You can't have an origin story without a training montage, but 007 First Light's tutorial takes things to another level entirely. Even for future MI6 man James Bond, standard issue instructions usually involve simple prompts like "press the thumb stick to crouch." However, this title doubles down by putting you through Bond bootcamp for three entire hours before you can truly call yourself an agent.

When I finally cleared what I assumed was the full tutorial segment and heard the words "advanced training," I may have audibly groaned. Don't share my despair just yet; I will lay out the list of tutorial missions, what to expect from each phase, and the approximate time it took me to complete them so you know exactly what you are in for.

The Four Pillars of 007 First Light's Tutorial

To understand how this lengthy introduction is structured, here is the breakdown of the main tutorial missions that make up the bulk of your early gameplay. While there are other named chapters involving walking, talking, and visiting Q branch between these sections, these four distinct stages drive the initial experience:

  • Against The Odds (40 mins): Learn the basics of stealth and movement as soldier Bond accidentally makes contact with MI6 on a mission gone sideways.
  • The Needle's Eye (30 mins): This serves as the actual montage-y training portion featuring combat, driving, and gunplay as James meets his fellow 00 recruits at a Malta training compound.
  • A New Home (30 mins): Bond enters advanced training through two separate capture-the-flag stealth and combat sequences in Malta mixed with some trainee agent team building time.
  • A Night Out (30 mins): IOI's obligatory nightclub level plays mostly like a real mission, focusing on tailing leads, making choices, and utilizing gadgets while still offering some guidance.

Aside from the overall time required for the training segment being quite long, I did not hate it—though other members of the PCG team certainly did, so your tolerance may vary. In particular, the smash cut interactive montage portion of The Needle's Eye was a fun concept to play through.

You might find that A New Home takes you slightly longer to complete than my own experience. I had grown a bit fed up with Malta by that point, so when I returned for the next daytime capture-the-flag exercise, I admitted I might have brawled my way through it instead of utilizing stealth as intended. Problem with authority? That is me and James both.

Your First Real Assignment Awaits

After clearing the night club mission, you will finally be sent out on your first real assignment. This matches the mission IOI showcased in the First Light gameplay reveal where James is chafing at being assigned a chauffeur cover story. The team of soon-to-be 00 agents cases the castle-y Carpathian hotel in Slovakia.

Be free, James; you are almost a real agent now. We will have a full review coming your way once we've gotten to play through the full thing, but now that we've navigated 007 First Light's tutorial, we are ready for more.