It’s safe to say that 007 First Light has become one of the most anticipated games of the year. Not only does it show a younger James Bond becoming the super spy that we know and love, but it also gives IO Interactive, the studio behind the critically acclaimed Hitman games, an excuse to step out of its comfort zone and experiment a bit more.
Leading up to the game’s full release next month, we were able to go hands-on and walked away extremely impressed with what we played. In addition, we had the opportunity to sit down with IO Interactive’s senior licensing producer, Theuns Smith, to discuss the upcoming spy thriller.
In our conversation, we talked about why the team decided to go with a younger Bond as opposed to an older one, as we’ve seen in the movies, the decision behind picking Lana Del Rey for the theme song, if the game will follow a lot of tropes that we’ve come to love from spy thrillers, and many more topics.
It’s also worth noting that this isn’t the first time we’ve had the chance to talk to the team about 007 First Light. Last year, we had the chance to sit down with the narrative and cinematic director of 007 First Light, Martin Emborg, to discuss the challenges the team faced in reinventing such an iconic character.
MonsterVine: I know this is a question you’ve gotten a lot. But why a younger Bond?
Smith: That’s a good question, I mean, for us from the very beginning, when we, when we had our sights set on acquiring this, this license deal and working on a James Bond game, we knew from the very beginning that we didn’t want to just do like a retelling of any stories that’s been told before.
It was very important for us as IOI to inject a little bit of our own into it, and therefore, creating a story from the ground up could be totally new. We decided that the best creative vehicle for that is to tell a reimagined origin story, right? Because that gives us not only, you know, good creative liberty and some freedom to shake some things up a little bit, staying true to the core DNA. But at the same time, it gives a really good opportunity, not just from a narrative point of view, but from a gameplay point of view as well, that you, as the player.
As Bond is busy going through this journey, you know, to earn his number, to become who he’s meant to be. He’s going through training; you just played the first mission. Next, we’re going to go into a little bit of advanced training. Later, you’re gonna be going in the deep end, and becoming more of an agent than he is going through narratively.
You’re also, you know, from a gameplay point of view, having that experience as a player. That’s a really fun combination. So that was kind of, you know. One of the main reasons from the outside, why we decided, you know, reimagine the origin story from the ground up.
MonsterVine: Speaking of reimaging, I wanted to ask about the Lana Del Rey song. How did that come to be? As you’re aware, Bond’s music is very important for capturing that essence.
Smith: It was a really, really fun and exciting project. It was a long time coming. We knew from the outset that we wanted to, you know, collaborate and work with David Arnold. He’s a famous composer, not just for the Bond films, but others as well, but particularly for that sense that it brings to the score and the orchestration.
But in connection with him, we really wanted a voice and an artist who is timeless. Looking at all the options. Our mind was kind of made up from the beginning that it was Lana Del Rey that we wanted to work with. So with David and Lana, we pitched to them originally the core idea and the concept of the title sequence. Then, David and Lana. They came together. They had their workshop and genius flowing.
MonsterVine: As I was playing it, one thing that kind of caught me off guard. Was the parkour mechanic. I felt like there was some inspiration from, like, Assassin’s Creed, a little bit. With how you’re jumping around. Can you talk about how you guys decided to implement, making him more acrobatic?
Smith: We focus a lot on momentum, and forward momentum, driving the action forward. So that actually translates into a fluid move that we knew we wanted for Bond.
He’s the kind of guy who needs to be able to operate, improvisationally, when he’s in a sticky situation, and he uses anything around him to his advantage. So naturally, we went into the gameplay as well, where we had a core focus on traversal and verticality.
At IO, we’re of course pretty well-known for. As I mentioned before, a creative approach, you know, with our level designer, is just doing fantastic work shaping out areas so that there are multiple paths and ways for you to get around. I’m excited for when you eventually get to the Kensington Mission, you’re gonna see that for yourself.
You can go left, right, through, under, or over all these things. So, in order to accommodate that from a gameplay point of view, we knew we wanted to invest in the animation, in the fluidity of the traversal, so it all just kind of came together.
MonsterVine: The combat in Hitman is a lot more formulaic. This couldn’t be more different. You have to be a lot more methodical about it, and fights feel more real. Can you talk about the evolution of melee combat?
Smith: I’m really happy you picked up on that so early, and I’m excited for you to go more into it as you continue playing now. That was definitely a cool goal for us to make combat deeper and more fluid.
It’s not just punch punch punch. There is some strategy to this that you have to be aware of. It also makes it more fun, so enemies will be approaching you. You might see, like, a kind of yellow gland. That’s your cue to block this or parry this. You see, a red light means get out of the way. Beyond that, there’s obviously grabbing, grab rushing. Grab and punch. Throw into the environment into the enemy.
We really went wide and deep on the combat system, so it is not at all like it is in our previous game, so there’s really that player freedom and player choice for you to feel like you have the player agency to manage it on your own. But things escalate quickly, and then you have to be smart. When you’re fighting maybe two or three guys, you might be okay. After that, you’re getting into a danger zone.
MonsterVine: That’s something I wanted to touch on. How does this translate to gunfights?
Smith: When you are closing a Ruckus. The enemies start to gather up. Once there is a third or fourth enemy, the chances increase for them to start calling reinforcements, and then they. switch up into a firefighter. There’s that scenario, and then there are other instances throughout the story, where there’s already a clear intent for lethal violence. That is where the License to Kill mechanics come into play.
We’re really leaning into the lore of Bond. Unlike our previous title, Hitman, Agent 47 basically kills without holding back. Bond is not, you know, that he’s a secret agent and he has Rules of Engagement. So when things go into that, we really wanted to focus on the gunplay.
It all ties back into that forward momentum. This is where you know, charging at an enemy, taking him down. You’ll grab his gun out of the air as you knock him out; he’ll shoot at the next guy. If it’s empty, you throw the gun, rushing forward, and kick a gun up from the floor. Everything is to give you that sense of a power fantasy. You’re a highly skilled, highly trained agent, and you can take on and handle multiple enemies at once because of that.
MonsterVine: Gadgets are a core part of the Bond experience. You said that in each mission you’ll be able to pick a loadout. Can you explain what kind of gadgets we can expect and how the loadout menu looks?
Smith: The core setup that you will have once you acquire them from the get-go will be your Q Lens and your Q Watch. Those are always with you, the Q Lenis, which allow you to scan the environment for points of interest for things that are hackable. The Q watches, then you know for hacking. Then you have, usually, two or three additional slots that you can then choose to fill in. Here are the two that you’re, you know, going to be playing with: for example, the laser watch, the Dart phone.
So, what’s really fun about those is that the laser watch is quite versatile. You can, you know, shoot down a chandelier to fall into the enemies or cause a distraction, you can in the middle of a firefight, to temporarily disorient and blind them.
Or if there’s something blocking your path, you can, you know, cut it open with it with the laser. The dart phone, on the other hand, is almost a little more subtle. But it’s all of this, as you can tell, using everyday, contemporary objects; no one would assume it’s strange for you to walk around with a phone in your hand, right?
But by the click of a button, from the income speakers, a little dart shoots out at the enemy, and they feel queasy, move away, and you’ve successfully moved them out of the way. It really depends on how you want to play with it, but we give you the tools, and you decide.
MonsterVine: Bear with me on this question. 007 can be very campy by nature, and if you look at stuff like Austin Powers, it takes that camp to an 11. Can we expect any camp in 007 First Light?
Smith: I’m gonna say, yes, okay to the yes, but I’m not going to go into details to spoil it for you. The 007 formula has so many key pillars to kind of what makes Bond Bond. He’s kind of a dry wit and charm, and fun remarks and quips. That’s kind of part of it.
He doesn’t go all the way over the top. It’s still a serious tone as well. We’re very excited. There are very memorable characters, not just Bond, but the full cast. Earned, and we’ve worked with fantastic actors that really brought their A game to bring these characters to life and make it feel like a real, lived-in world.
MonsterVine: Speaking of lived-in worlds. I caught myself just listening to what the enemies were saying. A lot of the dialogue feels real and engaging. Can you talk about the creative process of that?
Smith: We have a really great writers’ team back home. As I said, everybody brought their A game in all our disciplines and departments working on this. Yeah, the world does feel very lived in and immersive because the characters around you are so alive. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna catch yourself just listening in on a few, you know, conversations here and there.
MonsterVine: How did the team land on casting Patrick Gibson as Bond?
Smith: I know those are very important ones. And of the first parts of the game that we’re really focused on finding our Bond. Across all the options we looked at in the interviews we went through at the end, he really stood out for matching the tone and energy we wanted.
It’s easy to fall into a loop where one could cosplay as Bond. Whereas Patrick Gibson brought to the role, he felt like he became Bond; he stepped into the role and helped bring to life what was on paper.
