Introduction

007 First Light is the first James Bond game in almost a decade and a half, developed by IO Interactive, best known for its work on the Hitman franchise. Described by IO Interactive as its "most ambitious project to date," 007 First Light is a modern retelling of the timeless James Bond story. Players are put in Bond's shoes as he goes through training and slowly rises through the Double-0 program, all while traveling across the world, racing to stop yet another global conspiracy.

The game is based on IO's in-house Glacier engine, which has powered most of IO Interactive's games, from Freedom Fighters to Hitman 3. The latest version of the engine supports DirectX 12, path tracing (which will be added to the game in a future update), huge crowds of NPCs, and impressive-looking lighting. 007 First Light also supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR upscaling, along with DLSS Frame Generation. There is no support for any version of Intel XeSS or FSR Frame Generation. You also get TAA antialiasing.

Our handheld performance review evaluates how the latest James Bond game performs across a range of popular PC handhelds, including Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X, and MSI Claw 8. We'll also share optimized settings for most devices.