We’ve finally been able to see some of 007 First Light‘s gameplay, thanks to a deep dive shown at the latest State of Play, and the upcoming Bond adaptation has already proven that it’s learning from the Hitman series. Developed by IO Interactive, whose name has always been synonymous with Hitman, 007 First Light sees its developer exploring a familiar, yet different, piece of intellectual property.

After all, Bond is not Hitman, and Bond is not Agent 47. Even though the games look similar on the surface, with their sandbox gameplay and secret agent conceits, their respective leading men and characteristic styles of storytelling couldn’t be more different. Thankfully, 007 First Light has a solution for that.

007 First Light “Breathes”

How It Balances Story & Sandbox

Speaking to Eurogamer, 007 First Light director Hakan Abrak personified the game, saying, “It breathes.” His concerns here are structural: the game expands and contracts, inhales and exhales, to accommodate both tighter, more linear story sections, and wide open sandbox sequences.

A particular mission might open with a long, on-rails walking simulator, where you control Bond in the loosest sense of the word as he travels a predetermined path and listens to some kind of story-pertinent dialogue. It’s not just dialogue scenes, either; sometimes you might be forced into a shootout or a particular kind of sneaking sequence, too, says Eurogamer.

But then, Bond’s conversational partner leaves, the shootout ends, or he reaches his objective, the restraints melt away, and you’re free to explore the environment and move forward as you wish. In these sections of the game, IOI aims to deliver on the Hitman legacy, giving longtime fans of its output exactly what they want.

In the long run, this could give 007 First Light a significantly stronger story than the average Hitman game. And really, if it’s going to live up to the Bond legacy, that much is to be expected.

Story & Sandbox Can Both Be Limiting

But Blending Both Is Genius

Any game with a story – which is most games, nowadays – has its own unique way of spoon-feeding plot points. Most simply relegate the plot to cutscenes, which break up the gameplay and wrest control away from the player. That’s not always a bad thing, but it is distracting.

Some games attempt to resolve this with a Metal Gear-esque radio system, allowing players to maintain control while the relevant NPCs chatter in their ear. That approach has its merits, but it can be equally distracting if the conversations go on too long, or the simultaneous gameplay gets too intense – think Chadley in FF7 Rebirth.

Hitman typically falls into the latter category, at least in the World of Assassination era: there may be a single on-rails sequence at the beginning of each game, and most missions begin with very brief cutscenes before dropping you into the free-play sandbox. But overall, the grand majority of the plot unfolds in off-screen chatter.

That’s perfectly fine, and it rarely distracts from the actual gameplay of Hitman, but it doesn’t work for Bond. This is a decades-spanning, multimedia franchise that has always been synonymous with international intrigue. Any Bond adaptation, including 007 First Light, needs the space to get a little cinematic every now and again if it’s going to make such a complicated story work.

007 First Light Aims For Balance

Story, Meet Sandbox

In short, 007 First Light is in a unique position. It needs to achieve two very disparate goals, catering both to Bond fans, who are expecting big cinematic setpieces and a straightforward story, and to Hitman fans, who want a sandbox structure with variable approaches to each level and plenty of opportunity for exploration.

This “breathing” structure sets 007 First Light up to succeed at these two very disparate goals. It can narrow its focus as needed in order to impart important story beats, then expand to give players the freedom they’ve come to expect.

It’s not a totally unique approach: it’s similar to how Indiana Jones and the Great Circle presented its story, with big, coordinated stunts, followed by more open segments where you could explore the world and search for secrets. 007 First Light takes player freedom a step further, with variable approaches to its various stealth sequences; it’s not just an open world, it’s a living one, responding dynamically to your actions, and leaving several paths open to you at any given time.

It’ll still be a difficult feat. It’ll be challenging to balance sandbox sequences with railroaded story scenes – too much of one inevitably weakens the other by wrecking the pacing, keeping the player waiting for far too long.

But even if it does stray at times, with overlong sequences of either forced story or open-ended exploration, I think it’ll ultimately serve the goals of both story and gameplay without completely sacrificing either. This approach makes me a little more optimistic about the road ahead for 007 First Light and its ability to balance the unique needs of two very different franchises.