Verdict: 007 First Light is a deliberately modernised Bond. IO Interactive says so on the record: “some things fall by the wayside,” Bond girls are “real characters instead of eye candy”, and the old womanising and drinking were reworked into “a version of these traits that we feel feels appropriate.” M is now a younger British-Asian woman (Priyanga Burford) who backs Bond rather than clashing with him, and Moneypenny is a field analyst. But the final game still has seduction, an implied sex scene, a revealing swimsuit, a vodka martini “shaken, not stirred” and a femme fatale. So the modernising is real and admitted, but when you check what actually changed on screen, it’s a trim of casual misogyny, not a de-sexed Bond. It’s also a reboot with no earlier text being cut, not a remake.

Woke Score: 39/100. The creator-intent signal is strong and documented: the studio says it reworked Bond’s womanising and drinking to feel “appropriate” in 2026, and that’s the core of the score. The concrete on-screen change is small, though. Bond still seduces, sleeps with and flirts with women and drinks his martini, so the remake rule adds only a little. The casting of M adds a bit. It stays in the 30s because female M is 30 years old in Bond (Judi Dench, 1995), the new diverse cast are original characters rather than swaps, the on-screen Bond is still flirtatious, sexual and a drinker, and no DEI consultancy is credited.

Woke Score graphic

This is the standing page for 007 First Light. The Nintendo Switch 2 version hasn’t shipped yet (it’s now due March 2027), and a sequel is being discussed, so this page is open to update. New evidence gets merged here and the URL stays the same.

How the score breaks down

Scored against our How we score rules:

• Creator intent (core of the score). IOI said on the record that it modernised Bond: “some things fall by the wayside” (Emborg), Bond girls are “real characters instead of eye candy”, and “we’ve orchestrated a version of these traits that we feel feels appropriate” (Poulsen). That stated intent is the main reason the score sits in the high 30s.
• Remake rule (rule C), in spirit: +3. We checked what was modernised. First Light is a reboot origin story, not a remake, so no earlier script or design was cut. What’s different from classic Bond is framing: no Honey Ryder-style “eye candy” beach intro, Bond girls written as characters, and casual misogyny dropped. What stayed: seduction, an implied sex scene, several love interests, a revealing swimsuit (ESRB), and the vodka martini “shaken, not stirred”. Who and why: IOI’s own directors, framed as reflecting the decade, which every Bond era has done (Dench’s M called Brosnan a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” in 1995). The lead character is touched, so it isn’t zero, but the on-screen impact is small, so it’s +3.
• Track-record rule (rule B): not applied. We found no documented DEI-push or censorship history for IO Interactive. Amazon MGM Studios, which supervises the Bond brand, does have a documented 2021 Inclusion Policy and Playbook (see The Boys). But IOI developed and self-publishes the game, and nothing shows the playbook applied to it, so we don’t score it.
• Consultancy check (rule A): none found. The MobyGames credit listing shows “Culture” among external partners, but that’s Brand Culture, the London brand-partnerships agency behind the Coca-Cola tie-in, not a diversity consultancy. There’s no Sweet Baby Inc. entry in its documented gameography, and the game isn’t on the “Sweet Baby Inc detected” Steam curator’s current list.
• Rule E (feminism): not triggered. M is a woman who backs Bond rather than belittling him, Moneypenny is a friendly peer, and Bond stays the competent, flirtatious hero. Poulsen’s “powerful women… around Bond” to challenge him hasn’t turned into the men-are-idiots kind of writing, so there’s no red flag. Isola Vale, the femme fatale, is attractive and capable, but she’s a supporting role, so there’s no green flag either.

The facts

• Release: 27 May 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam / Epic), after a delay from 27 March (IOI launch press release; Game Informer). Switch 2 moved from summer 2026 to March 2027, with no exact date yet (IOI statement, 15 September 2026, via Gematsu).
• Developer / publisher: IO Interactive (Hitman) develops and self-publishes, in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, which took creative control of Bond from Eon in 2025.
• Cast: Patrick Gibson (James Bond, 26), Priyanga Burford (M), Kiera Lester (Moneypenny), Alastair Mackenzie (Q), Lennie James (John Greenway, an original mentor character), Noémie Nakai (Isola Vale, the Bond girl / thief), Gemma Chan (Dr. Selina Tan, original), Lenny Kravitz (Bawma, original) and Anthony Howell (Sir Nicholas Webb, villain).
• Ratings: ESRB T (Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence), PEGI 16, CERO D (Japan).
• Reception / sales: Metacritic 84–88 depending on platform, and 4M sold by August 2026 (Wikipedia).

Confirmed: IOI’s stated plan to modernise Bond

This is the core of the score. It’s the studio’s own words, not outrage threads.

• Martin Emborg, narrative and cinematic director (Eurogamer via PC Gamer, 20 May 2026): “it’s always seen through the lens of the decade that it’s made in… it’s our time to look at this character and see what does it take to save the world in 2026? And some things fall by the wayside and some things are more important than ever.” He also said “beautiful women are there” and that Bond “has got game.”
• Emborg (TheGamer, June 2025): the Bond-girl trope “comes from when [women] haven’t been treated as characters… There are definitely beautiful women there, but they’re treated as real characters instead of eye candy”, and specifically not the Honey Ryder “walking down the beach” moment.
• Rasmus Poulsen, franchise art director (Thumb Wars, Gamescom 2025), asked about womanising and alcoholism: how Bond’s traits are expressed “has certainly changed, as you know, it should… we’ve orchestrated a version of these traits that we feel feels appropriate for us,” with “powerful women… around Bond” to challenge him. He added that the company has no “singular dogma.”
• How we score it: this is a strong creator-intent signal. The studio openly edited a classic character’s sexual and gender behaviour to suit modern sensibilities, and that’s the core of the score. The concrete result on screen is small (see below), so the remake rule adds only +3 in spirit. It’s also something every Bond era has done (Dench’s M called Brosnan a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” in 1995), which keeps it from scoring higher.

What actually made it into the game

The final game keeps more classic Bond than the interviews suggest:

• Sex and seduction: the ESRB summary says “a couple kissing then lowering to a desk surface—the sequence cuts to the woman in bed.” Romance guides list several love interests: Theresa Lorca (the main romance in the Vietnam chapter), femme fatale Isola Vale, who kisses Bond in the finale, and a brief early fling.
• Swimwear: the ESRB notes “one female character wears a somewhat revealing swimsuit (e.g., partially exposed buttocks).” The story trailer also appears to include a walking-out-of-the-water shot (PC Gamer).
• Drinking: Isola serves Bond a vodka martini, shaken not stirred. There’s a Vesper reference at a poker table and a “Shaken, Not Stirred” achievement (JVGS, 007firstlight.org secrets guide).
• Bond himself: reviewers call him cocky, flirtatious and irreverent. Eurogamer calls him “perhaps the most empathetic Bond yet.”

So the “no women, no alcohol” user complaints are false. The honest summary is that casual misogyny was cut, while the flirting, sex and drinking stayed.

Casting: M, Moneypenny, Q and the new characters

Character	First Light	Swap?	Our read
M	Priyanga Burford, a younger British-Asian woman who backs Bond	Gender: precedent (Judi Dench, 7 films). Race and age: new	Weak–moderate. A female M isn’t new, but a younger non-white woman who mentors Bond instead of clashing with him is a deliberate reinterpretation (Wikipedia, Polygon). Burford played Dr. Symes in No Time to Die.
Moneypenny	Kiera Lester, promoted to field analyst / handler; the secretary job goes to Fleming’s Loelia Ponsonby	Role: precedent (Naomie Harris in Skyfall)	Weak. She’s a friendly peer who teases Bond, not an unrequited-crush secretary.
Q	Alastair Mackenzie, an older “cool uncle”	No	Closer to the Desmond Llewelyn era than the Whishaw era.
Bond	Patrick Gibson, white Irish actor, based on Fleming’s description with the scar	No	Faithful casting. The “not a Craig clone” choice is about originality, not politics.
Greenway, Selina Tan, Bawma, Isola Vale	Lennie James, Gemma Chan, Lenny Kravitz, Noémie Nakai	Original characters, not swaps	Diverse, but all new roles, so not scored as swaps.

The “woke” backlash at launch focused almost entirely on Bond taking orders from a female M (Game Rant, theGeek.games). Because of the Dench precedent, we give that part of the backlash little weight. Her age, race and mentor role are the parts that are actually new.

Checked and not confirmed (or ruled out)

Talking point	Finding
“Bond has no women / no romance”	False. Multiple love interests, an implied sex scene (ESRB) and a Bond girl who kisses him.
“Bond doesn’t drink”	False. Vodka martini, shaken not stirred, is in the game, plus an achievement for it.
Bond himself race- or gender-swapped	Ruled out.
“Constant political messaging about saving the planet”	Not supported. The plot is about a defence contractor’s flawed AI (THEIA / HYPERION). Poulsen calls the theme “beware of utopia”. It’s a techno-thriller, not climate preaching.
Amazon forced a woke rewrite	No evidence. Amazon MGM took over supervision in February 2025, late in development. The modernising statements come from IOI’s own directors.
Regional censorship	None found. See below.

Regional notes and cleanest version

• No documented regional cuts. The game is ESRB T / PEGI 16 / CERO D, a teen-level game everywhere. It was never an M-rated gorefest, so there’s no uncut import to chase.
• Switch 2 (March 2027): not released yet. We’ll check it for content parity when it ships.
• Cleanest classic-Bond experience: if you want the unreconstructed Bond-girl era, that’s in the older licensed games and the Connery / Moore films, not in any version of First Light. Within First Light, every version is the same game.

Marketing and corporate

• The marketing sold gadgets, the Aston Martin Valhalla, the Omega watch, a Lana Del Rey theme and the “young Bond earns his number” hook. We found no Pride, pronoun or DEI themes in the official trailers or store copy.
• Amazon MGM’s broader plans for the Bond films are outside the scope of this game.

DEI Detector scorecard

Signal	Present?
Creator statements about modernising Bond’s treatment of women and his vices	Strong (core of the score; on the record, multiple directors)
Concrete on-screen modernisation of Bond (reboot, not remake)	Weak (rule C in spirit, +3; misogyny trimmed, sex / flirting / drinking kept)
DEI / sensitivity consultancy credited	Not found (“Culture” in the credits is Brand Culture, a brand-partnerships agency)
Studio track record	None documented for IOI
Gender / race / age reinterpretation of classic characters (M; Moneypenny’s role)	Weak–moderate (strong precedent; the new parts are M’s age, race and mentor role)
Diverse original characters	Present, but original roles (not scored as swaps)
Sexual / feminine censorship	Weak. Trimmed Bond-girl framing, but sex scene, swimsuit and femme fatale kept
Woke / inclusive localisation	Not found
DEI marketing	Absent
Regional censorship	None found

Recommendation

Play it on any platform. It’s the same game everywhere. Just know what you’re getting: a 2026 Bond made by a studio that openly trimmed the “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” parts, but not a Bond with the sex, flirting and martinis taken out. It sits above Persona 3 Reload (37) and far below Marvel’s Wolverine (85) on our scale. It’s openly modernised, but there’s no consultancy, no confirmed censorship of existing material, and no message-game packaging.

Open to update

This page will be revisited when the Switch 2 version ships (March 2027), or if a full credit roll turns up a DEI or sensitivity consultancy (which would lift it to at least our ~70 floor).

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Sources: IO Interactive launch press release (27 May 2026); Game Informer on the delay to 27 May; Gematsu / Nintendo Insider / GoNintendo on the Switch 2 delay to March 2027 (15 Sep 2026); ESRB rating summary; Steam ratings metadata (PEGI 16, ESRB T); H2 Interactive / Kakaku (CERO D); Wikipedia (007 First Light: cast, character development, sales); PC Gamer (Andy Chalk, 20 May 2026) quoting Martin Emborg’s Eurogamer interview; TheGamer interview with Martin Emborg (21 Jun 2025); Thumb Wars interview with Rasmus Poulsen (Gamescom 2025); Polygon’s character comparison (27 May 2026); Game Rant and theGeek.games on the “female M” backlash; JVGS and 007firstlight.org on the martini scene and achievement; romance guides (TPose Gaming, FandomWire) for love interests; Eurogamer review. Scoring evidence: MobyGames credit listing (external partners); Brand Culture’s own LinkedIn posts on the Coca-Cola partnership; Wikipedia’s Sweet Baby Inc. gameography; the “Sweet Baby Inc detected” Steam curator list (checked 26 Sep 2026); Amazon Studios Inclusion Policy and Playbook (June 2021, via Deadline). Anything marked “confirmed” is tied to developer statements, ratings boards or on-screen content. Everything else is labelled as rumour or unverified.