Review scores for 007 First Light fell in the morning after review copies went out right before the holiday weekend and settled at an 88 Metacritic score on both PlayStation 5 and PC.
Patrick Gibson, who plays a 26-year-old James Bond in 007 First Light, is the central figure in those early judgments as critics parcel out their takes on IO Interactive’s origin story.
The number is the story’s weight: an 88 on Metacritic for PS5 and PC is high enough to mark the game as a notable comeback for the franchise in games form. As one outlet put it bluntly, "007 First Light has nabbed an 88 Metacritic score on both PS5 and PC at the moment." Another reviewer concluded, "So, 007 First Light is great."
Those scores landed as the game prepared to reach players—007 First Light is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 27—and they do two things at once: they ratify IO Interactive’s effort and sharpen expectation for what the game actually delivers.
Context matters here. IO Interactive developed 007 First Light, and the studio’s pedigree with Hitman—its experience in social stealth, globetrotting settings and opulent environments—shapes critics’ yardstick. says there has not been a great James Bond video game in decades and there has not been a James Bond film in five years, framing this release as the most visible Bond property in years. also summed up the approach with a single sentence: "the stealth masters behind Hitman go loud for this game about Bond’s brilliant beginnings."
That contrast is the tension at the heart of the early coverage. review notes the game is available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 and repeatedly points to a young Bond who is a petulant, belligerent rule-breaking trainee in his pre-00 days. Q is present in a softer, domestic register—introducing Bond to the wonders of vinyl—and M is cast as a green leader looking to make her mark. Those human beats sit alongside design choices that divide opinion: one chapter plays like a glorified training montage that includes getaway driving, stealth and gunplay; scripted fights prioritize explosive theatrics over strategy; sneaking can go wrong and lead to fights; and fist fights are staged with Bond barging enemies into bookshelves and battering them with mugs and keyboards.
The friction is simple. IO Interactive’s brand is stealth and precision. The most quoted verdict from frames the studio’s move as audible and broad: "the stealth masters behind Hitman go loud for this game about Bond’s brilliant beginnings." Critics who expected a silent, surgical Hitman successor instead report an early Bond built for spectacle and cinematic set pieces, a Slovakian castle among the locations critics single out.
What happens next is the commercial and cultural test: the Metacritic score will be the headline number carried into launch and the first week of player reaction. The early consensus—an 88 on PS5 and PC, and a chorus of reviews noting both strengths and theatrical excess—counts as a clear thumbs-up from critics even while it flags where the game might frustrate purists.
Putting the two pieces together—an 88 Metacritic score and reviews that describe striking but sometimes noisy design—the sensible conclusion is this: 007 First Light has arrived as a well-regarded Bond origin story that leans into spectacle rather than stealth purity. For Patrick Gibson’s young Bond and for IO Interactive, the score and the copy on critics’ pages give the launch a boost while signaling who will love the game and who will always wish it were quieter.
