As we reported previously, developer IO Interactive have held their first 007: First Light Developer Diary, and it’s available to watch right now. Check it out below.
This first episode features Gameplay Director Andreas Krogh alongside Senior Level Designer Thomas Pulluello, and they go deep on the thing that arguably matters the most – gameplay. A big focus on this first 007: First Light developer diary are the various design philosophies and creativity IO Interactive are looking at for this new reimagining of James Bond.
Per the developers, the heart of the gameplay loop in 007: First Light is focused around creativity. It’s all about being to approach situations and complete missions in your own style, whether through stealth, kicking ass, or a mix of the two.
What that means is whether you want to focus on spycraft and gadgets, or focus more on combat (Timothy Dalton style!), the choice is yours to a degree. There were some neat examples – like when on the run, instead of fighting everyone, the player in control, just locks the door, preventing the attacking forces from getting to Bond at all.
Another great example is using the environment during combat – a neat finishing move near a pool table sees Bond slam a pool ball into the head of an enemy, straight off the table.
It’s about the player, feeling creative when they’re overcoming any given challenge in the game. It’s really easy to say that, but it’s really hard to kind of translate that into – ‘what is the moment-to-moment gamplay that made you feel creative this way?’ But with this game (007: First Light) we broke it down into this thing where you need to know there are different options.”
Andreas Krogh, Gameplay Director.
More on 007: First Light
I’ve already had an extended look at 007: First Light, and I’m looking forward to an actual hands-on in the near future. As for my current thoughts? I shared in my preview that “I can’t think of a better pairing of developer and franchise than the team at IO Interactive and James Bond. They’ve brought everything they’ve learned from the fantastic Hitman series, and after checking out the mechanics, gameplay and open-ended level design that the team have in store for us with 007 First Light, I’ve come away feeling that this is going to be a match made in heaven.“
007: First Light releases March 27th 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.
What did you think of the 007: First Light Livestream? Let us know in the XboxEra Forums or make some noise in the lively XboxEra Community Discord Server. If you’re looking to be a bigger part of an amazing community, then either choice is a good one!
Support Our Team
XboxEra is a community-first, community funded publication. If you value what we do, and want to have a direct say in what we cover, consider supporting us directly on Patreon.
All you need to do is head on over to patreon.com/xboxera and for less than a cup of coffee a month, you’ll help keep this publication alive. As a bonus, you’ll find that we create more content than many other Patreon supported publications, and we give more back in return.
So go on, do something awesome.
