Bond is Back! As 007 aficionados eagerly await details on Bond film number 26, the world of gaming has offered a welcome version of Ian Fleming’s secret agent that will more than fill the gap. Indeed, there have been some very positive reviews of the newly-released 007 First Light video game. The exciting new release is a 2026 action-adventure video game developed and published by IO Interactive.
Based on the James Bond franchise, it provides gamers with an original narrative inspired by the novels and short stories penned by Ian Fleming and also the smash-hit the EON film series starring the character (now under the control of Amazon-MGM). The game depicts James Bond’s ‘origin’ story, as he embarks on a mission he must complete to earn his double-0 licence to kill from MI6.
IO Interactive first announced the development of a new James Bond game back in November 2020. The game entered full production at IO Interactive following the completion of Hitman 3 (2021), and was fully revealed to the public in June 2025. Bond fans waited patiently for more details, and the skilful marketing campaign has gradually built up over the last few months. A key moment in this marketing campaign came with the release of the main theme song, ‘First Light’, performed by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. Del Rey wrote and produced it with the composer and acclaimed Bond music veteran David Arnold, who has written music, of course, for multiple James Bond films, while Dean Reid also contributed some production help. Arnold’s legions of fans were especially pleased to see him back doing what he does best.
And now the new game is here. 007 First Light was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 27 May, 2026, and a Nintendo Switch 2 version is scheduled for release later this year. Pleasingly, the game has received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise given to the key aspects including gameplay, combat, writing, and Patrick Gibson’s performance as James Bond. A good example was the review by Alex Raisbeck in the BBC’s Radio Times magazine, which said: ‘Melding calculated stealth with bombastic action set pieces, and a tale dripping with love for the original Fleming novels, this is a game to leave Bond fans and gamers alike shaken and stirred’. Moreover, the new game quickly sold an astonishing 1.5 million units in the first 24 hours since its release.
Bond… James Bond
007 First Light depicts an original narrative, which is described as an ‘origin’ story for the character. Although Bond fans were given an ‘origin’ story of a kind in Daniel Craig’s debut 007 movie Casino Royale (2006), and more family background in Skyfall (2012), the new game takes this to a whole new level. The game follows a young James Bond (played by Patrick Gibson) who is portrayed as a 26-year-old, inexperienced MI6 agent. He is tasked with a dangerous mission that, when completed successfully, will grant him his ’00’ status.
Significantly, the game also features new iterations of well-known Bond characters such as ‘M’ (played by Priyanga Burford), ‘Q’ (played by Alastair Mackenzie), and Miss Moneypenny (played by Kiera Lester). These key characters are re-imagined to reflect their roles in shaping James Bond’s early career. Interestingly, the new game also features some original characters especially created for the game, such as Bond’s reluctant MI6 mentor John Greenway (played by Lennie James), Bond girl and thief Isola Vale (played by Noémie Nakai), psychology and game theory expert Selina Tan (played by Gemma Chan), flamboyant arms dealer Bawma (played by Lenny Kravitz), Bond’s training colleagues Cressida Bright (Jessica Rhodes) and Lennox Monroe (Chris O’Reilly), and – of particular interest for Bond fans – some new Bond villains in the form of Sir Nicholas Webb (played by Anthony Howell) and his son, Damien (a role taken by Bart Edwards).
Key Plot Points (Warning: Spoiler Alert)
During a ‘Special Air Service’ (SAS) retrieval operation in Iceland, both helicopters are shot down, leaving trainee Navy aircrewman James Bond the sole survivor. Contacted by MI6, Bond heads to the target – a research camp studying a crashed satellite – finding it occupied by terrorist mercenaries. Defying direct orders, Bond rescues the captive scientists and destroys the camp, preventing the evidence from being taken away.
The following month, ‘M’ recruits James Bond to join the revitalized ’00’ programme, in which he starts training months behind the six other candidates. Bond, unsurprisingly, overcomes the tough exams under the strict regimen of his handler, John Greenway, and befriends other members of his team, especially agents Monroe and Cressida. After some time, their training is suspended by ‘M’, who reassigns them to track down Rhys Beckett, former 009 and now a rogue agent, to a hotel in Slovakia. James Bond follows a suspicious staff member revealed to be one of Beckett’s supposed assassins, the Murto twins, who kills Monroe and plants a bomb which kills two other recruits and leaves Cressida paralyzed. Bond pursues Beckett to his plane and attaches his watch to it, allowing MI6 to track Beckett to Mauritania.
MI6 send Bond and Greenway to capture Beckett, but they discover Rhys Beckett has been killed. They find evidence suggesting Beckett was framed, but it is destroyed as they narrowly escape a mercenary ambush. Despite Bond and Greenway’s suspicions that Beckett’s death is part of a larger plot, ‘M’ declares Beckett the culprit and closes the case. One of the Murto twins attacks Bond at home; Bond tracks him down and kills him at a gala hosted by AI pioneer Sir Nicholas Webb, where he finds evidence linking the rather slippery Webb to the bombing in Slovakia and learns Greenway is also a target.
Captured by Webb’s nasty son Damien, Bond is rescued by a false French agent he met in Slovakia, and learns that she is a professional thief named Isola Vale. Bond reunites with Greenway, who has killed the assassins sent after him. The pair infiltrate Webb Industries’ headquarters in search of evidence. With Isola’s help, they learn Webb’s actions are cover-ups for mistakes committed by his quantum supercomputer named THEIA, which is currently employed by MI6 to predict terrorist threats. In true Bond tradition, Webb is clearly not the upstanding and respectable figure he likes to appear as.
Want to know more about the plot? You will have to purchase the game. You will not be disappointed. And the JBIFC’s verdict? Patrick Gibson deserves high praise for his performance as 007, while the theme song and production values feel very cinematic and suitably ‘Bondian’. Bond is well and truly back. At least, until Bond 26 hits the big screen!
Actor Patrick Gibson, who plays James Bond in ‘007 First Light’