{"id":51344,"date":"2026-05-10T18:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T10:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=51344"},"modified":"2026-05-10T18:12:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T10:12:00","slug":"007-first-light-arrives-just-in-time-to-holdover-james-bond-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=51344","title":{"rendered":"007 First Light arrives just in time to holdover James Bond movie"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Five years ago, James Bond was shot, infected with an uncurable technological virus, and exploded by a barrage of intercontinental missiles. They have said that no one has ever been more dead. Since the 2021 release of No Time to Die<\/em>, James Bond has been buried (no, Prime Video’s The Night Manager<\/em> doesn’t count, as Bond-y as Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine is).<\/p>\n

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Given how long it’s taken Amazon, the new stewards of the series, to cast a new James Bond, it’s safe to assume 007 will remain that way for a while. After all, the search for a new director \u2014 Blade Runner: 2049<\/em>‘s Denis Villeneuve \u2014 took years. And the writer, Steven Knight of House of Guinnes<\/em> fame, only signed on late last year. Bond may not make it to the screen for some time.<\/p>\n

Sike!!! 007 returns sooner than many expected. The new video game 007 First Light<\/em> brings James Bond back to the field, though not in the way he’s appeared before.<\/p>\n

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\n 007 First Light starts James Bond as a young man
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007 First Light<\/em> comes out for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on May 27. (A version for Nintendo Switch 2 is planned for later in the summer.) It’s developed by IO Interactive, the long-time developer behind Hitman, a well-liked series of Rube Goldberg machines set in Trip Advisor’s top 23 vacation destinations of 2023. Early previews of 007 First Light<\/em> show that IO Interactive have applied that same taste for lavishness \u2014 where you can stroll through a digitized Maldives and practically smell the mojitos \u2014 to its Bond adaptation too.<\/p>\n

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\"James<\/p>\n

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\t\t\tThe new James Bond is 26, unpolished, and \u2018looking for purpose\u2019 as 007 \u2014 and he had to be<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n

IO Interactive’s Martin Emborg talks reinventing Bond for 2026’s First Light<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

But it’s not pure Hitman. According to a three-hour preview attended by Polygon, 007 First Light<\/em> also apes Uncharted’s mix of third-person shooting and cinematic action sequences. It features a linear narrative structure, with open-ended levels. You can sneak through environments, and you can lean on Bond’s natural charm to branching-dialogue-option your way out of getting in trouble when you’re caught. And critically, you can’t start shooting first: You can only start shooting at bad guys if they point their guns at you first (though it’s apparently pretty easy to goad goons into doing exactly that).<\/p>\n

Its story, which IO Interactive says runs for about 20 hours, focuses on a young Bond: He’s 26 years old, hasn’t earned the role, and, like most people who’ve just been kicked off their parents’ health insurance, is trying to figure out his place in the world \u2014 and his way through it. That might explain why the character doesn’t fully<\/em> feel like Bond yet.<\/p>\n

Bond is played by Patrick Gibson (known for Dexter: Original Sin<\/em>). Lenny Kravitz plays one of the game’s villains. Sure, why not?<\/p>\n

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\n How to play 007 First Light early
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You can play 007 First Light<\/em> a tiny bit early by preordering the game. Doing so gives you a free upgrade to the game’s deluxe edition, which includes the following:<\/p>\n