I wasn't entirely sure what I expected going into 007 First Light. But it's IO Interactive, the developer of one of my favourite trilogies of all time in the Hitman World of Assassination games. By extension, that makes it a perfect match for a game about a secret agent.
Frankly, I'm not the biggest James Bond fan in the world, and hearing it was going to have more in common with the likes of Uncharted than Hitman didn't exactly pique my interest. So color me surprised to find out that it's one of my favourite games of 2026, and the reason for that is all down to just winging it.
"Tea time!"
007 First Light's naughty schoolboy antics feel like a spiritual successor to Bully
Being a secret agent often evokes images of stoic, precise killers who are so careful and secretive that you're in and out like a European Extreme playthrough of Metal Gear Solid 3. But what I didn't really realize about James Bond, perhaps due to my knowledge of the film franchise being mostly confined to Daniel Craig's dark, enigmatic era instead of the "My name is Rebecca Ass" classics, is that damn can he be dumb sometimes.
Where 007 First Light really started clicking for me was when I messed up in a stealth section, or during tense shootout escape scenes capping off (almost) every mission in the game. While the in-built bluffing mechanic is a brilliant bit of kit – albeit something that feels a bit overpowered in places it absolutely shouldn't work – it speaks to the power of Bond's improvisation. Spontaneity is so integral in 007 First Light that it turns a weak combat system into an absolute star.
While it may sound like a negative, giving every weapon Bond is able to pick up a very limited amount of ammo is one of my favorite parts of the game. In any other third-person shooter, it would be so easy to just chill out behind cover and blast away at waves of enemies. But intentionally limiting bullets and removing ammo pickups means that being constantly on the move, willing to change up your tactics at a moment's notice, becomes the strongest play.
I have a particular soft spot for the part in every John Wick movie where someone runs out of ammo and launches the gun itself at someone's head, which is an obvious highlight in 007 First Light too.
But the inclusion of a variety of melee options even in the face of a shotgun makes that feeling of being a resourceful fighter barely scraping by even stronger. Having an armored enemy approaching, ready to absolutely blow you away, only for you to chuck the nearest coffee cup and run up to dump them over a hole while you fall with them for a soft landing to get a breather from the rest of your foes never gets old as the game goes on.
Off-script
It's one of my favourite games of 2026... all down to just winging it.
Maybe that's the key to a lot of good games. IO Interactive's Hitman games are all about thinking on the spot, and while there are guided ways that can bypass everything and let you make your way through a mission with no resistance, Hitman really shines at encouraging tactics and improv – figuring out the most efficient way to get your target, only for it to fall apart, get a bit messy, and working things out from there.
Perhaps more controversially among the general public is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's approach to weapons – namely, the fact that weapons explode into pieces very often throughout the game. But just as Bond running out of ammo is what makes 007 First Light's combat stand out, weapon degradation is one of the myriad reasons why Breath of the Wild is an all-time classic, not to mention one of the best Zelda games ever.
In most open-world games out there, you'll find a weapon you really like and build your whole combat strategy around it. But Zelda isn't an ARPG like Dark Souls, and it isn't exactly Devil May Cry when it comes to interesting and varied combat. So in a game like Zelda, where there's about four or five different movesets for each weapon type, your game would become mostly static for the majority of the adventure the second you picked up the Master Sword, right?
Much like Bond having a constant rotation of weapon pickups, none of them being a permanent fixture in his arsenal, Breath of the Wild is such a breath of fresh air because of those moments where your sword breaks. Suddenly you have to figure out how you're going to take on a small army of Bokoblins or a giant Guardian mecha with only your latent abilities, a stick, a leaf, and a boomerang.
I'm not saying a game has to have improvisation to have good combat. But when a game like 007 First Light comes along, it reminds me why thinking on your feet is an easy way to turn something that could be a bland, somewhat derivative combat encounter into a stroke of genius.
There are plenty more upcoming PS5 games to get hyped for in 2026 once you've wrapped Bond's latest adventure.
