From a Reveal Trailer to ExpectingMrBond
For almost exactly a year now, 007 First Light has been part of my daily life.
I still remember sitting on a terrace during a family vacation in Venice last summer, watching the reveal trailer with glowing eyes before immediately opening my laptop to write my very first analysis for what would eventually become ExpectingMrBond.com. And now, almost one year later, the game is finally here.
James Bond has accompanied me for as long as I can remember. I can still vividly recall what it felt like to watch my very first Bond film — GoldenEye — in theaters as a child. And just like the films themselves, the legendary GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo 64 carried this almost magical mixture of curiosity, excitement and anticipation.
Back then there was no social media, no YouTube breakdowns and no giant online communities. You waited for tiny scraps of information hidden somewhere inside gaming magazines, hoping to discover whether the game had been delayed again or if a new screenshot had surfaced somewhere. Back then I had nobody to truly share that excitement with.
Today things are different.
Over the past year, fans from all over the world experienced this journey together. We analyzed trailers frame by frame, debated theories, celebrated every new reveal and collectively waited for this new interpretation of Bond to arrive. And in many ways, that is exactly what ExpectingMrBond.com became about.
The New Bond Effect
After more than 14 years without a brand-new James Bond game, 007 First Light feels special. Not simply because it exists, but because it genuinely feels like a new beginning for Bond in gaming. It invites fans to look at this character differently and to imagine what James Bond can look like in 2026.
For many fans, this game is probably also fulfilling long-held dreams. Exploring the halls of MI6, wandering through Q Branch and pressing every suspicious button in the lab feels like pure wish fulfillment to me — probably similar to how my wife felt while exploring Hogwarts in Hogwarts Legacy.
What surprised me most, however, is how deeply this game rekindled my fascination with the larger Bond universe itself. I have always primarily been a film Bond fan and never truly explored Ian Fleming’s novels. The endless amount of mandatory reading during my years at university and my first years of working life had slowly taken much of the joy out of reading for me — despite my wife repeatedly trying to hand me books over the years.
But 007 First Light somehow changed that. The deeper I dive into its world, its characters, its countless Bond references and hidden details, the more it makes me want to explore the larger universe surrounding it even further.
So yes — Casino Royale is already sitting in my shopping cart.
With a new cinematic James Bond likely to be announced sometime soon, 2026 strangely feels like a transitional moment for the franchise itself. Until then, Patrick Gibson may very well become the first Bond of a new generation for many fans discovering this world through the game by IO Interactive.
And honestly? Even after my first hours with the game, I already know one thing:
Patrick Gibson is my Bond for this new era.
The Celebration Begins
Maybe that is why this entire week feels strangely emotional to me. Not only because a new Bond game finally arrived, but because everything suddenly seems to come together at once. The fantastic reviews. The overwhelming love for Patrick Gibson and the rest of the cast. The feeling that IO Interactive truly understood what makes Bond special.
And somehow all of that even reflected itself in the small things arriving at my doorstep this week: the Factory Entertainment Underwater Breather replica that reminds me how Thunderball sparked my fascination with the ocean as a child, the limited 007 First Light DualSense controller, the final cold 007 First Light Coca-Cola can waiting in the fridge, my Collector’s Edition finally arriving tomorrow after all the shipping chaos — and yes, even the Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut 007 Limited Edition I simply could not resist ordering.
It almost feels as if years of anticipation suddenly materialized all at once.
The children are asleep. My wife keeps asking me whether I’m excited.
And honestly?
I feel a little bit like that kid waiting for GoldenEye all over again.
Today, IO Interactive also shared a heartfelt launch message from CEO Hakan Abrak, only one day after the studio celebrated the final countdown to Early Access together with confetti, food, hugs and exhausted smiles.
After nearly three decades spent building fan communities, creating gaming websites and working across the wider games media landscape myself, I genuinely hope the team allows itself to celebrate this moment.
Players often only see the studio logo on the screen, while the countless developers behind it quietly remain in the background. Some probably prefer it that way, and many may never expect fans to care about who they are individually. But moments like this are rare. 007 First Light clearly means a great deal to fans around the world, and I truly hope the people behind it get to feel that appreciation as well.
What to Expect Next
As for ExpectingMrBond.com — nothing really changes from here. News, impressions, analysis and probably still the occasional slightly overambitious theory. Sorry, IO Interactive.
But in many ways, this now feels like the beginning of an entirely new chapter. There are still secrets to uncover, easter eggs to analyze, characters to discuss and countless Bond details hidden throughout this world that deserve a closer look.
And honestly, we are already excited about the possibility of giving all of you even more glimpses behind the curtain in the future through interviews and conversations surrounding 007 First Light and its creation.
The next mission is already waiting.
