"Looks Extremely Rough": 007 First Light's Gameplay Reveal Has Everyone Worried About Its "Daunting" Performance And Motion Blur

007 First Light just had its first big gameplay reveal and, while the stealth and combat look impressive, many have come away surprised at its "aggressive" motion blur and "rough" framerate.

Has there ever been a better idea than the creators of Hitman working on a James Bond game? I don't think so. Ever since Project 007 was first announced, pretty much all of us agree that it's the perfect next step for IO Interactive, which quickly set it up as one of the 2026's anticipated games.

That excitement should have reached a fever pitch yesterday, as First Light finally showed off its gameplay as part of a dedicated State of Play. While most agree that the gameplay looks solid and a good evolution of what IO did with Hitman, the reveal has also raised some red flags about the game's performance, especially now that we know it's not far from launch.

007 First Light Looks Like It Needs More Time In The Oven

Here's Hoping 6 Months Is Enough For Some Polish

If you watched 007 First Light's gameplay reveal, then you no doubt noticed a few scenes towards the end where the framerate took a surprising nosedive. It seems mostly smooth when Bond is just making his way around, but as soon as he hopped in a car and kicked the action up a notch, a surprising amount of performance issues raised their head.

Over on Twitter and in the comments of the reveal, lots of people have shared their surprise at how rough some sections of First Light looked in the deep dive. Twitter user G27Status said they were surprised PlayStation "gave the green light" to show some of the iffier-looking moments, while NikTekOfficial pointed out that it looked "extremely rough" while hoping that IO has enough time to fix it.

And yes, there are already plenty of jokes about 007 standing for the game's framerate. They made me chuckle, at least.

The framerate and performance problems are one of the biggest talking points of the First Light gameplay reveal, but they're not the only issue. Over on the PCGaming subreddit, fans are tearing apart the overuse of motion blur and surprising pop-in, with some calling it a "red flag" that the game's big showcase had it in such a state.

Of course, 007 First Light isn't released yet, so the footage being shown is far from final and can hopefully be fixed, which is what most players are hoping for right now. With the game being confirmed for a March release date, though, there are also some worries that it might still be a little rough with only six months left of development time.

007 First Light

WHERE TO PLAY