For Authors
For any writer who has ever wrestled with reinventing a beloved character or long-running franchise, the upcoming James Bond video game First Light offers a fascinating case study in how to make it work. Video game adaptations face many of the same storytelling challenges as authors do when breathing new life into a well-worn icon, including how to create something fresh without alienating longtime fans.
As Ginger explains in this week’s blog, the developers avoided leaning too heavily on nostalgia or recycled plots, instead crafting a brand-new Bond origin story that both honors the character’s roots and appeals to a new generation. It’s a reminder that with the right balance of originality and respect for what came before, creators can successfully reimagine any established world or character for modern audiences.
A little while back, I wrote an article about the challenge authors would face writing a new James Bond novel and I know, I know, I promise I’ll stop talking about James Bond for a while after today!
But I had a really interesting discussion with some of my fellow James Bond fans recently and one topic of conversation that came up was the upcoming new James Bond video game, First Light. More specifically, the discussion revolved around how that game tackled all the challenges I wrote about.
First, a bit of context.
If Bond fans think they’ve had it bad waiting for a new James Bond movie to appear (No Time To Die was way back in 2020, can you believe?) it’s been even worse for James Bond video game fans.
The last proper James Bond video game was 007 Legends, released in 2012, and it wasn’t even that good!
On paper, it sounded amazing. Developed by Eurocom and published by Activision, the game promised a series of episodes that each tied into one of the iconic James Bond movies, conceived to mark the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond movie franchise. Daniel Craig reprised his role as 007 in both voice and likeness, making each episode a reinvention of the movie that inspired it.
The player got to experience the Fort Knox shootout from Goldfinger, storm Piz Gloria like George Lazenby did in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and torch the villainous drug dealer Sanchez just like Timothy Dalton did at the end of Licence to Kill.
But ultimately, the game was a flop—described as “a Call of Duty clone”, with complaints that the gameplay was “bland and uninspired”. Sales were so bad that Eurocom fired 75% of its staff and abandoned AAA game development entirely, while Activision ceased their licensing agreement and pulled all their previous James Bond games off the digital store shelves.
It’s been enough to keep James Bond out of videogames for over a decade (the 2023 mobile game James Bond: Cypher doesn’t count.) It also means whichever game company takes up the challenge to make a new James Bond game will face exactly the same challenges that I wrote about in my article about the James Bond books.
How can you reinvent a franchise that’s existed for over 60 years? How can you get video game audiences excited about James Bond (which has, let’s be honest, become your dad’s thing; not yours. At least, that’s what my kids tell me.)
Well, IO Entertainment, the developers behind the Hitman series of games, are trying to do just that.
They recently announced the upcoming release of First Light, a brand-new James Bond game that tells a completely original story focusing on the origins of James Bond.
It’s the “original story” part that grabbed me.
2012’s 007 Legends leaned heavily (very heavily. Like, all-the-way heavily) into nostalgia by letting James Bond fans play segments based on their favorite movies.
IO Interactive have decided to go in completely the opposite direction, and I’m all for it.
I also think it’s a really interesting thing to look at from the perspective of a writer and storyteller—especially after I’d spent all that time writing about why I wouldn’t envy any writer tasked with writing a new James Bond story.
IO Interactive have taken some bold creative choices, and I think they’ve demonstrated some powerful ways in which writers can give a very well-trodden character a brand-new lease on life.
Start with: a brand-new Bond story that feels totally fresh
Nostalgia sells, don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t have paid to see new Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park, and Alien movies recently if it didn’t!
However, even giving James Bond fans a chance to wallow in nostalgic reimagining of six favorite films didn’t save 007 Legends from oblivion.
The first and most important creative choice IO Interactive made was to write a completely new story for their game. It’s essentially a reboot, in which we learn how a young James Bond became the double-oh agent we know and love today.
I think this is a great choice for a number of reasons, chief among them the fact that IO Interactive is clearly looking to bring new players into the James Bond franchise, rather than leverage old Bond fans to sell their game for them.
Next step: Mixing old and new like a perfect Martini
That being said, the worst thing IO Interactive could do is try to bring in a new audience while ignoring the established fans, which is why James Bond nerds like me were increasingly excited by the trailer, which introduced us to a brand-new James Bond by way of established elements from the original James Bond novels.
We learned how his parents died in a climbing accident, how he got into trouble at boarding school and in the Navy, and how he’s a resourceful, effective agent. Within 30 seconds, the trailer reassured classic James Bond fans like me that they were going to honor the source material; and perhaps lean more heavily into it than the movies have ever done.
There are also elements throughout the trailer than served as Easter Eggs for James Bond fans.
The appearance of an Omega Watch, Aston Martin DBS, and Walther PPK all demonstrated that the people writing this new James Bond fan were clearly obsessive 007 fans themselves.
Blend in: A bold new take on the James Bond character
In the First Light trailer, we’re introduced to a brand-new James Bond—and the first thing many of us thought was: Boy, he’s young!
And they’re not wrong! Our new James Bond is portrayed by Irish actor Patrick Gibson, who you might recognize from The Tudors. At just 30 years old, he represents James Bond fresh out of Naval service; younger than we’ve ever seen him before.
And he’s different to the cool, calculated James Bond we’ve seen portrayed in video games by Peirce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. He’s young, cocky, and has a smirk that could snap knicker elastic at 50-paces. It’s totally different to how we’ve seen James Bond represented in the past, but also fits in perfectly for this younger-than-ever version of the character we’re about to meet for the first time.
For me, I appreciate how they managed to introduce a totally new James Bond while keeping his biographical details accurate. His voice is upper class, his eyes are piercingly blue, and he even has the scar on his cheek that Ian Fleming described, but no other actor has ever appeared with.
He’s the new and original James Bond, and we love him.
Shake with: exciting, but cerebral gameplay
The previous James Bond games were mostly first-person perspective shooting games, and that never really landed well with me for James Bond.
007 was “licensed to kill”, but the games increasingly had Bond mowing down wave after wave of enemies and that made them feel more like Call of Duty than a spy adventure.
IO Interactive is taking a different approach, more heavily influenced by their Hitman series of games. It will involve James Bond sneaking about, adopting disguises, and using his brains more than his Walther PPK. I think it’s much more in keeping with the spycraft of James Bond, and a reason I think the game will be successful.
Video games are, after all, a form of storytelling. They’re the only form of art you can “lose” but they also provide you, the audience, an opportunity to take different approaches to completing the story; sometimes even unlocking different endings.
I think the gameplay looks like it will lean more heavily on storytelling than the prior games with their “run and gun” mentality. For James Bond fans, this is an absolute win.
Serve over: explosions, romance, and a twist of the macabre
Nearly a quarter of the people on planet Earth have seen a James Bond movie, and that means we all know what we should be getting: Explosions, car chases, romance, and adventure.
The trailer for First Light promises sneaking about in a beautiful chateau, zooming down the Swiss Alps in an Aston Martin, and wooing the ladies undercover—delivering everything we expect from a James Bond story, and more.
Once again, this shows that IO Interactive are Bond fans themselves; and have promised to deliver everything we expect even as they wrap it up into an exciting new package.
Conclusion
From the trailer, it’s clear IO Interactive understand the assignment, crafting a brand-new Bond adventure that will bring in a new, younger audience while also satisfying grumpy old fanboys like myself.
I think it’s really exciting, and the perfect answer to my questions about how a writer should approach telling a new James Bond story.
But that’s just my opinion! What do you think? Be sure to let me know in the comments section below.
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About the Author
Ginger is also known as Roland Hulme - a digital Don Draper with a Hemingway complex. Under a penname, he's sold 65,000+ copies of his romance novels, and reached more than 320,000 readers through Kindle Unlimited - using his background in marketing, advertising, and social media to reach an ever-expanding audience.
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