The world of James Bond offers Hitman developer IO Interactive to do some interesting new things, even if it’s working from a blueprint that’s served them well in the past. While the narrative and wider degree of approaches, especially the combat, tap into a fantasy more befitting 007, the sandbox environments, identifying opportunities and leveraging them to complete objectives, are all very Hitman-esque.
“Whenever we can, we try to open it up; in the gameplay trailer, you have to infiltrate this chateau,” said Hakan Abrak, IO Interactive CEO and game director, to Game Informer. Narrative and cinematic director Martin Emborg added, “This is where we try to bring that IOI DNA that we have from Hitman, where you represent it as a way where there are different paths into this chateau, and then you have to go from here.
“And then, we have the Kensington level, where we have several segments, especially going through the trespassing segments where combat is involved, where you have a much wider range of choice: You can go stealthy, or you can go combat, or anything in between. It’s actually up to you, and all these routes or play-style choices should all be viable and fun to use.”
But while 007 First Light cribs some notes, don’t expect them to play the same. As gameplay director Andreas Krogh notes, “Obviously, we’ve had a lot of learnings from our Hitman titles, especially because we knew we also wanted to have some kind of stealth in this game. It was very obvious for us to just say, ‘Okay, we have a stealth loop in Hitman, and a way of approaching that with environment interactions and the moment-to-moment, second-to-second gameplay that we like and saw users like.’
“It was obvious for us to bring that to the table. But on the other hand, we knew we had a new game here, with a new protagonist that we knew we had to do some of the areas we weren’t good at in Hitman.”
Of course, since the studio hasn’t implemented driving in its video games, it had to tap into some new talent. “There’s obviously experience from [Kane and Lynch and Freedom Fighters], but there are certain things where, you know, new blood, new talent to IO from the outside. There are things that we’re really, really good at, and there are things where we had to get new expertise that helped develop our engine, our technology, and our game features to deliver above the benchmark for an action game, because Hitman does give you the freedom to go guns blazing,” said Abrak.
The difference is that it’s less reactionary and on-the-fly compared to how Bond would typically act. “However, even though we give you that freedom, […] the full experience in Hitman is premeditated; you’re planning, you’re observing, it’s not impulsive, necessarily. It’s very thoughtful with pre-planning that goes into that, understanding the wants and motivations, the patrolling patterns, and where the different opportunities are, before you make your move for a perfect execution and getaway. Bond is different.”
Aside from gameplay, IO Interactive has also learned a lot from Hitman’s structure, specifically the episodic approach. 007 First Light is a singular experience, but there were still “learnings” from the same, especially when it comes to the overall length of games.
Launching on May 27th, 007 First Light is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Originally slated for late March, it was delayed for the sake of additional polish, but still falls well within the Spring window that Abrak said looked good after Grand Theft Auto 6’s delay. While it initially revealed some hefty recommended requirements on PC (32 GB of RAM? In this economy?), the developer updated the same to a more reasonable amount.
Granted, we don’t know what the requirements will be for 4K or how the console versions will run, so stay tuned for more news on that front.
