Today’s PlayStation State of Play broadcast has provided our first proper look at 007 First Light, the upcoming James Bond game from Hitman studio IO Interactive that’s due to launch in 2026.
A cinematic trailer for the game showcased a fresh-faced James Bond at the beginning of his career as an agent, who joins MI6 and meets new versions of classic characters M, Q and Moneypenny.
The trailer also revealed the involvement of The Walking Dead’s Lennie James, who will portray Bond’s mentor John Greenway in the game.
007 First Light’s trailer reveals this incarnation of James Bond was involved in a childhood tragedy that left him as an orphan aged 11, after which he spent the rest of his childhood in various British boarding schools. We later see Bond as a young recruit in the Royal Navy, from which he is recruited by MI6.
It’s here that players pick up Bond’s story as he becomes an agent, picks up an Omega watch, and starts annoying Q by trying out his gadgets in the lab.
A press release issued alongside the game’s State of Play appearance lists Bond’s age in 007 First Light as “a young 26-year-old”. Players will be traverse the globe in what is described as “a story-driven action-adventure game” where you can choose how to navigate various challenges — either with brute force or 007’s trademark charm.
What looks like gameplay footage shows James Bond on a mission, stealthing around, using gadgets — and his fists — to subdue enemies, as the hero is sent off to target a rogue agent. “009 is a master manipulator,” Greenway says at one point. “Whatever the endgame is, we won’t see it coming.” Oh, and yes you can dress up in disguises, as you’d expect from the Hitman studio.
IO Interactive’s James Bond game was first announced back in 2020 as Project 007, and since then we’ve learned very little about it. Still, from the off, IO said that it was developing a fresh James Bond origin story and a wholly original piece of work, rather than anything that followed the events of any particular film.
More recently, IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak has said he hoped 007 First Light would be the start of a new trilogy of games, though unfortunately the studio’s beloved Hitman franchise is on hiatus while IO works on this game. We also learned just this past April that in addition to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, 007 First Light is getting a Nintendo Switch 2 release.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
