007 First Light

[00:00:10] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Pre-Order Bonus Podcast. I'm one of your hosts Cameron Warren and I'm joined as always by the pixel professor Jacob Price. It's June 25th, 2026. Jake, it's been a while since you and I have been together. We made some changes to the formatting, went on some long vacations.

[00:00:33] You've been posting some stuff on the main channel, but we're on to our new forming. If you haven't heard, if you're not on the Patreon, just as a quick admin item, we did change our formatting a little bit. So every other week you'll get our normal traditional episode, whether that's a game discussion like we normally do, game analysis or whatever it happens to be.

[00:01:02] And then on the off weeks, you will get what formerly used to be known as Jake's Indie Impressions that used to be Patreon only will now just be on the main channel. So a little bit of a different format, but still lots of content coming your way. Right, Jake? That's right. And you can expect probably some more guests to fill in. So I'm not doing a ton of solo episodes. Yes. Solo some cool guests coming in there.

[00:01:31] And as always, you can catch Jake streaming as we talked about as well. Twitch.tv slash ChippedEdV18, which you've been doing a lot of, man. Lots of streaming happening. Doing a lot. It's been a little weird this summer just because my summer schedule is always super weird, to be honest. But yeah, it's happening. It's good. I just started Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, man. Ooh, great game, man. So good. So good. What do you think so far?

[00:02:00] I like it quite a lot. So I'm playing on Nintendo Switch Online. There's actually quite a lot of shared DNA between this and Breath of the Wild. I'm sure I'm not the first person to make that observation, but it's something that I picked up on. Let's see. Dude, the inverted camera control is really getting me, though. It's like half inverted. It's weird. There's some funkiness in that one.

[00:02:29] That is also one where it's like a traditional Zelda that feels super open world, even though it's not. But because of the water setup, it feels like they've somehow figured... Anyway, that's weird. That's a cool game. I actually kind of want to replay that one. I'm hoping that they do some kind of... They haven't made that available on Switch 2 yet, I believe, right? I mean, only through Nintendo Switch Online.

[00:02:57] And what I've noticed is that... Oh, is it on the GameCube one? It is on the GameCube one, but it is the original, not the HD one, which... That's the one. Okay. I don't know. I guess we're really out of the mainline games. We're just missing Twilight Princess now. Is that right? That's the only one that's inaccessible on... Yeah, I think so. I actually own the HD version on Wii U.

[00:03:27] Dang, how much does that go for in eBay? I'm the only one who ever bought any... I'm the only one who ever owned a Wii U or bought anything on it. I'm the only person I know that's actually ever done that on Wii U, Jake. No one else I know. I played Breath of the Wild on Wii U. I think I was the only person who did that in the entire world. There's dozens of us. Whoa, Cameron, just so you know, on eBay right now, Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD.

[00:03:56] Some people are trying to sell this for $100, $125. Wow. Hold on to that. I mean, I don't even know if I have the disc. I think I have it digitally on a Wii U, which is even crazier. I do have the Breath of the Wild Wii U disc. Okay. Which is crazy. Okay, so you don't have a box? This isn't a GTA VI scenario, box only? Well, yeah.

[00:04:26] Speaking of GTA VI, I think that's the one piece of news I wanted to touch on super quick. My prediction came true, Jake. GTA VI costs $100. Now, it doesn't technically cost $100, but they did the thing that I thought they would, where basically the $80 version is essentially like a cut version. And then the $100 version is basically like the actual game. Yeah.

[00:04:53] And because it's $80 and because it's only, you know, quote unquote, like $20 difference, it's basically a $100 video game. Yeah. I'm really curious to see what the numbers will be. And I don't know if they'll release these numbers the way that I want them to, but just like, yeah, I mean, it's $80 for the standard edition, but it sounds like not only can you get access to like specific cosmetics, but specific side missions, right? Are in the $100 edition. Is that right?

[00:05:24] Yeah. Well... Is that right? Let's double check that. Definitely. There's definitely... There's a lot of things in that Ultimate Edition. I think there's like rewards tied to certain side missions and a whole bunch of additional cosmetics. And I mean, at the end of the day, it's probably not that big of a deal, but I mean, if you're paying...

[00:05:51] If GTA VI is the game that you've been looking forward to for years and years, which is going to... Which is a lot of people. Yeah. A lot of people who don't play video games and a lot of people who do, you're going to buy the $100 version. Because that's... You buy one game a year or two games a year, right? Madden, COD, and maybe one other game. Yeah. But anyway, yeah, dude, this game is going to be... We've said it a hundred times before. This game is going to be absolutely massive.

[00:06:21] It's crazy that it seems like it is actually going to come out in November. And we didn't talk about this. We haven't actually had a chance because this is the first time we've been able to get together this whole month. But I mean, obviously, we had all the craziness of Summer Games Fest. I think we need an entire separate episode to talk about all the announcements, which we'll probably do that in the near future.

[00:06:44] But yeah, dude, September and October are just absolute bloodbaths of video game releases because nobody wants to touch November. Yeah. Because that's when GTA comes out. And for that reason, September, October are just stupid. They're stupid. There's not even room to market your game. I mean, it's awesome for people like you and I who... I'm probably going to buy at least a few of these games and have just a mountain of games to play.

[00:07:13] But it's like, dude, can we spread the love a little bit? Maybe just how about something like early summer? You know what I mean? I don't know. I'm looking at this real quickly. Between September and October, there's probably four dozen 50 games on Game Informer's 2026 release list. Now you scroll down to November and it's seven games. And part of this is we've got a remastered game, a PC only game.

[00:07:43] We have like a few remakes, I think, in here coming out that month, which I think, yeah, maybe those are probably immune to GTA 6. But that just cracks me up, right? Like Metaphor Re Fantasia is coming to Switch 2 on November 12th. I think there's not much of a Venn diagram, I feel like, between gamers who are interested in GTA 6 and Metaphor Re Fantasia coming to Switch 2. Like that to me is like, okay, that's probably as safe as you can get. But yeah, it cracks me up.

[00:08:12] I had the exact same thought as you, Cameron. I was like, great. This means there's a lot of games in October that I want to buy and I'll have all of November to play them. This is fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. I mean, I think you, again, we've said, we've also said this before, but I think you and I are the only people who may probably won't play GTA 6. I'm definitely not going to play it, at least at launch.

[00:08:36] I mean, I just, especially knowing that it's going to run like 20 FPS on PS5. Yeah. Yeah, dude. That's become a big thing for me. 30 FPS has almost become a hard stopper for me. Like I will not play a game that's not 60 FPS. I'm just like, I'm not going to do it.

[00:09:04] I mean, that's maybe the one thing from this console generation is that the vast majority of games now have a 60 FPS mode. And yeah, I've also converted to 60 FPS to me looks just way better than 30. Now, maybe they haven't actually said anything about that. Maybe GTA 6 will have a performance mode that runs at 60, but all their previous games have been like maxed out graphics, everything 30 FPS. But there is a series S version.

[00:09:34] Oh, we know that. Yeah. So for that reason, that could lead me to believe that we're probably going to see some kind of performance toggles in there. Um, and also I guess in fairness, like Red Dead, even Red Dead 2 probably came out before, you know, you had every game had like performance and quality mode in it. You know what I mean? So, right. Um, the other quick piece of news is we got the prices for the steam machine and a whole boy. Dang.

[00:10:06] I mean, that is just, that is, you know, that is not a great price. Um, I can't remember what headline this is from. This is either, I think game informer restart or Kotaku, but the idea is like fantastic piece of hard work coming out of the absolute worst time. And. Oh man. Just with the amount of just the amount of how much stuff costs right now. And there's a million reasons for that in tech and in gaming specifically.

[00:10:36] It's like, okay, this is turning into more of a niche buy than I'm sure valve wants it to be. And, but I mean, they'll be fine as a company. They'll be fine. If this thing doesn't like sell like insanely and it probably will sell well anyway, but it just won't, you know, reach as many people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's not what we wanted it to be, which was like your living room PC that was going to be a contender in the console space.

[00:11:04] No, it's just an niche item again. It's 1049 for the base 512 gigabyte edition with controller 1128. The two terabyte version is 1349. Two terabyte with the controller is $1,500. Dang. Which that is crazy. And that is crazy. Now, is it powerful? Yeah. Sort of. I think it's like basically equivalent to essentially like a PC that you would build right now for yourself.

[00:11:35] But obviously comes with like the form factor of the tiny little steam box. So in that sense, like it's not necessarily a bad deal, but do we just live in a hellscape right now with the soaring cost of memory because of the AI surge? Yeah. And yeah, basically Sam Altman and OpenAI ruined everything for video gamers everywhere. And suddenly the PS, the PlayStation 6, the PS5 Pro looks a lot more compelling.

[00:12:04] Isn't that, isn't that so funny, right? Anyway, Xbox Series X, I think is something like 700, 800 bucks right now. PS5 Pro is 750, something like that. It just kind of blows my mind, right? That those prices look way more palatable because of just how much things have gone up. It's the same phenomenon that's occurring with now that the AAA standard price has gone up to $70. I see a game that's 50 or $60 and I think I'm getting a deal.

[00:12:34] Oh, the Pro is 900. Oh, it's 900. My bad. Sorry, I got somebody excited. Yeah, I just double check Best Buy there. That's $900 for the Pro. That's just wild. I like to live in the knowledge that I know I got my Series X and my PS5 at 500 each and that they have appreciated in value. Oh, man. We caught the last chopper out of it.

[00:13:02] I mean, at this point, we're five years in, right? So it's not like... But they're appreciating assets, which is very weird for a video game console. Which probably shouldn't be the case, but here we are, right? Jake, do you see a mid-console or mid-generation refresh in your future? Would you... Given that... Probably that PlayStation 6 and Helix will not come out until at least 2028, given the issues

[00:13:29] with memory pricing and the market, could you see a mid-gen refresh in your future? Would you consider buying a PS5 Pro or an Xbox Series X Pro if they came out with that? Probably not. They'd really have to sell something. They'd have to sell, yeah. For example, just looking at the PS5 Pro version of Last of Us 2 versus the PS5 version, I was like, I'm sorry. I'm not really seeing any noticeable difference here to make me spend the few hundred extra

[00:13:59] bucks to get this piece of hardware. So yeah, I'm pretty checked out of this console, Jen. And yeah, I think you're right. The next thing's Project Helix and PS6. They can't come out until prices go down. I don't think they're going to... No. There's no way. And they have to have... Can you imagine if... Like, imagine the argument they have to make to be like, hey, please buy this new console for $1,000. Like, it would have... We'd have to see some pretty drastically...

[00:14:28] I don't know. Lots of good reasoning that it's improved your gaming experience by then. $9.99 is... I think you nailed it. I think that's... If they do... If Xbox decides to release something a little bit sooner because they think that it's going to help them beat PS6 to market and get in play with the new leadership and the new strategy, that's a really interesting discussion. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in those conversations inside Xbox right now.

[00:14:57] But yeah, I think $9.99 is the price point that they're going to target. If I had to guess. Which... Man, just go tell a normal person on the street to say, hey, there's a new video game console. It costs $1,000. Nah. What is the... Which... Now the Steam box looks competitive, right? If you're like, oh yeah, it's $9.99 for the new Project Helix Xbox for the PS6.

[00:15:26] Or you could get the Steam box for $1,000. I mean, I think the reality is what I'm seeing in social media now to keep them... Just keep... You know, bear in mind, social media absolutely is a bubble. I think a lot of people in there are like, well, I'll just hit up the backlog if things get that too expensive. I'll just slow down. But I think the kind of weird reality that we're at is... And this... Maybe we'll save this for a special topic.

[00:15:51] But what actually is the compelling reason to buy brand new hardware outside of being an enthusiast? Are we really... I mean, everything is backwards compatible. Like games have so much more shelf life now. And is your new console really going to have things that are exclusive to it? Like this generation has been so slow to adopt PS5 and like Series X exclusive games. I don't know.

[00:16:19] Like what is actually the most compelling reason to do a new console? I don't think there is one. And I think the market would be stupid to try and push continuous graphical fidelity and the need for more power. Yeah. Stay where you're at right now and just continue to juice this current generation. Yeah. I just... Now, the issue with that is especially if you're somebody like PlayStation who sells a

[00:16:46] lot of units is that you're very deep in your generation and you want that like hit from a new console launch. Yeah. And your existing box has gotten like way more expensive. So that raises interesting like financial reality questions that, you know, I don't really have the answers to. But no, there is no compelling reason. There definitely isn't. The only thing I could... I mean, I think... I think what I could...

[00:17:13] If they're smart, I think the best strategic play if they could figure out how to do it is they come out with a PS5 with another edition, not necessarily a pro. But if they don't want to... If they don't want to... And I work for PlayStation. So this is all hearsay. I don't know anything. So... And if anyone who works for PlayStation, don't please don't report me for talking about this on the podcast. But yeah. But Xbox, same question, right?

[00:17:42] It's like you come out with some sort of box that's like not that powerful, but maybe leverages frame gen and NVIDIA like AI graphics technology to like a very, very deep extent. Because that can heavily maximize like the graphical fidelity while getting like performance bonuses. Like with my...

[00:18:08] I updated my graphics card and like I can turn games now up to epic graphics, like modern, like cyberpunk with ray tracing on. With... If I turn frame gen on, I'll get like 120 frames per second. Yeah. And I can't tell the difference between that and just like what it would normally be running at, which is like on my PC is 60. Um... But anyway, we'll see. I mean, I don't think anyone's going to upgrade. I'm not doing anything.

[00:18:36] I got my graphics card before all the craziness happened. So... I caught the last chopper out of NOM. I'm not doing anything with my consoles. I'm not going to get a PS5 Pro. I have no reason to. Like... I mean... The only reason I could see is... I mean, yeah. I mean, look. From Soft where... But my two favorite developers, From Soft and Larian, are all multi-platform.

[00:19:06] And I'll just play their stuff on PC if I want the best experience. So... Um... And they're going to build their games in a way that they're going to work everywhere anyways. So it's like... Yeah. Yeah. Kind of weird to think that we might be hitting a ceiling. But we'll see. I'd love to be surprised. I'd love to be surprised by whatever the next console is from the big dogs. But... So far, I'm pretty skeptical. As am I.

[00:19:34] Well, ladies and gentlemen, that takes us into our main topic of the show, which is... 007 First Light from IO Interactive. Jake and I have been playing this the past few weeks. Jake, how are we going to break it down? We will be talking about 007 First Light in our three categories. The first one will be the narrative. If you are new to the show, just keep in mind that we will not be spoiling things past like the first quarter or so of the game.

[00:20:01] We'll be speaking a little more thematically kind of about the characters that we've met and along the way. Next, we'll be talking about the game design, how you interact with it, how you're playing it, what the mechanics are, what makes it fun, what works, what maybe doesn't work as well. And then finally, we'll be talking impact on the industry. I've got a few thoughts here kind of related to like these big longstanding IPs and AAA studios making new games out of them. But I'll kind of save those thoughts for the end. But yeah, we'll get a little more speculative.

[00:20:28] We'll talk a little bit more numbers and talk about what maybe the lessons are learned from 007 First Light as it's launched. Narrative. Jake, 007 First Light. Here's what I'll say about the narrative right off the top. This is one of my favorite, if not my third favorite, maybe fourth. No, I'm going to say third.

[00:20:59] My third favorite Bond story, period. Expertly, I did not know that IO Interactive had writing shops like this. This is perhaps one of the best like written, produced cinematic gaming experiences that I've played just in the way that it all melts together. How cohesive it is. How like well paced it is.

[00:21:27] The writing and the acting of the voice actors just went off. Especially like Greenway. Yeah. He's like a well-known. He's a well-known British actor and like a ton of stuff. And that guy just killed it. Just absolutely killed it. This is just, I mean, they hit all the notes that you want from Bond. They don't pull any punches. They don't like, they make a modern Bond story that works. Especially in the context of like the AI. Yeah. Conversation that's happening right now.

[00:21:57] It is so relevant. It is so timely and so well told, right? Way better AI story than like the recent Mission Impossible movies that tried to do that as well. And they just like did it in such a better way and a smarter way. I was so full. I was so impressed by this. I'm going to be hard pressed to see this get unseated in the game, in my personal game of the year conversations. There is so much to praise.

[00:22:26] I would say about 007 First Light. This is a really, I think, difficult IP to tackle. It's been around forever, right? And everybody has their favorite Bond going back from, I think the, I guess, James Bond fans, please correct me on this. If I'm not mistaken, the first one is maybe Dr. No with Sean Connery, right? Yes. Is that right? Yeah. So I'm just pulling this up now. Okay. There it is. 1962 is when that one came out. Yeah.

[00:22:56] This has been around for a, for an extremely long time. Wow. And then I'm thinking doing the math 60 plus years. It's really hard. I feel like to get a really strong entry in James Bond. I think there's a lot of reasons for that. I think there's a lot of reasons for that. But honestly, I'll go over why I think the game really does it well. But just kind of to respond to what you're saying here, Cameron. It's an incredible story. IO Interactive understood the homework very well.

[00:23:22] And they managed to make a game that had a lot of nuance and interesting things to say about a really contemporary topic. I feel like this is one of the biggest risks of a lot of video games in particular. Because it takes so long to develop. And I'm trying to remember how long, like when this was first announced that they were doing this. I want to say it was quite a while ago. Let's see.

[00:23:49] The game entered full production at IO Interactive following the completion of Hitman 3 in 2021. Yeah. Dang. So this game was in development before AI. And it has something to say about AI. And I think it's so difficult if a game is in production for five years to have whatever its narrative themes still be viable five years out. And obviously, I think they made some sort of pivot in there. They had to have.

[00:24:16] But yeah, just to make something that feels so timely and just so well executed with a lot of different angles. Just like big, you know, props to the folks over there. You're right. Like I played Hitman 3. I loved it. It felt like a pretty generic spy story to me. But they understood how to make like a really compelling spy story in first light. Like super well done. Yeah. On the AI.

[00:24:43] I, man, I just, I'm having a hard time thinking about something that just nailed a relevant topic. Especially like in a video game, right? Like in a film or TV, obviously does this all the time. But in a video game thinking like, man, they just nailed this whole AI conversation in such a, you know, masterful way. Probably shouldn't have spoilers. Okay. It's so hard to say.

[00:25:12] And honestly, I think we've been vague enough. It's been okay. Because you get introduced to the first AI. Now, I just spoiled something. You get for you were first introduced to AI with Theia quite early on in the game. Like within mission three. Yeah. So there's an AI. So I'll talk around it. So I won't give away like key plot points in the game. But basically, this game does a phenomenal job of reflecting into a James Bond story.

[00:25:41] The, like the current landscape and conversation around AI, like in the world, especially how they, like the financial side of it, where there's this like need and desire by every, all the top dogs at all these like huge tech companies to push the narrative of AI and its ability to do like all these things. Way over, way beyond like what it's actually capable of. And in certain areas where it's like, it should not be used the way that it's like being used.

[00:26:12] And they just nailed that, like with some of the themes and like how they dealt with the story here. And then just like the James Bond element of it was like, they didn't shy away from James Bond just being the ultimate chaos maker. Where that's like his whole shtick is like the statistics don't apply to him. He just goes in and just his, his calling card is just create chaos and just smoothly get his way out of it. Right.

[00:26:36] Um, and it's just felt so good to, to, uh, you know, to like have these set pieces. And then they have all the set pieces in there as well. Right. Which hit man was, it's such, it was such a great, um, carry over from the hit man game is because that game is basically every mission is like this new super dope set piece in a different country or in like a resort or in like some cool city. And they do a million of these in hit man three.

[00:27:05] They have like all this experience with these different set pieces. And then they did that in this, in this bond game. Right. Like you've got this, this giant chateau, like, you know, in the hills of, you know, in the mountains, like in Europe. And you've got this like resort and, you know, in Vietnam and it's like super exotic location. And you have these like high tech buildings and like parties and like all these different amazing set pieces.

[00:27:29] And I thought the way that they interwove, um, this was just, I think content, you know, being so relevant, nailing the James Bond side of it. Like what everybody loves about James Bond and then just the pacing. I just thought this is impeccably paced. I never felt like, oh gosh, this part's dragging. Like the entire time I played this. Um, in fact, I got to certain points in the game where I was like, oh, this, this must be almost over.

[00:27:58] And then like the game kept going and I was like, oh, like we're still going here. And I was like, I was like, yeah, sweet. Let's do it. I want to see what's next. So yeah, I'm quickly pulling up my play time in here. I want to say that this game took me, um, probably somewhere. It took me over 15 hours to do the campaign, which is probably, I think I was 14 hours. I was going to say, I think it was probably a little longer than most. Okay. Yeah. So 15 plus hours, um, is how long it took me.

[00:28:26] This game feels like a nine hour game though, which is extremely rare. I feel like because of how it's paced. Um, yeah, but so some of my thoughts here, um, I think James Bond, James Bond is an incredibly difficult character to write because everybody already knows James Bond's character. We, you ask somebody who's seen a James Bond movie to write down a bullet point list of characteristics of James Bond. And we're, everybody's going to come up with like the same four or five things quite easily.

[00:28:54] Um, where some of the movies I feel like probably fail. It's like, let's just sort of James Bond in this new crazy scenario. Right. Right. And there is very little character development in James Bond because as a character, James Bond is well-developed. Everybody knows who James Bond is and kind of how he's going to respond to things. So I feel like the vast majority of Bond films kind of turn into these weird popcorn flicks where it's like, I just want to watch some action. And that's kind of what I'm doing there.

[00:29:21] Now, what I think 007 First Light manages to do because they start James Bond at the beginning of his journey to becoming a 00 agent is that they have remarkable character development. But beyond just it starting with the beginnings of James Bond, they give James Bond so many moments in which he can make a decision about who he really wants to be and where his loyalties are going to lie.

[00:29:49] And I love that because I feel like rarely in a James Bond movie, do you get that kind of questioning of like character and moral code of James Bond. Cameron, you're going to love what I'm about to say and you're going to forgive all of my bad gaming takes for what I'm about to say here. This is precisely what makes the Daniel Craig era of James Bond movies so compelling in the majority of those films.

[00:30:13] And that there was never any room or they never just let James Bond be a static character. But constantly in those films, they're giving James Bond and Daniel Craig moments to actually have character development despite or also retaining who the character of James Bond is at the end of the day. Like it still keeps those fortified bullet point characteristics while giving them character development.

[00:30:38] I think this is a monumentally difficult balancing act, but 007 First Light again manages to do that. And I'm not going to spoil it, but there is one character that you get introduced to early on who becomes more prominent in the second half of the game that constantly is allowing James Bond to reassess his values and his loyalties. And I was like, yes, this is the kind of stuff I want to see in a James Bond video game, right?

[00:31:05] Where it's like, or in a story just broadly just like, okay, who is James Bond and why does James Bond decide to continue to be James Bond? And so that being kind of interwoven into the narrative here, I agree with you. This is by far one of my favorite James Bond stories. Yeah, I think, man, there's a million things we could say, but I think, but I want to talk about, I want to move into mechanics.

[00:31:32] And we could probably have the whole episode on the narrative, but there'd be a lot of spoilers. Yeah, I think the last things I'll say here, just to echo kind of some of the sentiments you brought up, really remarkable writing and voice acting. Yes. Greenway, one of my favorite characters, I think, from 2026. Obviously, I think, you know, James Bond, Patrick Gibson does a remarkable job. But John Greenway, the actor's name in here is Lenny James. Fantastic job.

[00:32:01] And then there's somebody else who I really love, who I'm not going to talk about because you get to know them more in the second half of the game. But yeah, three characters in here, including James Bond, that I was just like, wow, these are incredibly well written and well acted. I thought James Bond's voice actor did a phenomenal job. I thought the writing was excellent. I thought the unraveling of the story, the plot. Yeah. I mean, dude, I would watch the film version of this all day.

[00:32:27] I mean, yeah, I don't even the only thing that the only thing that I still am not 100% committed to and aligned with is the visual look of the character. Like how the James Bond like face just the look. I don't know what it is. It's not that it's like bad. It just is a little bit off for me personally. I don't know why. It's a weird thing.

[00:32:56] It's just like a perception of like maybe how James Bond and maybe that's what people probably thought when they cast Daniel Craig is he was maybe a little bit off kilter. And then I mean, Daniel Craig. Come on. I don't know. For me, it's a scar on his face. Honestly, to have that giant scar in his cheek that comes from the first mission, the prologue mission in Iceland. That to me seemed a little odd. That was the one thing about his look that I couldn't reconcile. Yeah.

[00:33:23] So I think that's I think they had to put it's almost like they needed the scar because otherwise it's a bit too boyish. Now it is like a young James Bond. So I don't I don't know. That's the only thing. Everything else is great. I just this is that's the only thing. It just like it looks a little bit off to me. But I mean, that's like a that's like a minor complaint. But yeah, mechanically.

[00:33:48] So this is I mean, people have described this like uncharted meets hitman. I don't know if I would go so far as to say that. I think that it definitely has like I was shocked at how much uncharted level production they got into this game. I mean, they I don't I don't know if they get necessarily. They're not necessarily fully naughty dog level. But I mean, they're like 95 percent of the way there. I mean, they're like really close. I didn't know if they were going to be able to do that.

[00:34:17] I was like, how are they going to make like a James Bond game that felt that way? But dude, they as soon as you hit that first in that first real mission and you go license to kill mode. And you're like chasing the airplane and that whole sequence on the airplane. I was like, dude, they cooked somebody cooked here like right. Somebody like figured out how to get this done.

[00:34:40] And it just was the gameplay some like revolutionary thing that like, wow, this is like crazy, cool new mechanic. It's like, no, but it just it just made you feel like the way that you thought that you wanted to feel in that moment of the game. Like the shooting just feels cool and fun. It's not that it's the most like tactical, perfect shooting of all time, but it just feels right. It feels very visceral and like impactful.

[00:35:08] And it makes you feel like super cool, like the whole momentum of it, of grabbing the gun and you don't have that many bullets. And so you shoot the barrel. It blows up the guys. And then you run out of bullets. You throw your gun at the guy's head. You kick up with your foot, the machine gun into your hand, grab it, then aim at another guy. Boom, boom, boom. Right. It's like this is straight out of the I feel like I'm in the movie. That's the part that I thought was so impressive is like they got that feeling of like, oh,

[00:35:38] I am playing what the movie would feel like if I was playing the movie. Yeah, I think that these were some pretty bold game design decisions. Yeah. The one thing being like, no, you don't really hold on to a single gun and then find Ambo for it. This is much more like Halo where it's like now when you're out of bullets, you grab a new gun and you are just constantly kind of chaining action moments together rather than playing this. I was about to say tactically, but that's wrong.

[00:36:06] Like you don't play tactically in terms of how you are shooting enemies. You're playing it tactically tactively in terms of how you are interacting with this environment. And each level is designed for action after action. And the game, I think, is very much stacked in your favor. Right. You look at the cue watch and you're like, OK, there's like seven different things I can blow up here or different ways that I can just take out three enemies all at once without having to empty like an entire clip into a guy.

[00:36:34] And so I had to early on shift my mindset. I was like, no, this isn't like a traditional shooter in the sense of like, OK, find some guns, make sure I'm fully stocked on things and then like slowly go through a room and take it out. This game encourages like really quick play and utilizing the environment to your advantage. Use your PP. I mean, they never call it a PP7. They just call it your service weapon. But like use your pistol, shoot a few canisters, blow a few things up, knock down a few lights, push trolleys into people, punch a dude over the edge.

[00:37:04] Like this is so snappy and quick paced. I think for other people like the it'll probably take you a second or two to kind of get into this mode. But once you got into that mindset, like, yeah, this game was just I don't know, man. It was seriously just like, I don't know. I felt like I was lighting matches and hucking Molotov cocktails every three seconds. And I was shocked at how much because I know you and I, when we saw the extended gameplay, this game has a billion explosions per minute in it.

[00:37:33] And I am kind of surprised that all that stuff held up like in terms of performance as well. Yeah. Like, dude, game works. Game is pretty dang polished. It works. And yeah, it all this action that like, like I'm saying that you just chain together really quickly. It works really well. And it is just an adrenaline rush when you get into those license to kill moments and then contrast that with like what felt like to me, like very much Hitman gameplay where you're kind of the Hitman side of it.

[00:38:03] The Hitman side of it was really nice. There are multiple paths to getting objectives done. Lots of different challenges that you could do. This game has a ton of replayability in that sense. Right. But I would also say on the whole, even in the Hitman side of it, like where you are just undercover or you're going through a place slowly, the game is very much stacked in your favor. Like never did I really feel like I was stuck or I didn't have a path forward. Just keep poking around and you will catch a thread and you will progress the game.

[00:38:33] Yeah, I think they did a good job with those sections. Obviously, that's where the Hitman level design like shines. You're like you're going around. Very, very similar. Just a bit more contained, which I actually like. I think Hitman, Hitman 3 especially like can feel a bit overwhelming because there's different story threads that you can pull on in each level that are like offered to you as different paths to perform the assassination. Yeah.

[00:39:03] But there's like dozens of them. And then there's like 50 other ways on top of that that you can actually kill the target. And so that can feel like super overwhelming. I mean, I think in this they paired that down a bunch and you only had maybe three or four options, which was plenty of ways that you could do it. I think my only complaint on that side was that the gadget selection did not feel nearly as dynamic as maybe it doesn't Hitman where you have a lot more options.

[00:39:30] I felt like the watch at times was a bit throwaway in the sense that it didn't really matter what gadgets I selected, which I understand kind of why they did that. But they kind of felt interchangeable to me. Like the, you know, the chemical shooter thing that makes people sick, like the dart that makes people sick versus like the smoke bomb versus like the laser. A lot.

[00:40:00] They kind of do like the same thing. And I was maybe looking for a like a little bit more interactivity in terms of those gadget selections. I think where that that shines later, there's a later mission where they kind of go little ham wild with it without getting spoilers. That was like the best part. I feel like maybe they should have just, Hey, just here's the four gadgets that you have access to and you don't pick. Yeah. You just, they just give you, okay, here's the gadgets. And then you use those in different ways. Um, but that again, minor complaint.

[00:40:28] No, I, I absolutely agree with that. Essentially. I just went with my two or three favorites with the watch. Um, sometimes like you have an interactable and, uh, you could like, sometimes you get different options. Like, okay, if I overcharge this electronic, will it, will I sabotage it to distract or will I make it so it electrocutes a person nearby? Right. And so there was like some difference in there. Um, yeah, but I felt like ultimately I was like, I just don't know what I'm doing. I was stuck with the things that worked.

[00:40:57] I just had a balance between things that were like electric recharged and, you know, chemically prepared. So I had access to like recharging those different, uh, gadgets, but yeah, I, I absolutely agree. Um, I felt like the creativity got spread out too thin across all the different gadgets and maybe something a little more refined would have felt like a little more tactical or a little more unique and just like how you're going to use the watch as you get through different levels.

[00:41:24] Um, I mean, I primarily was using it just to be like, okay, I need a quick scan of the room. I need to find the person whose phone I need to hack. I need to find, you know, what, what I can do to this person or maybe what the responsibility is. And so I ended up just using it as a scanner more than anything else. Of course I had to use the gadgets and you have to, to progress through the levels, but that's how I first and foremost thought of the watch was like, okay, give me the scan of the room. Um, let's see what's going on here.

[00:41:50] Um, my other nit also no explosive pen, which that's a big miss, you know, missed opportunity. I gotta say, well, yeah, no comment. No, I know. Um, I was going to say the one thing that got me was the, the hang down and drop on a ledge. I felt like sometimes this would maybe be the one performance or something that didn't work as intended.

[00:42:19] There were several sections of the game where I was like, I'm pretty sure I have to drop down from this ledge, but it's not giving me the option to, and I pulled up a guide and it was like, you, you got it. You're right. Drop down from this ledge. And I was like, what the heck? And so I'd like search for like very specific places where a prompt would show up. And I had no real environmental clues that like, I can only drop down or climb a ledge in specific spots of that ledge.

[00:42:44] This is a super minor nitpick, but, um, there was just some, I had trouble climbing and jumping across ledges sometimes or specifically dropping down from ledges, which maybe this was a me problem, but it showed up enough that I was like, what is going on here? This should not be this difficult. I didn't notice that, but I mean, I do think the climbing obviously is like, like I said,

[00:43:13] it's like 90% of the way to like naughty dog, but they just don't quite get all the way. Yeah. Um, and I, I do, I did have one mission too, that I believe was fully glitched that I couldn't finish it. I did have one, I think actual bug in the game. It was very minor. Like I just, I hit the restart and it was like 30 seconds and then it like fixed itself. Um, but anyway, yeah, no, other than that, like no performance issues. I played on PC max, everything.

[00:43:42] This game is gorgeous. Yeah. This game is ridiculously good. Environment artists, artists like dude. Wow. You knocked this one out of the park. It's, I mean, dude, IO interactive. They did something here, man. I mean, maybe this is a good transition to like industry conversation, but I, I didn't know that I, again, I didn't know they had it like that. Well, sure. Let's transition into impact on the industry. Um, dude. Yeah.

[00:44:12] They, I don't know whatever bonus and production budget they got, they used it every last scent of it. And I think you can really feel that between, um, hit man world of assassination or hit man three and this, yeah. Just in terms of production, how things looked, everything just seemed to be a level up. It looks gorgeous. It's visually, it's like, not only does it look gorgeous from like a realism standpoint

[00:44:39] and just a sheer fidelity standpoint, but it's got like really the art direction is just fantastic in terms of the different settings. Like I'm thinking about like the club in London. I'm thinking about the, you know, like the resort that you go to. Um, there's like there, remember that whole thing in the museum? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:45:04] Dude, like they just go, the art direction just went off and there's obviously some sexy ladies in here as well, which, you know, that's part of bond. I think they nailed that part of it. I mean, honestly, I think they had a great job with it. It was done like smart and in like a way that fits so well with like the bond narrative without being like over the top, you know? Um, yeah, man, they, they did it. And yeah, so industry impacts like IO Interactive dude.

[00:45:33] Like, you know, that's a successful studio. Obviously Hitman's a successful franchise. I think Hitman 3 obviously was one of their bigger games. This game seemingly selling incredibly well. Um, they, I know Amazon owns the rights now. There's been some rumors and some hubbubs that like IO would not like own any sequels going on from first light, which I think is absolutely insane. Uh, so I don't, I don't know.

[00:46:01] Like it seems to me that Amazon game studios does not have any concept and cannot hire the right people to figure out how to actually complete a game or make a successful video game. They just cannot do it. They cannot do it. It is a failed thing. So if you are going to take, I know you own the bond franchise and I know that you're going to look at whatever executive over there that has zero video game experience is going to

[00:46:31] look over and be like, how hard could it be? Just make a game and put the bond, uh, you know, put, put the, the IP on it and it'll sell 6 million copies. No shot, bro. Cause like this thing is so expertly crafted. It's like, dude, you got to give IO their money and just let them keep making whatever thing comes in the future. And they've set an amazing starting off point. So potentially make a trilogy or multiple games off this. Yep.

[00:46:59] I think that's, I share that. That's the biggest concern is that Amazon is like, well, it wasn't that hard. They did it. So we'll just do it all in house now for cheaper when it's like, that's just completely ignoring the amount of talent and industry knowledge over there at IO interactive. This is the thing I kind of wanted to say is like, I would love to see more incredible pairings of longstanding IPs and studios. So I put this in the same boat as Indiana Jones with a great circle with machine games.

[00:47:28] Like they absolutely crushed that. And I'm like, please green light another Indiana Jones game from machine games because they did the homework. This is a studio that has a lot of expertise and talent and they can deliver you a hit. To me in this industry right now, in this kind of atmosphere and landscape of so much uncertainty and risk, it's like, dude, do not screw over your surefire bets, even though they might look more expensive on paper. Right.

[00:47:57] Machine guns, give them another Indiana Jones, you know, and then same thing. IO interactive. Dude, give them a trilogy of bond games. Let this be the first in a trilogy because they understand what they're doing here. Um, yeah, I'm just here on Wikipedia looking. It says the game sold 2.7 million units within the first week of release. This is an incredibly strong start. And yeah, let, let the experts do the thing, you know, don't, don't try to cheapen this and go for a quick buck.

[00:48:26] Um, so I definitely should. I mean, negotiate a licensing fee. Sure. Yeah. Right. But like make it small. You can't, don't be greedy. Don't get greedy. I mean, don't get greedy guys. Like you go, I know you're going to, you're going to want to, cause you're going to say, well, how hard could it be? But it is incredibly hard. It is so hard to make a good video game. Um, and something to this level.

[00:48:53] I mean, let's see if they started production in 2020. So five to six years. Yeah. I mean, they're right on track with how long it takes to, to make something like this. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, dude, like please let IO interactive make a trilogy of these games. Yes. Please. Like, I mean, they proven that, I mean, they knocked it out of the park. And yeah, I mean, just the last bit that I have to add to this is it took them five years to make this game.

[00:49:23] They have the assets. They have the knowledge. They have the talent. They can make a sequel in less than five years. Right? Yes. Please do not, do not, you know, throw the baby out with the bathwater or whatever, like with this game. So a big caution from us to the Amazon executives, to Jeff Bezos, who is absolutely listening to this podcast episode. I think other things to know is like, is, as much as it is easy to get tired with this

[00:49:52] current era of reboots and remakes, dude, if, if one is done well, like it's kind of all is forgiven. Right. And so I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing necessarily, but like, again, this is kind of going back to my point of like really excellent pairings means for makes for really excellent video games. Right. I would love to see my other hope would be like the Star Wars Galactic Racer this year.

[00:50:18] Like this is a game, you know, from former burnout devs, they're making that Star Wars racing game. It's like, hopefully this is another one where it's like, okay, as much as some people are really tired of maybe Star Wars or like other big franchises, when it hits, it hits. And we're reminded why we love these franchises in the first place. That's what happened for me for Indiana Jones. And now for this James Bond game, it's just like, man, now I want to go back and rewatch

[00:50:44] those movies because I'm like, oh, this is why I, I like these franchises. This is why they're so popular. And so I don't know. I just think like reboots and remakes are not inherently bad things, right? As much as I think a lot of people are really tired of seeing news related to that. But I think if you're really smart about it and you're careful in planning them, they will get the ROI, but also the goodwill and the quality that you want to get out of them.

[00:51:15] Yeah, a hundred percent. I think there's something to this strategy of taking beloved IP and handing it out to really, um, studios that are expert in a very specific craft. I think another great example, you mentioned Star Wars Galactic Racer and the burnout people. We're seeing the same thing with Star Wars. Clearly the Disney people, like the Disney gaming people have like, I think they have the

[00:51:42] right idea here, like, uh, the, um, um, Oh, are you zero company? Is that what you're thinking of? Star Wars zero company given to the XCOM, the former XCOM people, right? Like another fantastic, like match made in heaven. I own interactive and bond. I mean, yeah. Match made in heaven. Uh, it, it software and Indiana Jones match made in heaven, right?

[00:52:07] Like I'm sure there's a, there's a dozen plus more of these that, uh, that could be done that could make some like very, very special, uh, very special games. But you know, people are so protective of their IP, man. They're, they're greedy. They want all the money. Yeah. So don't ruin it. Don't mess it up. You have a good thing going. Breaking news.

[00:52:33] Speaking of industry talk, Jake is the Xbox series X just went up another a hundred dollars. Okay. What's that put it at? The one terabyte version. So I think it's now somewhere close to 800. Nice. Anybody want to buy mine? I'm selling it for seven 50. So, oh dude, this is this, this, this industry is speaking of impact on the industry. This industry is a total disaster.

[00:53:00] Um, also Bungie, basically half of the entire studio was laid off today. So, um, condolences go out to my former colleagues, uh, over there at Bungie. Um, I've said that I've, I've made this, uh, I I've said the phrase three times on this episode, caught the last chopper out of nom, but that was another one. That's the third chopper you caught out of nom. That's the many choppers out of nom that I've caught. But, uh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:53:28] Um, yeah, this, this industry is crazy, dude. Um, I just hope that we continue to get cool games like this. Like every time we get a cool game like this, I'm like super grateful for it. Super just thrilled by it because I just fear that there'll be a time where we just won't, it just won't happen. Right. It's, you know, we're, we're headed towards the, there's two IPs and we just have one monster game that just keeps getting content added onto it.

[00:53:55] Uh, hopefully that's not the future that we're headed towards, but, um, yeah, it's, uh, it kind of sucks out there. It sucks that it'd be getting all these amazing games and having these games like bond and this incredible slate of games coming like it's September. But then you look at September and you see, you know, like probably 13 games that look incredible. Half of those are probably going to have studio closures because they're just not going to be able to sell enough.

[00:54:21] And that's just the crap industry that, that, uh, you and I happen to love, which is why we do a podcast about it. So it sucks to see something you love kind of get dragged through the mud. Um, just hope that there's people passionate about passionate enough to keep going despite all the interference. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, I'm, I'm looking right now, even July, August, September, October, like

[00:54:50] the amount of games coming out, it's, it's simultaneously really exciting and also really scary. Right. Um, like one game that I've been thinking about is the, is the big walk from the studio that made the title goose game. This looks like a super awesome, amazing, wacky, creative game. And I'm like, how long has it been since they released entitled goose game? If they don't get enough people, like, is that studio going to be having problems? Right. Yeah. That's a multiplayer focused game.

[00:55:20] You really, you know, for me, I'm like, man, I hope that's like a viral Twitch hit or whatever to, but yeah, I don't know. It's this really strange in 2026. It's just gotten more extreme. This kind of excitement for all the games coming out, but also this just like, man, uncertainty of just like where the industry is headed. But yeah. Um, just to kind of close this out, coming back to double seven first light, this was an excellent game.

[00:55:48] I think it surprised me in a lot of really good ways. Um, and yeah, I just would love to see a follow-up to this game from IO interactive. Like they, they made something. It's got the sauce as they say. So let them cook. In three years, in two and a half to three years, I want to see the next installment of this and I want it to be another eight to 10 hour experience. It can be the exact same graphics engine. Yeah.

[00:56:17] Don't do anything else with the engine. Just make more content. Slap a first light to on it. Second light. Or whatever the new second light. Yeah, whatever. Um, and let's keep going. So ladies and gentlemen, that's been our episode talking double seven first light. If you'd like the show, please leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. Helps people find the show. Please join us on our discord channel to join in the conversation. Give us feedback. Talk about video games. Please sign up for Patreon.

[00:56:46] Patreon.com slash perioder cast where you get additional content from us, special topics and extended editions of our regular episodes. That's just five bucks a month to get access to all of that and more. Please watch Jake stream on Twitch, twitch.tv slash chip debate teen and support him. Thank you so much for listening and have a great night.