007 First Light State of Play Gameplay Deep Dive Impressions

I’ve been interested in 007 First Light since attending The Future of IO Interactive Event back in June. While there were a few details shared about this upcoming original James Bond origin story, there was no new gameplay footage outside of what was previously shown in the reveal trailer.

Fast-forward to yesterday’s State of Play presentation, where we finally got a 35-minute deep dive look at gameplay. Here are my honest thoughts on what we saw and whether or not I’m still sold on this game.

This entire playthrough session included alpha footage captured on a PlayStation 5 Pro console. The opening minutes follow Bond driving his colleagues to The Grand Carpatian in pursuit of Agent 009. The conversation between the characters reveals more about the story and ends after Bond drops them off and proceeds to park the car. Personally, I think this driving sequence ran a little too long, but it served the purpose of setting up the events to come.

Once Bond parks and notices a mysterious blond-haired bellhop mishandling luggage, he takes matters into his own hands and decides to investigate the situation further. This entire sequence of events involved Bond using stealth to discover ways to infiltrate the hotel and then escape detection by his colleagues once inside. These features instantly reminded me of the Hitman games and had me thinking  Bond’s nickname must also be Agent 0047.

I was also left wondering if the disguise mechanics will play a big role in this game, too, which was hard to tell just by watching this one mission video. IO Interactive refers to these features as Spycraft and Instinct, as Bond can observe conversations and his environment before reacting to certain situations. Overall, I don’t have a problem with this, as the studio has a successful track record of creating compelling stealth games. Therefore, it makes sense for them to play to these strengths with this new project.

The third and final portion of this playthrough jumped ahead to highlight a high-intense car chase scene and the overall combat mechanics behind First Light. One thing that was very clear with both sequences is that IO Interactive likes to emphasize the destruction and mayhem caused when action takes place. The car chase involved busting through obstacles and swerving to avoid hitting anyone else while pursuing Agent 009. This chase ended when Bond had to exit the vehicle and continue his pursuit at a nearby enemy-ridden airport hangar.

Bond is skilled at melee combat, including takedowns, parrying, and using direct blows. He also knows how to use various types of weapons and Q-Branch gadgets against enemies. There was one cool sequence where he pushed an enemy forward off a ledge, effectively taking him out and using the enemy’s weight to break his fall.

All of the chaotic explosions caused by shooting canisters near enemies also looked awesome, but I’m hopeful these particular situations don’t become repetitive from one mission to the next. The demo concluded with memorable moments, including Bond fighting on a moving plane wing near takeoff, hacking the plane’s controls, then free-falling from the aircraft to steal a parachute from another enemy. This entire action-packed sequence looked badass, and I’m curious to see even more cool moments like this when the game drops.

Graphically, I think the game looks great, although there were some frame rate drops at certain points in the sequence. Considering this is alpha gameplay, I believe this is to be expected, and the studio has plenty of time to get this game ready before it launches on March 27th, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

So after yesterday’s presentation, am I still sold on 007 First Light? Absolutely yes. I still have even more questions about how this game will be different from Hitman, and I’m curious to see just how far IO will push this game to make it something special. Stay tuned for more of our thoughts on this game and more, as there are many more game reviews and PAX West previews on the way. Are you looking forward to 007 First Light after watching the State of Play presentation? Definitely let me know in the comments section.