IO Interactive has announced the name of its upcoming James Bond game, and says we'll get out first look at it this week. The title is 007 First Light which certainly sounds like an origin story, and the studio has previously made clear this is what to expect.
The announcement post also adds a tagline: "Earn The Number in 007 First Light, a new game by IO Interactive. Mission brief is headed your way soon." And it's accompanied by an image which shows the first silhouette of IO's new Bond, who's holding what looks like a Walther PPK and wearing what looks a bit like a bomber jacket: I may be wrong about the coat, but it's certainly not the dinner jacket some might expect.
The game also has a new website, though there's not much more to be gleaned on there other than a straightforward description: "007 First Light is a brand new James Bond video game developed and published by IO Interactive. Featuring a wholly original Bond origin story, players will step into the shoes of the world's favorite Secret Agent to earn their 00 status."
The Daniel Craig vibes here are unmistakeable and, if Casino Royale is anything to go by, "earn the number" means you kill a grand total of two people in this game. I jest of course but in that film it sets out that the "00" part means Bond has a license to kill, which he earns by assassinating two goons, while the "7" is just how M16 differentiate agents (we've met various others over the years, and who could forget 006 Alex Trevelyan).
IO CEO Hakan Abrak has previously spoken a little about the game and what players might expect. "What's exciting about [007] is that we actually got to do an original story," says Abrak. "So it's not a gamification of a movie. It's a completely [new] beginning and becoming a story, hopefully for a big trilogy out there in the future."
Abrak says IO's Bond is "built from ground up for gamers. It's extremely exciting with all the tradition and all the history there is there … to work on this together with the family of creating a young Bond for gamers; a Bond that the gamers can call their own and grow with."
The "family" Abrak is referring to is the Broccolis, who produced all the Bond films and controlled the rights to the character until Amazon MGM bought the whole thing earlier this year. It seems doubtful this will have any impact on IO's project, though it does mean this game could well be considered the final Broccoli-approved take on Bond.
The announcement says we'll see the game this week: that almost certainly means a big reveal at this Friday's Summer Game Fest. I'm hoping not to be shaken, but stirred.
