007 First Light strikes a key balance between keeping James Bond grounded while also placing him in believably outlandish sequences, but for longtime fans of the franchise, the lack of any over-the-top gadgets was sorely missed in the game. That’s not to say that developer IO Interactive didn’t consider giving Bond some extra black ops hardware during the development of the game, but these gadgets were cut back so that Bond’s arsenal would more accurately reflect the world he was living in–which meant no alligator submarine, flamethrower bagpipes, or a boombox rocket launcher.
“We had things in it that we thought were going to be cool, but when you play it, it turns out it’s not cool, it just looks silly,” senior combat designer Tom Marcham said to GameSpot. “There was definitely a point where it felt like he’d become Mr. Gadget, and we had to tune it back.”
Bond’s gadgets in 007 First Light focus primarily on espionage and creating windows of opportunity, something Marcham said suited the close-quarters nature of the gameplay and Bond’s character. “We didn’t want to go into overly gamey stuff where he was always using tasers or sleep darts. It didn’t seem to fit the character. So that led us down this route of having this close combat element,” Marcham explained.
That’s not to say that IO Interactive isn’t considering expanding on Bond’s field kit, as the studio is always experimenting with ways to add another layer of replayability to 007 First Light. “I think we’ll continue to expand with ways you can replay encounters and play about with the ruleset so that we can get more out of the campaign that we have,” Marcham said. “We’re still messing around with the gadget side of stuff. I think there’s a whole world that you can explore with who Bond is and why he uses gadgets.”
One of the big hits of 2026, 007 First Light sold 1.5 million units in its first 24 hours. Similar to its work on the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy, IO Interactive has a year’s worth of post-launch content lined up, including new challenges and upgrades, photo mode, new game plus mode, and a story expansion featuring the game’s worst character, Lenny Kravitz’s pirate king Bawma. For more on the making of 007 First Light, you can read our in-depth interview with Marcham and explore how its soundtrack came together.