007 First Gentle is developer IO Interactive’s first try at engaged on a longtime IP with the James Bond franchise—and it is also an acceptable pairing. The Hitman sequence is all about embodying a person of thriller who makes use of his crafty together with an array of weapons and devices to finish missions, so seeing the devs at IO Interactive apply their slick, open-ended steadiness of motion and stealth to James Bond looks as if we’re in retailer of an evolution of the Hitman construction on a grander scale.
Throughout Summer season Sport Fest 2025, we had the chance to talk with IO Interactive Chief Technical Officer Ulas Karademir concerning the making of 007 First Gentle. Along with giving some particulars on the upgraded engine that IO Interactive made for his or her dive into Bond, the CTO defined why he returned to the corporate following his departure to steer the improve of IO Interactive’s Glacier engine, and why their Bond recreation presents a larger diploma of freedom than the Hitman sequence.
“I left in 2014 [to work as the VP of engineering at Unity] through the growth of Hitman 2016, however within the final 12 months, I had come to the workplace to see what they have been doing, and the very first thing that Hakan B. Abrak—CEO of IO Interactive—confirmed me was the James Bond recreation,” stated Karademir. “He knew that I actually needed to work with this franchise, so he confirmed me the sport, after which he requested me, “Do you need to come again?” and I used to be like, “Yeah, I believe so.” With every little thing we’ve deliberate [with the scope and increased agency], yeah, I believe that is the proper recreation for us.”
007 First Gentle focuses on the origin story of James Bond, who seems as a 26-year-old recruit from the Royal Navy into MI6. The pitch is heady: all through his missions with the key company, he’ll make the most of quite a lot of devices, stealth ways, weapon expertise, and even social engineering to beat the percentages towards him. Â
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Whereas probably the most prolific Bond video games have centered closely on action-laden spectacle, and whereas the 007 First Gentle trailer actually showcased shootouts and over-the-top sequences, the builders have been agency in stating the sport is about giving gamers choices to interact in every mission. The core gameplay could be very a lot consistent with Hitman’s immersive sim strategy of exploring clockwork ranges the place gamers make the most of NPC conduct to perform missions.Â
The builders advised us the title leans even additional into the agent fantasy than Hitman, all with the intent to spotlight Bond as a multifaceted undercover agent who can adapt to completely different conditions.
“There are a [lot] extra choices on this recreation in comparison with Hitman,” Karademir stated. “You possibly can play the sport with a stealth strategy, or you are able to do social interactions with Bond making an attempt to bluff his approach out of conditions, which creates conditions with humor and interactions like that. After all, you may go in weapons blazing typically, however this recreation is about giving lots of alternatives within the recreation if you play it. There are such a lot of completely different approaches in 007 First Gentle, and it is far more than what we had in Hitman.”
The dialogue turned to the subject of the Glacier engine, IOI’s proprietary know-how that powers the latest Hitman: World of Assassination video games. The improve to Glacier 2 for 007 First Gentle was motivated by the elevated scale of the sport’s ranges and the larger diploma of choices that gamers would have in exploring the sport.Â
“At IO Interactive, we spend lots of time making an attempt to determine what’s enjoyable”
“We’ve got this understanding of the agent fantasy and the liberty of strategy, which is what Hitman was all about,” stated Karademir. “At IO Interactive, we spend lots of time making an attempt to determine what’s enjoyable. We have a tendency to essentially obsess about gameplay, and as soon as we determine it out, the manufacturing is kind of simple. We all know the best way to produce video games, and we’ve been doing this for 25 years, nevertheless it at all times was that form of iteration velocity that we’ve with our engine when making an attempt to determine ‘is that this enjoyable?’ and [consider] what sort of a recreation we’re constructing.”Â
Whereas 007 First Gentle appears to be a extra fleshed-out and sprawling journey that goes additional with non-kill choices, the developer insists the Hitman DNA continues to be clear and current. This recreation simply goes additional.
“Yeah, there may be an inspiration from Hitman inside our model of Bond—It’s the identical sort of fantasy, proper?” stated the CTO. “However we additionally attempt to make it as distinctive as doable. Our designers spend a superb period of time determining what makes Bond distinctive, what sort of conditions this character finds themself in, and the way they will go about fixing it. Because the CTO, what I can let you know from the engine perspective is that almost something within the recreation is made from entities, so it is like constructing blocks.”Â
“It’s form of a really versatile setting for designers to work and take a look at various things with the quantity of approaches you may have. They’ll create set items, they will deal with character interactions, and that offers them a form of inventive freedom to construct what they want to obtain within the video games. From a technical perspective, there may be lots of making an attempt, lots of iterating, however we nonetheless have the important thing learnings as we construct our tackle the Bond IP.”
