The China Mail - First Bond game in a decade seeks licence to thrill

Scheduled for release next year, "007 First Light" takes the long-honed stealth infiltration formula IO developed for "Hitman" and throws in a healthy dose of Bond's over-the-top car chases, gunplay and sex appeal.

"While doing (Hitman) earlier, I was bathing in 007 cool," the new game's art director Rasmus Poulsen told AFP at the Gamescom trade fair in Cologne.

"Now we're back home (in) this elevated world with a sense of wonder and a sense of ominous 'what now'."

The most recent movies starring Daniel Craig are favourites at IO, making it no surprise that the game depicts a younger Bond earning his licence to kill.

And chasing a "timeless" look, Poulsen plunged deep into "Kodak, emulsion and the film stock and colour for 60s films all the way to the 80s, how blues and reds looked, how the colours pop" -- forming "the foundation for a lot of the palette choices" in the game.

But the studio has not slavishly followed the films, with their original take on the budding superspy's looks inspired by Ian Fleming's original novels -- down to a distinctive facial scar.

"First Light" players can expect an experience with "everything from social manipulation... all the way to very refined gunplay, and indeed driving and action set-pieces," Poulsen said.

- 'Game that breathes' -

Bond provided the setting for trailblazing 1997 first-person shooter "Goldeneye 007" -- still a nostalgic touchstone for gamers.

Although some subsequent releases sold well, they failed to make the same impact and the gaming franchise petered out in the early 2010s.

Rightsholder Eon Productions was also reportedly unhappy with the content of Bond games -- which often emphasised slinging bullets rather than style or one-liners.

That made an opening for IO, which had pulled itself back from the financial brink since 2017 by going private, slashing costs and focusing hard on "Hitman".

Having grown from just 100 staff back then to around 500 now -- in large part thanks to "First Light" -- "our creative juices, diversity has never been this rich before," chief executive Hakan Abrak told AFP at Gamescom.

The company has sold more than 25 million copies of "Hitman" games since 2016, often enticing new and returning players with content drops including assassination targets modelled on stars like Sean Bean and Mads Mikkelsen.

Abrak contrasts the Bond game with the world of "Hitman", where each sprawling level is a stand-alone puzzle for players to unpick, often favouring disguise, sabotage or poison over a guns-blazing approach.

While the gameplay shown off in Cologne bears the "Hitman" heritage, the focus in "First Light" on the over-arching story means "Bond is a bit more cinematic... it's a game that breathes more" than 'Hitman', Abrak said.

The title will alternate between relatively linear storytelling moments or set-pieces and open areas with "more freedom to figure out (Bond's) next move," he added.

- 'From the heart' -

Any Bond release is inevitably tied into the roster of luxury brands behind the objects that dot the franchise, from his Omega watches to Aston Martin cars of various vintages.

Many such "coveted objects" have been lovingly recreated in digital form as "it lends credibility to what we're doing," art director Poulsen said.

Players will get especially familiar with Bond's timepiece, using its onboard computer to hack objects in the environment and later upgrading it with a laser.

Control of the Bond franchise itself shifted during development as Amazon bought MGM in 2022.

007's new co-owners had placed "big trust" in IO to get the game right, boss Abrak said, adding that the developer had been freed from the constraints of adapting a movie.

Looking ahead, the IO chief sees no risk of the studio getting pigeonholed into an agent game niche.

An as-yet unnamed fantasy game the company is working on is "coming from the heart... with Bond and with this project next to Hitman, hopefully the outside will see that we are more diverse," Abrak said.

F.Jackson--ThChM