Hitman steward IO Interactive is creating its very own version of James Bond for the purpose of the upcoming pseudo-origin story 007 First Light, but it's still borrowing from one pretty iconic era in a major way.
Creative director Hakan Abrak recently shared that the game's Bond and "the physicality of the combat is more like the Daniel Craig era," in an interview with Edge Magazine's 416 issue.
Some of that similarity comes from the virtue of this being a video game - and the Bond era being the most modern in terms of action filmmaking - so "sliding into cover, the screen shaking, seamlessly moving between ranged and melee combat" are to be expected in this 2025 third-person action game.
Still, the comparison isn't "one-to-one exactly," according to Abrak: "we're trying to make it feel original - but it was important to be always moving, dynamic and acrobatic, almost like the parkour at the start of Casino Royale."
It's interesting to hear the developers talk about the ways in which First Light is like other Bond media, since so much of the marketing campaign has been focused on the ways it differs. Abrak also talked about how pleased he was that IOI were allowed to create their own take on the icon, for example, rather than adapting a pre-existing interpretation.
007 First Light devs were also quick to point out that their Bond wouldn't be a "superhero" from the get-go, unlike Dr. No's maybe too-relaxed agent.
Hitman and 007: First Light developers know their James Bond gadgets need to be "more than just gimmicks"
