Gamers have been buzzing aboutIO Interactive’sBondgame ever since we discovered it was in the works. It seemed like a perfect combination – IOI’sHitmangames are renowned for how they let their titular contract killer dispatch his targets in countless ways, and the series has always felt like a spy game because of its reliance on stealth, disguise, and creativity.
In a recent State of Play, that Bond game was finally revealed to be007 First Light, an origin story of how Bond became 007. It gives us an all new version of the iconic character instead of aping one of the common film depictions of him, telling a new story that’s just for him.
New Bond, New Story
It makes sense that this game will see us playing as a younger version of Bond – IOI has said thatthis might be the first game in a trilogy. Starting at this earlier point in his life, where the canon hasn’t been established, allows the studio more room to play with the character and tell a fresher story instead of retreading familiar ground.
But,speaking to GamesRadar at Summer Game Fest, franchise director Jonathan Lacaille also said that a younger, more reckless Bond might be more interesting to “a younger audience… than the Bond franchise is used to”. An origin story is “a new story to tell, and also a story that would connect really well”.
Ina separate interview with Inverse, franchise art director Rasmus Poulsen said, “The choice of him being a young man is an opportunity for us to align the character’s expectations to the expectations and experience of the player. Rather than playing a rough, old, seasoned, cold and cynical agent, it’s something different this time.”
No Nostalgia? No Problem
I couldn’t help but think about MachineGames’Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, 2024’s excellent action-adventure game also based on an iconic character that peaked in popularity in the late 20th century. I enjoyed the Great Circle, but as someone who was never really into Indiana Jones (perhaps I’m a little too young and a little too not-American), I found Indy to be compelling, but didn’t feel any great joy at playing as this specific character.I thought it was weird they used Harrison Ford’s face and Troy Baker doing a Ford impression. It felt like a video game insertion into a film canon that I didn’t particularly care about.
Similarly, I kind of missed the Bond train. I’ve seen the movies that came out after 2000, but I don’t think all that much about them at all. I’m intellectually aware that Bond is a cultural touchpoint, but I have no opinions on the franchise as a whole. I’m sure a lot of gamers, especially those significantly younger than I am, don’t care all that much about Bond as a character – they have no reason to. There’s no nostalgia there.
Having First Light be a prequel that fills in a gap in the lore does a lot to solve that problem. It’s basically an entirely new character, an adaptation instead of a copy and paste. It gives players new to the franchise, or who otherwise don’t really have any solid connection to it, a reason to care – they get to watch this iteration evolve in front of their eyes instead of having to take the character as he is and is less reliant on the context of the movies than Indiana Jones was. If IOI is trying to cater to a younger audience, a prequel was an incredibly smart way to do that. I don’t care about Bond, but I certainly do care about First Light.
