Hitman developer IO Interactive\u2019s pluralistic take on the British secret agent \u2013 his first video-game outing in almost 15 years \u2013 promises a Bond for all eras. Here\u2019s what you need to know<\/p>\n
If you want to tell the tale of a young James Bond, you first need to pick which James Bond he\u2019s going to grow into. This was the task handed to Hitman developer IO Interactive, the studio taking digital custody of the spy in 007 First Light, Bond\u2019s first video game in almost 15 years. So what\u2019s it to be? Will their agent take baby steps towards Sean Connery\u2019s gruff masculinity, or is he practising Roger Moore\u2019s arched eyebrow in the bathroom mirror? That\u2019s if he\u2019s a \u201cmovie\u201d Bond at all. For a generation of gamers, the character exists most vividly as a hand at the bottom of the screen in GoldenEye 007.<\/p>\n
As it turns out, 007 First Light\u2019s Bond, depicted by Patrick Gibson (cornering a specific market, having played the serial killer-to-be in the Dexter origins show) is an amalgam: the facial scar is an Ian Fleming detail, but the sweet-talking charm is straight from the Pierce Brosnan playbook, and the second you barge a goon into a bookcase you know someone\u2019s been studying Casino Royale on a loop. Trying to devise a Bond for all fandoms could risk satisfying none, but in the demo we played, the performance works. Crucially, Gibson brings an outsider\u2019s unease that\u2019s all his own, anchored by the arrogance that\u2019ll one day be weaponised by MI6.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9abb5d6588d3fcf82fc8c391e2e3f7d7904745d1\/208_0_1350_1080\/master\/1350.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=04a5369ac0b7e54e8396bb575e620601\" "\\"\u2018You")
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