007 First Gentle, the Bond origin story from IO Interactive, tells you precisely what you’re stepping into with its tagline: “Earn the quantity.” You play as a younger and (much more) brash James Bond when he’s first granted a license to kill, however nonetheless doesn’t have that triple-digit codename.
The mission I’m proven has Bond enjoying chauffeur. He’s instructed to attend within the carpark as different brokers full the mission, however then he sees somebody appearing suspicious and begins doing Bond issues — setting hearth to a bin to distract a guard, sweet-talking the housekeepers, ordering drinks. By the tip of the mission, he’s leaping out of the again of a airplane and his new goal pops onto the display: “Get a parachute.”
That’s what it’d be like for many, taking up such an iconic license: leaping out of a airplane with no plan. But it surely feels just like the builders at IO Interactive, the creators behind Hitman, have already been making the most effective Bond video games for years. If you happen to’ve performed Hitman, you may think about Agent 47 sprouting hair and consuming a martini as he stalks his goal by means of a winery. IO Interactive already earned the quantity.
“We now have a 25 yr pedigree within the agent fantasy world,” senior licensing producer Theuns Smit tells me. “So there’s a variety of power, a variety of experience we will draw from. However on the subject of First Gentle, our predominant focus was to inform a totally new, unique, standalone, reimagined origin story.”
Bond is contemporary out of the Royal Navy firstly of 007 First Gentle and we meet him earlier than he joins MI6. The way in which he strikes and fights is nearer to Daniel Craig’s Bond in On line casino Royale than the rest, although he’s youthful and extra agile than we’ve seen Bond be earlier than. That’s partly as a result of IO didn’t simply have a look at the flicks — the devs additionally learn the books and drew on the unique supply to create this fresh-faced agent. Whereas Bond’s face is ever-changing for the flicks, Ian Flemming wrote that the agent had a three-inch lengthy, skinny vertical scar working down his proper cheek — it’s a scar that’s current on the face of IO’s Bond, portrayed by Patrick Gibson, greatest identified for his current flip as a serial killer with a coronary heart in Dexter: Authentic Sin. A scar of intent.
“For each character that we’re casting, it was, in fact, an enormous, deep and huge search to search out the most effective factor,” Smit says. “We now have a tremendous narrative group who’ve written an unimaginable story. We actually combed by means of the whole lot, and it was a collaboration between us, our group, in addition to our companions, to choose and select the proper folks for the job. And I can actually say it is phenomenal, the work that they are outputting, whether or not it is by way of the efficiency seize, movement seize, voice appearing, all of that’s actually bringing the character to life.”
With character and story being on the forefront, there are clearly loads of key variations between 007 First Gentle and the Hitman collection. Whereas there are open sections and sandbox alternatives, these are related collectively by extra linear set-pieces. And the place firing your silverballers in Hitman usually felt like a failure or last-resort, with Bond it’s simply an excuse to shift the tempo.
“Generally we’ll lock issues in a bit extra linear, a bit extra centered, as a result of we need to drive the story ahead in a selected method,” Smit explains. “After which we open it up slightly bit, and it is as much as you to determine the right way to transfer ahead with mind, brawn, and devices. And, in fact, stealth.”
Two devices which have been revealed up to now embody the dart telephone and laser watch, however he’s additionally in a position to make use of issues within the surroundings like Agent 47. Earlier than he shuffles up a drainpipe within the demo, he has to distract a guard. He sneaks round and grabs some matches, then he distracts one other guard earlier than setting hearth to a wheelbarrow stuffed with grass. Because the guard investigates, he makes his transfer. However there’s additionally that silver tongue, which might get him out of powerful conditions.
“So one of many mechanics known as bluffing, the place you principally discuss your method out of a state of affairs,” Smit says. “Diffusing the second, not along with your fists, not with weapons. That is an influence transfer — that is one thing solely Bond can pull off with that attraction and confidence. However then when issues amp up, the main focus there is stuffed with momentum. We need to hold the motion going. You want to have the ability to shortly suppose in your ft if issues escalate, and meet drive with drive. That’s when you’re granted the license to kill.”
Motion strikes at a tempo that’d make Jason Bourne blush when issues do kick off. Bond shoots, takes cowl, rolls, runs out, and disarms goons with horrifying pace. He doesn’t even have time to reload, taking from the John Wick playbook of spending the journal and both tossing the weapon apart for one more – with out stopping for breath – or throwing the empty gun immediately into some unlucky henchman’s face.
“Even on the subject of hand at hand fight you will see his movement, his fluidness, having the ability to deflect and parry and assault and hold the motion there, recognizing an enemy taking cowl behind a automotive, working up, leaping over the hood, sliding over to take him out, disarming him. Now it is your fingers. The tables are turned.”
There are many contextual takedowns like this within the demo, the place Bond simply runs by means of folks with out lacking a beat. In a single, he rushes towards an enemy in an elevated place. Bond’s out of ammo so he’s shifting in, ducking between cowl as he goes. When he reaches him, he retains working, tackling him over the sting and utilizing his physique to interrupt the autumn. Now he has a brand new gun, the man’s physique is limp and lifeless, and Bond rolls out earlier than returning hearth in opposition to the opposite enemies on the runway.
Behind the wheel, he’s simply as a lot of a menace, and IO has partnered with Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover, and different automotive producers to get throughout the appear and feel of the stylish automobiles which can be so key to the Bond model. IO employed new blood to work with the outdated specialists to make these automobiles sing. It’s a part of the seductive, romanticised life-style Bond is pulled into – the ladies, the automobiles, the flamboyant fits – and that is one thing IO hopes to play with within the story, to subvert the picture of company life younger Bond might have in-built his thoughts.
“If you happen to have a look at the title, First Gentle, it is a few younger man discovering himself in a brand new world, even perhaps over his head, moving into this realm between the sunshine and the shadows,” Smit says of the sport’s themes. “This world of espionage that on the skin could seem glamorous, however as he goes deeper into it, you see the whole lot isn’t a transparent reduce black or white. There’s some ambiguity there, and he must stability who he turns into. He is a younger James Bond now, however finally he must earn his quantity.”
The vital quantity it’s essential to bear in mind for now could be 2026, which is if you’ll be capable of play 007 First Gentle on console and PC.
