{"id":310908,"date":"2026-03-03T11:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/310908\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:53:09","slug":"5-years-later-jame-bonds-coolest-reboot-is-coming-from-an-unexpected-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/310908\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Years Later, Jame Bond’s Coolest Reboot Is Coming From An Unexpected Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are few fictional characters who have experienced the kind of longevity and versatility as MI6\u2019s favorite operative. James Bond first debuted on the page in 1953 in the novel Casino Royale, and in the decades since Ian Fleming introduced him to the world, he has been in an obscene number of books, 27 different feature films (depending on how you count), a number of different comic books, and several video games. In terms of pure recognizability and cultural presence, he might only be rivaled by someone like Dracula<\/a> or Sherlock Holmes.<\/a><\/p>\n

The last theatrically released Bond film in 2021, and the end of Daniel Craig\u2019s era (defined by white-knuckled grit and realism courtesy of the Bourne movies, and an interconnected web of lore recognizable as the influence of the MCU) to a proper conclusion. Five years later, fans are waiting in quiet agony for updates on Denis Villeneuve\u2019s upcoming reboot, which certainly won\u2019t be coming until after the release of Dune Part 3<\/a>. Until then, there\u2019s another Bond property on the horizon that is bringing a fresh perspective to the franchise, and if the first looks are any indication, it\u2019s going to be a worthy successor to the gentleman spy\u2019s cinematic legacy.<\/p>\n

007 First Light, the upcoming video game developed and published by IO Interactive, recently released a brief but intriguing glimpse at a rather precarious situation for the young agent, whom players will accompany as he undertakes the mission that will grant him his iconic 00 status. In the clip, Bond and his in-universe MI6 mentor John Greenway are tied above a pit filled with ravenous alligators, being aggressively monologued towards by Bawma, an African crime lord played by none other than music icon and actor Lenny Kravitz. It\u2019s an extended cinematic and may not seem like much, but the atmosphere of it all \u2013 the absurdity of the situation Bond has ended up in, the theatricality and eccentricity of his enemy, the expectation of an impossible escape \u2013 feels so cinematic, and genuinely thoughtful in a way the character\u2019s video game excursions haven\u2019t been for a while.<\/p>\n

The last officially licensed James Bond video game \u2014 which was also Activision\u2019s last game with the property \u2014 was released in 2012 to dismal reviews<\/a>. Part of what made 007: Legends such a failure was the shameless attempt to recolor the iconography of the franchise with a generic Call of Duty first-person shooter paint, which is the exact opposite of what IO seems to be doing with First Light. <\/p>\n

Not only is the game offering an immersive open sandbox with an emphasis on puzzle-solving and stealth as opposed to the shoot-everyhing approach, but it\u2019s building its own mythos for the character from the ground up, starting with being the first game not based on a cinematic Bond\u2019s likeness since 2001 (Dexter: Original Sin\u2019s Patrick Gibson will be stepping into the role) and continuing with its own interpretations of M, Q, Miss Moneypenny, as well as a host of new characters like Kravitz\u2019s leopard-print pirate Bawma. Could this do for Bond what Indiana Jones and the Great Circle did for that franchise?<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly one way to stand out as a Bond villain.<\/p>\n

IO Interactive<\/p>\n

With licensed video games getting so much better over the decades in terms of replicating lived-in worlds and creating thoughtful gaming experiences tied to specific properties (from the Batman: Arkham series to, again, the excellent Indiana Jones and the Great Circle), it\u2019s a shame that Bond has been stuck in the rut of the FPS genre for so many years. IO is rectifying that mistake with an experience that looks as if it will truly put players in 007\u2019s shoes. Or so fans can hope.<\/p>\n

Even though the big Amazon MGM reboot Bond film is still a while away, it\u2019s reassuring to know that pop culture\u2019s eternal agent won\u2019t lose that cinematic spectacle when he comes back to consoles.<\/p>\n

007 First Light will be released on May 27th, 2026. It will be playable on PlayStation 5Xbox Series X\/SNintendo Switch 2, and PC.Learn Something New Every Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few fictional characters who have experienced the kind of longevity and versatility as MI6\u2019s favorite operative.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[169312,489,156,3447,2386,48279,24973,409,111,139,69,2673],"class_list":{"0":"post-310908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-2026-video-games","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-gaming","12":"tag-homepage","13":"tag-hp-latest","14":"tag-james-bond","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-video-games"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}