007: First Light director wants it to be seen as the best Bond game ever

007: First Light is just over a week from launch, and IO Interactive is setting expectations high. Narrative and cinematics director Martin Emborg has said he wants players to see the game as the best James Bond game ever made. That is a bold target because Bond has a strange but important gaming legacy, especially GoldenEye 007, which still carries enormous nostalgic weight.

First Light is taking a different route. Instead of adapting a movie, IO is building a Bond origin story with Patrick Gibson as a younger version of the character, still arrogant, still reckless and not yet the polished 007. That approach gives the studio room to use what it does best: stealth, improvisation, social infiltration, gadgets and flexible mission design.

The pressure is that players will compare it not only to old Bond games, but also to Hitman. If First Light feels like a true spy fantasy rather than a generic third-person shooter, IO may have a real franchise on its hands. The game launches May 29 for PS5, Xbox Series and PC, with Switch 2 later this summer.