IO Interactive realized early in development that 007 First Light could not simply turn James Bond into a more elegant Agent 47. The studio began with the logic of Hitman, then quickly understood that what works in a perfect assassin mission is not enough for a proper James Bond story.

The team at IO Interactive had to make several fundamental changes during the early stages of development on 007 First Light, and those decisions are exactly what define the game as it exists today. Their first step was to imagine the perfect Hitman mission: a stealthy agent, no collateral damage, completely undetected, and leaving no trace behind. Then they asked themselves whether that premise would work for a good James Bond film. Internally, the answer was a firm no.

That realization became the playable foundation for the James Bond we will control once 007 First Light is released. Speaking to 3DJuegos, the combat designer at IO Interactive acknowledged: “A perfect silent assassin mission isn’t a good James Bond story. It simply isn’t.” That forced the team to change, expand, and find a way to open up the gameplay without losing the narrative identity demanded by the franchise.

The result is a combat system that evolves from an accessible base into deeper layers of complexity that the player can discover at their own pace. Once the first level, set in Iceland, is completed, all the mechanics unlock at once: from there, it is up to the player to decide when and how to explore them. Among those mechanics is one that the team is especially proud of: the melee charge, a maneuver inspired by No Time to Die. It allows the player to grab an enemy, charge forward while running, slam them into almost any element of the environment, or even throw themselves off a ledge with them.

According to the developer, that idea became an obsession for the combat designers. “Another combat designer and I were obsessed with that idea. We knew it was going to be very difficult to implement, but we saw that sequence in the movie and said, ‘This is so cool, we have to do it.’ And we did.” On top of that, the game features a physics-based reaction system that deserves special attention. If an enemy is close to a wall, players can smash their head against it; if they roll onto a table, players can jump and kick them; and if they fall onto an unstable object, it can collapse on top of them.

007 First Light includes three difficulty modes designed to deliver something beyond a simple Hitman-style experience. The easiest mode is aimed at players who mainly care about the story, while the standard mode is the most balanced option. The real James Bond feeling, however, arrives with purist mode. As the designer explained: “In purist mode, you’ll have to use absolutely every available option. You’ll manage your ammo very carefully, find creative ways to get more, and master all the game’s mechanics. We removed the assists and made sure that when you succeed, it feels like a real feat.”

As for the levels, IO Interactive has brought over the real-location philosophy it perfected in Hitman, with settings that include places such as Kensington. According to the project manager, the goal was to capture that behind-the-scenes feeling, the sense that these are living, breathing locations, something Hitman has always done extremely well. “During the event, we were going down into the hotel’s basements, and the feeling was incredible,” the project manager said. The ultimate goal is for players to reach the final battles and feel as though they are doing something completely insane, something only James Bond could pull off. “I want you to play with all the tools we’ve built and say, ‘That was so Bond.’ That’s the real dream.”

Source: 3DJuegos