Ever since IO Interactive announced they were working on a James Bond game, video game fans have been eager to know more about the upcoming title. And Danish studio IO Interactive did finally reveal the game’s name at Sony’s State of Play in June – it will be titled 007 First Light – and also that it will be hitting shelves in 2026.
Besides this, though, IO had not revealed many more details about its upcoming James Bond game. But in a recent interview with VGC (via Game Rant) IO Interactive director Jonathan Lacaille talked about 007 First Light, and amongst other things, how it will be different to Hitman.
Of course, IO Interactive has become well known over the years due to its Hitman franchise, and any gamer worth his salt has played or at least heard of the games. Actually, the latest Hitman game (Hitman: World of Assassination) got a new mission staring James Bond villain Le Chiffre recently.
In this mission, players took control of protagonist Agent 47 and had to find a way to take out Le Chiffre within the mission’s sandbox environment (a Paris casino). But while the Hitman games offer open levels, and players can take time to figure out how to kill their target (or targets) in a given level, IO Interactive’s upcoming James Bond game will be more linear in parts, and also more action oriented.
“Hitman, if you think of it, it’s a very open space, and you’re coming in and you’re very patient, and you’re methodical, and you’re gonna count the milliseconds before the guard passes – it’s a very patient game”, said IO Interactive’s Lacaille in the VGC interview. “If the other game is more methodical, this one will be more about making you think fast under pressure, giving you a lot of options […]. So in that sense, the game is probably not as open”, added Lacaille.
Also, there’s the fact that 007 First Light will prominently feature driving (what would a James Bond game be without a good car chase?) while the Hitman games don’t, so this is something the Danish studio had to build from scratch.
Meanwhile, Hitman’s shooting was deemed inadequate for their new James Bond game as well. This is because the Hitman series are stealth games first and foremost, so opening fire during a mission often spells doom for the player. This is something that MGM (owners of the James Bond license) must have seen with good eyes before granting the license to IO Interactive, especially taking into account how they insisted about the Danish studio not making Bond “a killing machine”. However, IO had other reasons to retool the shooting in 007 First Light too.
007 First Light is coming in 2026.
“We had to build shooting from scratch, which sounds strange, but in Hitman, if you get to shoot, you kind of fail the mission, so it was not as developed as much as it should for a game like Bond […]. Then there’s the cover system, and the way we use the gadgets is very different”, said the IO Interactive man.
There’s also the humor, as the Hitman games are known for their dark humor, but in an interview with IGN, IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak said that 007 First Light will feature “very British” humor. Abrak also highlighted how this James Bond game will be different to Hitman when it comes to gameplay, with 007 moving away for the chessic nature of the Hitman series.
“It’s a game that plays differently. It’s emphasizing more action, for sure. And the structure of Bond is more like it’s breathing more. Like there are more linear parts where you have the spectacle moments and exotic vehicles. And then we also give space in Bond to open up a bit and breathe a bit”, said Abrak.
“So you have definitely glimpses of IO Interactive, as you would know from Hitman games as well, but it’s more front foot. It’s less of an analytical mind, chess play, where you sit and meticulously plan”, said IO Interactive’s CEO.
Abrak also said that 007 First Light won’t be a “re-skin” of Hitman, which is definitely good news for those who have been playing the Hitman games for years and are looking for a fresh experience which nonetheless has IO Interactive’s flavor to it… It would be a great thing, then, if 007 First Light turns out to be a great video game when it comes out next year, and hopefully the best Bond game since GoldenEye 007 hit the shelves back in the 90’s.