James Bond had not had a proper video game in over a decade. 007 First Light, IO Interactive’s origin story following a 26-year-old Bond fresh out of the Navy, released on May 27 and has landed the best review scores any Bond game has received since GoldenEye 007 in 1997. This is a synthesis of what critics actually said, not a single opinion.
The numbers
007 First Light sits at 88 on Metacritic and 88 to 89 on OpenCritic, based on around 65 critic reviews at time of writing. That makes it IO Interactive’s highest-rated game, ahead of Hitman 3’s 87. On OpenCritic it holds a “Mighty” rating with 97 percent of critics recommending it. GoldenEye 007 remains the highest-rated Bond game overall at 96. First Light is comfortably second, ahead of 2004’s Everything or Nothing, which sat at 83.
What critics agreed on
The consensus centers on three things: the writing, the character work, and the way the game blends IO Interactive’s Hitman-honed stealth systems with more cinematic, scripted action sequences.
Eurogamer’s Rick Lane called the writing the best in a AAA game since Guardians of the Galaxy, saying “almost every line lands with wit, soul, or both.” VGC gave it a 10, describing the 14-hour campaign as “full of spectacle, humour, action, and romance.” IGN France praised the game for rewriting Bond’s origin rather than leaning on an existing film.
Patrick Gibson, who plays the younger Bond, drew specific praise across multiple outlets. One reviewer said he “feels more convincing as the next Bond than half the names currently rumored for the movies.”
On mechanics, several reviewers highlighted that missions give genuine freedom, letting players improvise, sneak, manipulate enemies, or let a situation spiral into open combat. This is IO Interactive’s Hitman design language applied to a linear narrative campaign rather than the sandbox format the studio is known for, and multiple critics felt the transition worked.
Where reviews diverged
Eurogamer’s 8/10 review specifically said First Light is “less cerebral and replayable” than IO’s Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy, arguing it compensates with strong combat and charm rather than matching Hitman’s systemic depth.
Pacing came up repeatedly as a mild criticism in otherwise positive reviews. A handful of reviews also flagged the absence of a body-hiding mechanic, a staple of the genre, as a minor step back. AI enemy behavior was described by at least one reviewer as inconsistent at times, though not enough to undercut the broader experience.
Two of the roughly 65 reviews aggregated on Metacritic landed at 7 out of 10, which by Metacritic’s classification is “mixed,” not negative, just more measured than the overwhelmingly positive field.
What the game actually is
First Light is not a film tie-in. It is an original story following Bond before he becomes the character audiences know. The campaign runs roughly 12 to 17 hours for story content. It launched on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version in development. Following Amazon MGM Studios’ 2025 acquisition of the Bond license from Eon Productions, future entries will be published in-house by Amazon rather than self-published by IO Interactive.
The verdict, in aggregate
Across roughly 65 reviews, the critical consensus is unusually consistent for a licensed game: strong writing, a compelling take on a young Bond, and a stealth-action blend that mostly succeeds, with pacing and some combat AI as the main soft spots. Critics are not calling it flawless, but they are converging cleanly on it being the genuine Bond game the franchise has been missing since 1997.