive’s servers or the PS5, but I hope this issue can get resolved in a future patch.

007 First Light is a lot of fun to play. The story is fun and has some nice twists and turns. You get to see how James Bond becomes 007 and use a bunch of cool toys and gadgets that tend to be associated with the world of Bond. Familiar characters are present as well, such as Moneypenney, “Q,” and “M”. The cast is great and works well together. The audio is fantastic, whether you are talking about general in-game sounds or the more traditional Bond sounds and music that everyone knows. The complete package really makes you feel like you are an MI6 spy, and as the game continues, you feel more and more like James Bond. After completing the game, they leave you with the standard “James Bond Will Return” message, and I can’t wait to see what the team at IO Interactive does next.

Please Note: IO Interactive gave us a code for 007 First Light for review purposes.