On this first showing, it looks like 007: First Light has a licence to thrill, combining the best of Hitman and Uncharted to create something unmistakably Bond. Pre-order 007: First Light at TGC here.

When IO Interactive first announced they'd traded in their bald assassin's barcode for Bond's licence to kill, I channelled my inner Roger Moore, raised one eyebrow very slowly, and allowed myself a little smile. Could the studio that perfected the art of methodical murder-puzzles really capture the swaggering, martini-swilling chaos of Britain's most famous export? After a 40-minute hands-off gameplay demo with 007: First Light at Gamescom, I'm pleased to report that yes, on this evidence they absolutely can – and they're doing it by playing to their strengths and marrying their exceptional capacity for world-building and stealthy sandbox freedom with blockbuster, cinematic action that does the legacy of Bond proud.

Q-Branching Out

First Light presents something of an alternative origin story. Patrick Gibson's callow Bond isn't the seasoned super-spy yet. Instead, First Light presents us with a diamond-in-the-rough protagonist who's got of all the charm but little of the experience of the wisdom – basically every university student who thinks they're ready to conquer the world armed with nothing but confidence and a really nice watch.

The demo drops us into Slovakia's Hotel Grand Carpathian, where Bond is supposed to be playing chauffeur while seasoned agents Monroe and Cressida handle the actual spy work, having tracked rogue agent 009 to this location. The environment is gorgeous, Bond's drive en route to the hotel all stunning vistas, shimmering puddles on cobblestone roads, and beautiful mountain scenery. The hotel itself is pure Hitman: a lavishly detailed sandbox, riddled with nooks and crannies to investigate, NPCs with their own agendas, and lots of opportunities for clandestine disruption. 

Naturally, our boy James spots something suspicious within five minutes – in this instance, a bellhop shoving a briefcase over the garden balustrade –  and decides orders are more like... gentle suggestions. What follows is a masterclass in how to turn stubbornness into gameplay mechanics.

The Art of Constructive Disobedience

Here's where IO's Hitman DNA kicks in, but with a distinctly Bond-flavoured twist – shaken rather than stirred. We're told there are dozens of ways to approach infiltrating the hotel, but there's a credentials checkpoint on the front door and Bond doesn't yet have a press pass. Perhaps a poke around the vicinity might yield an emergent opportunity. 

Bond doesn't carry around a pocketful of coins like his chrome-domed predecessor – he grabs whatever's handy. Need a distraction? There's a tap to turn on, leaves to incinerate, a sprinkler system to activate that IO's level designers have lovingly scattered about like spy-themed Easter eggs. The Q-watch (which doubles as your minimap) handily highlights possibilities in the vicinity to give you a helping hand.

But here's the kicker: Bond actually has to follow some rules. The License to Kill isn't just a philosophical concept – it's a literal gameplay mechanic. You can't go full Tim Dalton until enemies escalate to lethal force first. Until then, you're stuck with gadgets, charm, and the occasional incapacitating dart from your phone. It's a brilliant way of forcing players into the spy fantasy and encouraging a quieter approach rather than defaulting to the "shoot everything that moves" method of some of Bond's previous gaming outings.

Our demo driver opts to deactivate a water tap, sneaking past the investigating guard to steal a lighter from a fountain ledge, before setting fire to some leaves in a barrow, and parkouring his way up the hotel wall to an upper window. Once inside, Bond heads straight for the bar to ask the chap behind it if he's seen this mysterious bellhop.

From Sophistication to Sheep-Dodging

So far, so Hitman. But we're then treated to a little time skip as the demo's second act abandons all pretence of sophistication and goes full Bond movie bonkers. We rejoin 007 a little worse for wear, busting out of the hotel in hot pursuit of 009. We're thrust into a car chase alongside an intriguing female French intelligence agent intent on doing a bit of backseat driving and fairly welcome directional assistance (including the immortal battle cry of "sheep!") as Bond tears through the Carpathian countryside (in a vintage Aston Martin of course) like a man possessed.

This is where First Light reveals its true ambition: seamlessly blending IO's methodical stealth sandbox with the kind of over-the-top action and cinematic camera direction that would make Michael Bay weep with envy. The chase culminates at an airfield where Bond finally gets his Licence to Kill moment, and starts channelling Nathan Drake rather than Codename 47.

The combat system promises to be IO's most visceral yet – Bond tackles enemies off ledges to use them as human crash mats, throws empty weapons at approaching guards and then bashes them in with contextual close-quarters combat that reminded me ever so slightly of Sleeping Dogs, and generally treats explosive barrels like they're party poppers rather than industrial safety hazards. We see him trade his pistol for machine guns, shotguns, picking up whatever he can find and using it to his advantage. There's even a slow-motion mode for when you want to savour the moment of hurling a shotgun at someone's face with cinematic flair.

Winging It

But IO isn't content with mere terrestrial chaos. The demo's crescendo sees Bond chasing a cargo plane in a commandeered stair car, leaping onto the aircraft while cracking a joke about "winging it", and engaging in mid-flight fisticuffs while the plane gains altitude. It's the kind of sequence that makes you wonder if IO's level designers have been mainlining Mission: Impossible films.

The real genius moment comes when Bond gains access to the plane's controls and can bank the aircraft left and right, sending enemies, cargo, and entire vehicles tumbling around the cabin like a giant pinball machine. It's creative environmental interaction taken to its logical, physics-defying conclusion – why just push a chandelier onto someone's head when you can use an entire airplane as your weapon?

The sequence culminates with Bond realizing he can't catch 009, so he does what any reasonable person would do: attaches his Q-watch to the hull as a tracking device and jumps out of a moving plane without a parachute. The subsequent skydiving section involves aerial combat with falling guards and the kind of mid-air parachute theft that would make insurance companies weep. It's absurd, it's spectacular, it's exciting and it's exactly the kind of "why not?" energy that the best Bond movies have always embraced.

A Bright Future

What makes First Light so promising isn't just that it's combining two beloved gaming experiences – it's that IO seems to understand what made both work in the first place. The Hitman social stealth sections aren't just window dressing; they're full sandboxes with multiple solutions leading to an addictive replayable loop that'll see you come back time and again just to try things in a different way. Meanwhile, the action sequences seemed less like button-mashing exercises and more like carefully choreographed spectacles that feel like participating in your own personal Bond film.

The game's pillars – young Bond as diamond in the rough, globe-spanning espionage, Q-branch gadgetry, and the pursuit of rogue agent 009 – suggest a campaign that will let players experience the full spectrum of spy fantasy. Whether you want to charm your way past guards, hack security systems with your wonder-watch, or solve problems with the diplomatic application of explosives, First Light seems designed to accommodate your particular brand of secret agent roleplay.

007: First Light arrives on March 27, 2026, and based on this Gamescom showing, it's shaping up to be one of the most exciting spy games since Cate Archer was strutting her stuff, combining everything IO have perfected through the Hitman series with the blockbuster bombast of Bond. The have the pedigree to stick the landing, of that I'm sure; and more that reason, 007: First Light just shot straight to the top of my most anticipated list for next year.

Let us know in the comments what you made of the State of Play gameplay reveal, and if you're as excited for it as we are! Pre-order 007: First Light here >>