There have been quite a few games based on the James Bond movies, and this certainly makes sense. After all, the film series is incredibly popular, and the franchise has made a boatload of cash to date. However, the most recent James Bond game, 007 Legends, wasn’t up to much, surely leaving many fans disappointed and craving for a truly great James Bond game to hit the shelves someday…
And maybe IO Interactive, the Danish developer behind the Hitman video games can deliver just that, as the trailer for their upcoming James Bond game does look spectacular. Announced at Sony’s State of Play show this month, 007 First Light will be the first game to star the British spy in more than a decade.
Here, though, 007 won’t be his usual, older self clad in a tuxedo, but what we see in the trailer below is a boyish, younger version of Bond eager to prove himself after joining MI6’s training program.
The trailer also shows that there will be more to the game than just shooting, as stealth also seems to play a part in the gameplay. Plus, what would a James Bond adventure be without a good car chase?
Game makers IO Interactive have said so in an interview with IGN (via GameSpot). IO’s boss Hakan Abrak said that the game won’t just be “about shooting and running”.
“It’s also about delivering that fantasy for a Bond where he can traverse in social spaces and speak to people and figure out in creative ways how to solve the obstacles in front of him”, said IO’s boss.
Actually, their most recent game Hitman: World of Assassination is mostly about stealth and infiltration, with the shooting being a secondary thing. And it’s great to know that IO’s upcoming 007 First Light will likely play in a similar manner (while still offering a different enough experience), with the added plus of being able to use 007’s cool gadgets to advance in the game’s missions.
Another welcome news regarding this upcoming James Bond game is that IO Interactive will be focusing on single player as game director Jonathan Lacaille Franchise told Screen Rant in an interview.
Multiplayer, it seems, wasn’t part of the original design idea, with the team at IO choosing to focus on its “strengths”.
“Once we thought about the project, we really wanted to lean into our strengths. We wanted an action adventure game that’s narrative-based. We’re doing a third person single player game, we’re approaching that side of the spectrum”, said Lacaille.
This would be something of a risky move, though, even if many gamers out there prefer the single player experience. And IO’s current game Hitman: World of Assassination has been a huge success, with it being a single player experience (it will be getting a co-op mode soon though).
But the thing is that the top James Bond game of all time, GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64, had an extremely popular multiplayer mode, with the game earning its reputation as one of the console’s best, and an all-time classic according to many.
That was back in 1997 though, and since IO Interactive is targeting a younger audience by their own admission with their James Bond game, they might not be familiar with GoldenEye 007 or maybe another James Bond game…
And, of course, nothing prevents IO from adding a multiplayer mode to the game at some point if they so choose.
Either way, in the weeks and months to come we’ll almost certainly get to see more of 007 First Light in the form of trailers, gameplay videos and other previews, getting a better idea of whether this could turn out to be a great 007 game when it lands sometime in 2026.