#68 - 007 First Light

Hey, it's been a while! 007 First Light released in late May 2026 and, as a huge James Bond fan, I knew immediately I needed to write a review of this game.

Before I started writing about video games, I had a movie review blog where I essentially did this, but for films. And the James Bond film franchise was my magnum opus. When COVID put everyone on lockdown, I decided to re-watch the entire franchise and write a daily review of each film, starting with the first TV appearance of James Bond, the Climax! Mystery Theater episode, Casino Royale (1954). You can read each film's review throughout April 2020 in the blog archive at that link, with the most recent film, No Time to Die (2021), reviewed in October 2021.

Anyway... I've been a big James Bond nerd since my childhood, so this new game caught my attention. I know the film franchise has been struggling in the past couple decades, and with Amazon buying out MGM Studios and then green-lighting this game, I knew it'd live up to the quality of the film franchise.

By the way, this game is developed by IO Interactive, the Danish game development company known for the Hitman games. So it was no surprise to find stealth and infiltration elements from those games in this one. Honestly, it was nice to actually use stealth, bluffs, and misdirects to sneak around an area, instead of just going in guns blazing like most James Bond games. The puzzles and sneaking were so much more satisfying than just rushing through a level with a gun. Made me feel like a real spy.

NOTICE: I will only be discussing the first four chapters of this game (chapters 00-03), in generic detail, so as not to spoil the main plot of the game. Basically, I'm just going through the intro, tutorial, and slight introduction to the main plot, which surprisingly takes a whole four chapters to get going.

Also, this game is extremely lore heavy, so I will be summarizing a lot instead of getting into the fine details. I want you to enjoy the full plot in your playthrough, not have every minor detail explained in advance here.

Note: I didn't realize it until after I beat the whole game, but I had a graphics option titled "radial blur effects" turned on, which apparently blurs the edges of my screen. I didn't notice during gameplay, because I was mostly focused on what's in the center of the screen, but looking back at my screenshots, I now see that the edges are all blurry. Sorry about that!

This game is actually an origin story for James Bond, not only rebooting the franchise, but showing how he came to join the British Intelligence office of MI6.

It starts with a baby-faced Aircrewman James Bond, part of a rescue team on a mission to Iceland. As they near the coastline, suddenly their fleet of helicopters are shot down! Being next to an open door, Bond is thrown out and manages to survive the crash into the icy ocean waters.

We see this is how he got his iconic cheek scar. Ian Fleming, the original author of the James Bond novels, described Bond as having a faint scar across his right cheek; a distinct trademark missing from his movie appearances.

Bond finds a radio in the ruins on the beach but is immediately set upon by enemies, scouring the wreckage for survivors. He manages to sneak past them and move further inland.

When he does get a signal on his radio, the intelligence office MI6 intercepts and asks who he is. There's a classified research base in the area that belongs to them. It's been taken over by some sort of terrorist organization and MI6 asks Bond to sneak in and give them a SITREP (Situation Report) so they can take control of the situation.

You find out that MI6 has bombs planted all over the research facility, to avoid any secrets escaping. This plays in the favor of the terrorists, who have stolen the detonator and plan to blow up the site when they're done looting it. You sneak in a window and don an enemy's coat and mask, allowing you to walk among them.

You enter the large tent in the center of the base and find a wreckage being excavated. MI6 asks you to pull the on-board computer, but it's already missing.

You find yourself fighting consciousness and MI6 informs you that a nerve agent was released in the tent and has contaminated you. You have precious little time to find an antidote before you're dead. You manage to inoculate yourself and survive, but your terrorist disguise is contaminated, so you ditch it. You now have to sneak around the camp in your aircrew outfit. No more blending in.

With the information you collected for MI6, they determine who the terrorists are and where they're going to sell the on-board computer. They tell you the situation is contained and that you should clear out of the area and wait for an extraction.

But Bond isn't finished. He discovers there are still scientists being held captive, and this terrorist group doesn't leave survivors. MI6 informs him that he has a less-than-one percent chance to rescue everyone and escape and that he should stand down. Bond accepts those odds and hangs up on MI6.

Bond gets ahold of the detonator and manages to make a run for it with all the survivors, but draws the attention of the whole base in the process. In a desperate attempt to escape, Bond and the survivors fight up a rocky valley until they find themselves cornered on the edge of a cliff over the ocean.

Bond tells the terrorists to stand down or he'll blow them all up. They call his bluff, and in true Bond fashion, he follows through on his threat and detonates the entire base.

Cue a standard James Bond title sequence, with the game's theme song, credits, and lots of dancing silhouettes and guns. You can't call it a Bond property without one.

We cut to MI6 headquarters a month later, where James Bond is being brought in for questioning. We meet Moneypenny in the lobby, who escorts Bond to M, the head of MI6.

Despite the disastrous Iceland conflict, where Bond chose to destroy the asset rather than let MI6 retrieve it, M actually offers to recruit Bond as a spy. He's brash, difficult, and ignores orders at his whim, but his methods managed to save lives and stop terrorists, despite a very slim chance of success.

M has recently reactivated an old 00 program, which was previously discontinued. There are already six recruits in training for it and M makes Bond the seventh. He's shipped off to Malta, where he'll attend basic training with the rest of the recruits.

Bond meets John Greenway, the training instructor, who immediately dislikes Bond. He assigns the top two recruits, Cressida and Monroe, to catch Bond up to speed.

Bond then proceeds to flash through several training courses including driving, sharpshooting, hand-to-hand combat, and capture-the-flag from OpFor (Opposing Forces).

I especially like that they brought back the 2006 Aston Martin DBS from Casino Royale (2006) for you to practice your driving with.

RANDOM TRIVIA: The DBS was originally only available from 1967-'72. Aston Martin resurrected the DBS model for Casino Royale (2006), giving it a modern spin for the spy flick. Commercial DBS models were then sold from 2007 on. I still see Casino Royale (2006) as a modern James Bond film, so it hurts my old heart when Bond calls it a classic car in this game.

Upon graduating basic training, Bond returns to MI6 where he's issued his standard gear from Q-Branch.

We meet Q, who gives Bond "Q-lenses" that provide an AR (Augmented Reality) overlay for him, so he can see stats on his equipment like weapons, ammo, and gadget supplies.

We're also issued the standard Omega watch. You're allowed to choose which one you'd like. As far as I can tell, the only difference is the color of the wristband.

You're assigned to a luxurious safehouse in Bayswater, London, with Monroe and Cressida as your roommates. You're informed that you will be bouncing between Malta and London as your 00 training requires.

The game flashes through seven months of a training montage. Upon completing a final training course in Malta, the recruits decide to enjoy a night out in a club in London.

Unfortunately, your celebration is cut short when you're all given a mission. Some leaked government information is being exchanged at the club you're attending, so you split into teams to track potential targets and investigate the situation.

This is where you learn how to eavesdrop on conversations; an important information-gathering skill in crowds.

Upon a successful mission, the recruits are all informed to report to M at 8 AM the next day. Turns out, the former 009 from the previous 00 program, despite being underground for years, has reemerged.

He, and several other 00 agents, were marked as traitors to the crown, which led to the end of the 00 program. All had been eliminated except 009, who vanished. Now, he returns claiming to have evidence of a conspiracy against the state. He requests a full pardon if he turns it in, but he will only exchange it with John Greenway.

The meeting place is set for the Grand Carpathian Hotel in the High Tatra Mountains of Slovakia, during a World Chess Championship.

The 00 recruits are tasked to track down and monitor 009 until the exchange with Greenway concludes, since they're all new to the system. Their faces aren't really known yet, making them perfect infiltrators for the clever and dangerous 009.

Greenway, finding Bond to be reckless and unreliable, tasks him with being a chauffeur stuck with the vehicle, while everyone else gets to dress up and attend the fancy event. Bond is bored, hanging out in the parking lot, until he sees a suspicious blonde bellhop dump someone's luggage over a railing.

Ignoring orders, Bond pursues the suspicious person, eventually finding himself wrapped up in a grander plot within the hotel that changes the course of the whole story.

From here, Bond will travel all over the world in pursuit of a global threat, from a pirate king's black market city on the desert coastline of Mauritania...

To a luxury resort in Vietnam...

To a secret research facility hidden in Antarctica.

Bond will experience all sorts of adventure...

Danger...

And even take some... recreational breaks.

The young Bond will even learn to tie a bow tie for the first time, in a quick-time event with Q.

Oh, and the pirate king is played by Lenny Kravitz, who plays it as... Lenny Kravitz.

This game was loads of fun! It took me about 17 hours to play through it and it felt like an immersive James Bond film the whole way through. The music was incredible and the visuals were spectacular. Every time I thought the story was reaching its peak, another twist would occur that would ignite a new direction for the plot.

And when you're done with the campaign, there are "Tactical Simulations" you can play, where Bond can explore custom missions with timed goals to accomplish. You can train in these simulations and get ranked based on your score.

You can actually find the employee who designed it while talking with people in Q-Branch during your gameplay, and she'll offer to let you try it out before you continue. So it's not strictly an endgame thing.

This was one of the rare games where, as soon as I finished it, I was tempted to start it up again from the beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it! I really hope this spawns a franchise of connected games, instead of the random one-off Bond games we've had over the years.

#59 - Far Cry 5

Welcome back! For my next screenshot-laden game discussion, I'm going to be talking about my favorite of the Far Cry series, Far Cry 5.

The original Far Cry was released in 2004 by Crytek to demonstrate the expansive capabilities of their brand-new CryEngine. As such, it was more of a tech demo than a solid video game title. Sure, it had a story and missions to complete, but it was mainly focused on showing off long-distance outdoors scenery, something that was difficult to render in those days. The game took place on a lush green tropical island and pushed computer hardware of the time to the limits of their functionality.

Ubisoft quickly bought up the Far Cry franchise from Crytek and proceeded to remake the original game, including several direct spin-offs/sequels of it, all for consoles. These were severely limited due to console hardware at the time, so they were far more linear and lower quality than the original open world PC game.

Crytek, meanwhile, made a deal with EA to develop a whole new game called Crysis, which would become famous for having realistic physics rendering and graphics far beyond consumer PCs' capabilities. Crysis would become the benchmark for high-end computers for many years afterward. But that's a game discussion for another time...

When it came time to make a true numerical sequel to Far Cry, Ubisoft decided they needed to get away from the tropical jungle setting. A lot of games at the time were focusing on that setting, including the new Crysis franchise. Plus, they felt like the main character from Far Cry just wasn't interesting enough to become the face of the franchise. So Far Cry 2 was actually a completely new game, with a new story, a new protagonist, and set in an unnamed African nation.

And thus began Ubisoft's trend of resetting the whole franchise with each new title. So jumping to the 2018 title Far Cry 5 isn't skipping any important story or background; it's an original standalone game. Although Far Cry: New Dawn is a direct sequel to this game; don't play it unless you want spoilers to the ending of Far Cry 5.

If you want a cool intro to Far Cry 5, Steam has a free 30-minute video called Far Cry 5: Inside Eden's Gate. It's a live-action prologue, following three people (one of which is a vlogger) who attempt to infiltrate the Eden's Gate cult. They meet with a local man who claims his sister just abandoned her home and joined the cult. She's changed, dedicating her whole life to the cult's religious beliefs, and refuses to come home. This video shows how people are brainwashed into joining Eden's Gate, as well as how news of the cult spread outside of Hope County, Montana, which brings us to the intro of the game.

Far Cry 5 begins with clips of a documentary talking about Eden's Gate, a dangerous cult in the fictional Hope County, Montana. They discuss how the cult started buying up land, then the local radio station, then even the cops. Before the locals realized it, Eden's Gate was in control of all of Hope County. They're a militant religious doomsday cult, preparing for the End Times, which they believe is coming soon. Their leader, Joseph Seed, is worshiped by the cult followers as a prophet. He's also known as "The Father."

We cut to you riding in a helicopter over Hope County. You play a rookie deputy to the local sheriff's department, accompanying a U.S. Marshal. You, the Hope County Sheriff, and another local deputy, are escorting the U.S. Marshal to an Eden's Gate compound. The sheriff keeps mentioning "Peggies," which he explains is what they call the cult followers here.

Your helicopter lands in the compound and you find yourself in a tense situation. Peggies are everywhere and not happy at your presence. The four of you nervously walk up to the church in the compound and let yourselves in, approaching Joseph Seed at the altar as he gives his congregation a dangerous sermon.

Despite the sheriff trying to keep the situation calm, the hot-headed U.S. Marshal walks up to Joseph and thrusts a warrant for his arrest in his face, demanding he turn himself in. The crowd gets agitated and you suddenly find yourself surrounded by angry, armed Peggies... until Joseph himself calms them down. He tells them that it's all right, they planned for this, and he will NOT be taken. He then offers himself up for capture.

Now, here's an opportunity to play a secret (and quick) ending to this game. You can choose not to cuff Joseph at this point and instead walk away. If you do, the sheriff will comment that it's best to leave the cult alone and that the team would likely die if they attempted to arrest Joseph anyway.

But then we wouldn't have a game to play, so... you cuff Joseph and escort him back to the helicopter. The Peggies outside are highly agitated at this turn of events and the closer to the helicopter you get, the more tense the situation gets.

You strap Joseph into the helicopter and are prepared for takeoff, but the Peggies don't want you to leave with him. They start jumping on the helicopter and the team is forced to fight them off as they lift off into the air. One climbs over the windshield and into the blades, causing the helicopter to come crashing down!

You awake to find Joseph recovering from the crash. He calls off support over the radio, then tells you, "I told you God wouldn't let you take me." He gives you a grave warning:

Peggies gather around Joseph as he rallies them toward action. Which begins by taking you and your team captive.

The Peggies manage to grab the deputy, but a burst of flames from the helicopter holds them back long enough for you to unhook yourself and bolt into the woods. You run from shouting and gunfire, quickly learning how to hide in the foliage and silently pick off stragglers.

Arming yourself, you meet up with the U.S. Marshal in a trailer house, where you have a stand-off with a wave of Peggies. Hopelessly outnumbered, the U.S. Marshal jumps into a pickup truck and instructs you to ride shotgun and keep the Peggies off your tail. Thus ensues an action-packed car chase, through blockades, gunning down trucks and ATVs filled with Peggies, and even an airplane armed to the teeth!

Despite your best efforts, the U.S. Marshal ends up crashing the truck into a river. He's captured by Peggies, but some stranger fishes you out of the river downstream. You wake up in a bunker, facing an older guy who calls himself Dutch.

He explains that your coming was prophesied by Eden's Gate and it's set off "The Collapse." Basically, they think society is on the brink of destruction now, so they're leaning hardcore into their plans to secure Hope County. All roads are blocked, all signals in and out of the valley are cut. We're completely isolated out here. And now they're going to force all the locals to "save themselves" and convert to their cult... or die.

Dutch tells you to change clothes so he can burn your uniform. It's just going to make you a target from now on, so best to get rid of it. This is your first opportunity to customize your character's appearance and clothing outside of just picking a gender.

When you find Dutch, he's hanging out in a sort of war room of the bunker, with an information board on the wall showcasing the four leaders of Eden's Gate. You can read the bios on all four of them at this point. There are the three brothers: Joseph, Jacob, and John Seed. Then the "sister" Faith, a woman who mysteriously showed up one day to join their family. Joseph is leader over all of Eden's Gate, while each sibling controls a region of Hope County.

Dutch's bunker is on an island between all three regions of the map. He sends you out to help him clear Peggies off his island before you set off to build a resistance and liberate all three regions of Hope County. Every mission you complete, whether it's part of the main story or side missions, helps to free more citizens in a region and build a stronger resistance against the Eden's Gate leader in that region.

Once you clear the island, you're free to go anywhere on the map you desire. There are three main quest lines for you to follow, one per region. They will eventually lead to toppling the leader of that region, which you have to accomplish before you can go after Joseph himself. Or you can just explore anywhere and knock out any side quests or other objectives you come across. You can also rescue and hire resistance members to follow you and help out.

While approaching enemies, it's best to first look at them down your sights or through binoculars to tag them, so you can follow them no matter where they go in the area. You can even tag objectives in an area, to help you plan your strategy accordingly.

You get bonus points for clearing missions undetected, so I highly recommend the stealth approach. You can sneak up and break enemies' necks or use silenced weapons from afar. My preferred weapon of choice is the bow and arrow. No one ever hears it coming! Just remember to hide bodies, because roaming patrols will alert a whole compound if they find a body. And some compounds have alarms that will draw in reinforcements. Make sure to disable the alarms before assaulting a compound, or take out anyone running to set off the alarm.

This game also includes hunting and fishing, as you need supplies to trade, barter, and survive in the wild. The wildlife in this game is very diverse, and some deadly if you're not careful. I've been bitten by several snakes and my only warning was a rattling sound just before they struck. The sound effects are not just ambient noise! Pay attention to them!

If you lose all your health, you pass out and get a cutscene of being captured by the leader of whatever region you're in. They go over how they're going to "free you of sin" in their own sick twisted way, before you're shipped off to a detention center.

But your prisoner transport is ambushed by the local resistance and you manage to escape! Then you have to fight through the internment camp, clear it of Peggies, then survive wave after wave of Peggies before a rescue helicopter comes for you. Only then can you go back to exploring the map. So losing all your health (without a resistance member nearby to quickly revive you) is kind of an ordeal.

I really like that they include this gameplay in the game. It allows the story to continue, so there's no actual death of the player. And it ties into the lore of the game while making you work to get back on track with your mission; a sort of entertaining punishment for failing to survive. It's much more creative than just showing a "Game Over" screen and then resetting you at your last save point, and it gives you motivation to stay alive and not just accept a quick defeat.

These same prison vans can be found driving all over the map and you can assault them and free the captive locals inside. After being captured once yourself, you'll likely feel the need to chase after every prison van you see afterward. No one should be subjected to that torture!

I absolutely love the visuals in this game! The forested mountainous region of Montana is absolutely gorgeous and they do an excellent job showcasing it, especially if you have a computer than can max out this game's graphics. Here are a few screenshots of my actual gameplay in the world, no cutscenes involved. Open them in a new window to enjoy their full 4K quality:

I guess this game resonates with me because I used to be extremely religious in my youth. I even carried a pocket Bible with me everywhere I went and would quote scriptures as I felt they applied to situations. My friends all voted me most likely to become a pastor one day.

But I was also a very curious person who loved to learn and study new things. I wanted to understand the Bible as much as I could. And when I started to find contradictions and inconsistencies in my Bible, I turned to my pastor and congregation for answers. But I received a resounding "have faith; don't question the Lord" dismissal, from pretty much everyone. The more I looked into it, the more problems I found, and the less friendly my religious community got about helping me resolve it.

After giving the Bible a full read from cover to cover, I discovered that it was an awful book full of glorified rape, torture, infanticide, bestiality, war, incest, as well as plenty of other horrifying topics, all sanctioned by God. It's no wonder we cherry-pick passages every Sunday! There are too many stories that aren't church-friendly in that book. You can't do a straight reading of the Bible without losing your congregation. I turned atheist pretty quick and learned to apply critical thinking and logic in the future instead of blindly trusting something to be true.

This game is all about the extreme end of that religious faith. Joseph Seed is considered a prophet, supposedly given direct communications from God about an upcoming apocalypse and how His chosen few can survive. Joseph's methods are based on the concept of "the ends justify the means." He will do whatever it takes to save "his people," even if it means violently kidnapping, torturing, and brainwashing them.

Even worse, the way the four Seed siblings preach to their congregation, the serene country/gospel music, even the way cult members worship, all remind me of my church-going days. Which were very happy, nostalgic days for me. So I personally feel this nostalgic pull toward this very evil cult and I have to remind myself that this cult is doing an excellent job in making it seem so appealing.

Joseph Seed is what happens when a cult is designed to dominate a culture and indoctrinate all its citizens, and this game is a good look at this kind of world from an outsider, trapped within it. It is a terrifying concept, but all the more fun to play a protagonist who is able to resist and fight back against this fascist takeover of an indoctrinated region. Which seems rather relevant in today's world.

If/when you find Boomer, make sure to give him lots of pets! He's a very good boy.