007 First Light shows its opening 13 minutes — and it's not a Hitman clone
The first major James Bond game in 13 years arrives on May 27, and IO Interactive has released 13 minutes of official gameplay footage to get ahead of early leaks. The clip shows the opening mission, "Against the Odds," and it confirms the game is its own thing — not a reskin of Hitman's sandbox formula.
The setup
Bond here is 26 years old, played by Patrick Gibson (best known from Dexter: Original Sin), and he's a Royal Navy air crewman, not yet a spy. The mission opens with a helicopter crash near Iceland. Bond survives, discovers a hostage situation run by a dangerous criminal group, and improvises his way through it — at which point MI6 agents contact him, help him complete the job, and invite him to join the service. It's an origin story in the most literal sense.
The footage shows a mix of stealth sections, hand-to-hand brawls, gunfights, and vehicle chases. Missions alternate between tightly linear stretches and more open areas with room to experiment. That balance should address the concern that IO might simply port its Hitman playbook into a tuxedo — the structure here looks meaningfully different.
The gap it's filling
007 First Light is the first serious console Bond game since 007 Legends flopped in 2012, leaving the franchise without a major gaming presence for over a decade. IO Interactive — the Danish-Swedish studio behind the modern Hitman trilogy — took on the license under Amazon MGM Studios. The Hitman pedigree is the main reason expectations are high; the studio knows how to build stealth-action gameplay that holds up to repeat play.
The reason IO released this footage themselves: several outlets reportedly broke embargo early, posting raw footage and full playthroughs. The studio moved first to ensure fans saw the game properly before spoilers spread further.
Pricing and pre-orders
The standard edition is priced at $69.99 / £59.99 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Pre-orders come with a free upgrade to the Deluxe Edition, which adds four film-inspired outfits and 24-hour early access — meaning pre-order buyers can play from May 26. A Collector's Edition is available at $299.99 / £199.99 at select retailers, per the PlayStation UK Store.
The Nintendo Switch 2 version has been delayed to Q3 2026 and won't be ready at launch.
With Splinter Cell still absent and no comparable spy-action title on the horizon, per Gagadget, 007 First Light has the genre mostly to itself this summer.
