The Bond game drought is finally over, and critics are responding like they've been waiting nearly three decades for this moment.
007 First Light lands on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on May 27, and the review consensus is already stacking up fast. Despite review copies arriving late, the write-ups coming in are overwhelmingly positive, with the common thread being that IO Interactive has delivered the best James Bond game since GoldenEye 007 in 1997. That's a 29-year gap. No pressure.
Stealth mechanics in First Light
What critics are actually saying
Metacritic currently has the game sitting at 88, while OpenCritic puts it at 90, based on early reviews. Those numbers tell part of the story, but the individual takes are where things get interesting.
The Guardian's Matthew Castle awarded 007 First Light five stars, singling out how IO weaves Hitman's social stealth DNA into a distinctly Bond experience. "Plenty of games have let us be a gun-toting version of Bond, but this is the first opportunity we've had to be a Bond relaxing beside a glittering infinity pool in Vietnam, or a Bond trying to get one over on a shell game hustler," Castle writes. That framing gets at something specific: this isn't just a third-person shooter with a tuxedo slapped on it.
VGC's Jordan Middler also gave it five stars and called it "a real frontrunner for 2026's Game of the Year." IGN's Luke Reilly, writing a review-in-progress, matched that enthusiasm, praising the attention to detail down to Bond's literary scar on his right cheek and the beat-up 2006 Aston Martin used as a training car at MI6's Malta camp.
Where the cracks show, and why they don't sink it
Not every reviewer came in as a Bond fan first, and that split produces the most useful criticism in this roundup.
Eurogamer's Rick Lane gave 007 First Light four stars and was direct about its trade-offs: it's "less cerebral and replayable" than IO's World of Assassination trilogy, but compensates with what he called the studio's best-written game by a wide margin. "Like the superspy himself, it keeps you on side even in its weakest moments by sheer dint of its personality."
Kotaku's Jackson Tyler had the most layered take, describing the game as caught between Uncharted-style cinematic action and the sandbox stealth of Hitman or Metal Gear Solid. He flagged inconsistent tone and weak hand-to-hand combat, but landed on something worth quoting in full: "It's too expensive for its own good, it's smarter than it has any right to be and so much dumber than you wish it actually was." That's a sentence that tells you more about a game than any numerical score.
Several major outlets, including Polygon, posted reviews-in-progress due to late review code distribution. Expect more complete takes to surface in the days following the May 27 launch.
Mission loadout before deployment
The 14-year wait and what IO pulled off
Here's the thing: Bond games have a rough history. The character hasn't had a proper video game release in 14 years, and the franchise's gaming legacy peaked with GoldenEye on the N64 and arguably Everything or Nothing in 2004. IO Interactive taking on the license was always going to be fascinating, given that their Hitman games are some of the most sophisticated stealth sandboxes ever made.
What the reviews suggest is that IO didn't just make a Hitman reskin with a Bond license bolted on. They built something that captures Bond as a character, not just as a gun and a gadget. The social stealth elements, the writing quality, the specific texture of the world, these are the things critics keep returning to.
Whether you're planning to go full completionist or just run the main story, you'll want to check out how long 007 First Light takes to beat before you start. For everything else, the full 007 First Light guide collection has you covered once the game is in your hands on May 27.
