From "47" to "007", the ultimate fantasy of killers and spies is intertwined at this moment

　　Preface

　　When IO Interactive announced that it would bring James Bond into its iconic gaming world, players around the world were excited.

　This is not only because the IP "007" has been adapted into a game again after many years, but also because the game development is dominated by the IOI that has been deeply engaged in sandbox assassination gameplay for many years.

Although the focus of the spy and the killer are different in their work, in essence, the two are actually two branches of a profession.

　　So, for IOI, who has more than 20 years of experience in sandbox assassination gameplay, the "007" project can be said to be their comfort zone.

　　So, with the "Killer" series ahead, the prospects of the "007" project look very bright.

For players, the emergence of the "007" project can just fill the gap in the temporary closing of the IOI after the restart of the "Killer" trilogy - it also saves the time cost of understanding the game background.

　　The Past Life of the Bald Killer

　　It was 2000, and at the intersection of the century once in a thousand years, many game manufacturers were ready to leave their own traces in this memorable year. Therefore, many games familiar to players such as "Commands and Conquest: Red Alert 2", "Final Fantasy 9", "The Sims", "Diablo 2" have appeared one after another.

　　It is in such an environment where strong enemies are surrounded by them, IOI brought their "Killer: Codename 47" and used the unique gameplay of "sandbox assassination" to create a game category that has few competitors even after 25 years.

In addition to "sandbox assassination", "Killer: Codename 47" has also shown groundbreaking in many other places, such as the "camouflage system" achieved through disguise, which provided a lot of inspiration for later assassination games and also set the tone for the subsequent iconic "opportunistic" gameplay of the "Killer" series.

　　Overall, as the first generation of work, although "Killer: Codename 47" is still a bit immature and is often criticized for problems such as stiff manipulation and simple AI logic, the diverse environmental interactions and choice routes allow players to gain the overall experience in the game like a director for the first time. The market and reputation response are very positive, laying the core design philosophy of this series and even the IOI itself.

　　For a long time since then, IOI has been continuously optimized and iterating based on "Killer: Codename 47", and has continued to launch sequels such as "Killer 2: Silent Assassin", "Killer: Contract", and "Killer: Blood Money", allowing players to freely display their assassination talents in the sandbox world.

　　But maybe it was because the sandbox was too much, the creativity was exhausted, or it might be to better show the pictures and characteristics of the newly introduced "Glacier Engine", or to worry that players are tired of the same gameplay...

　　In short, in 2012, IOI made a bold transformation attempt on the "Killer" series with its new work "Killer: Absolution", and the turning point was so large that it could be said that the development direction of the series was completely changed.

　This game greatly weakens the presence of the sandbox world, and instead adopts a more linear narrative structure to emphasize story-driven, adding bunker systems and slow motion executions to enhance the game's action elements.

　　Although the assassination method still retains a variety of choices, if you have to say, when IOI decides to throw away its unique sandbox gameplay, this game is destined to be unable to compete with old linear stealth games such as "Cell Division" and "Metal Equipment".

　　So, it can be imagined that the drastic changes of "Killer: Absolution" did not receive unanimous praise from players. Instead, it has been criticized by the original fan group because it lost its own characteristics, forcing IOI to reflect on the future development direction of the "Killer" series again.

　　After this, IOI was silent for several years, and no more "Killer" series of works were released during this period.

　　It was not until 2016 that the restarted version of "The Killer" was released.

　　Climbing to the top of the Assassination World

　　It is said to be a reboot, but in fact, the 2016 version of "The Killer" did not completely break away from the previous work, but continuedMost of the settings just put aside the unnecessary ideas at the production level, and everything is centered on sandbox gameplay, building a huge and vivid assassination world.

　　It is worth mentioning that although the restarted version of "Killer" is highly praised now, its rise has not been smooth sailing, and it even has the worst start in IOI history.

　　At the beginning of its launch, the 2016 version of "The Killer" once had a shortage of playable content in the game due to the sales model released in chapters, which directly led to the opening sales of this game hitting a record low, far from meeting the expectations of SE, the parent company and publisher of IOI at that time, which made SE completely lose confidence in this series.

　In May of the following year, SE announced the sale of IOI.

　　But IOI did not sit still and wait for the acquisition of other companies, but took the initiative to negotiate with SE, redeem itself for itself, and became an independent company that could determine the fate of itself and the IP of "Killer".

　　Afterward, as IOI continued to absorb players' opinions and "customized" updates for "Killer" and "Killer 2", players finally began to slowly realize the unique charm of the restarted version of "Killer". The practice of adding players' own levels to the contract mode has stimulated the creativity of the player community, causing the number of players to explode and grow, and eventually exceeding tens of millions.

With the release of "Killer 3", which is completely independently produced by IOI in 2021, the potential of Glacier Engine and the potential of the "Killer" series are completely released.

　The unparalleled immersive environment brought by ray tracing not only presents the "assassination world" that represents the highest level of sandbox stealth games, but also perfectly interprets the design concept of "sandbox is the playground", bringing more than 75 million global players to "Assassination World" which combines the three restarted versions into one.

The great success of the "Killer" series, especially the reversal of the reputation of the restart trilogy, became the most important turning point in the history of the development of IOI studios.

　　It not only established IOI's top position in the "sandbox immersive experience" field of the gaming industry, proved its deep technical strength, but also helped it complete its gorgeous transformation from a talented independent studio to a mature 3A developer with global influence, and even tempered its excellent control from creativity to distribution process, turning IOI into a well-known game publisher.

　　So, when IOI announced that they would develop the "James Bond" IP, isn't it just like "As soon as the golden wind and jade dew meet, it will beat countless people in the world"?

　　From Killer 47 to James Bond 007

　　On Sony's State of Play on June 5, IOI announced "007 First Light's first promotional video.

　　Although I had a glimpse of the game settings and gameplay, it clearly outlined the general outline of the game settings and gameplay.

　　"007 First Light" focuses on James Bond when he was young. As a recruit, Bond was witty, brave but impatient and reckless, and at the same time, he was carrying a heavy past in a classic way.

After joining the "00" project of MI6 to cultivate agents, a fellow agent who is also the project seems to have launched a rebellion, and Bond will serve as a relevant person to calm the impact and consequences of the rebellion and win himself the exclusive agent code.

The suit tuxedo replaced with a bomber jacket represents that this is the original 007 origin story of IOI, which allows them to develop a brand new "007 trilogy" based on this.

　　From the trailer, we can also see that compared to "Killer", "007 First Light" pays more attention to the plot interpretation content and action elements. Not only is the cutscene very vivid, but various large scenes such as speed, chase, and explosion are emerging one after another.

But this does not mean that most game flows will be linear like "Killer: Absolution"��

　　For example, in the actual gameplay outside the performance, the trailer shows various methods of solving problems such as stealth, hand-to-hand combat, and gunfighting, and the iconic agent props have also been restored. This may imply that players can still complete tasks with various brain-opening methods like the "Killer" series.

In other words, "007 First Light" may have interactive performances like Uncharted, sandbox scenes like "Hazard of the Lost Ark: Ancient Circle" and diverse routes like "The Killer Assassination World".

　　Of course, these are just speculations based on the content of the trailer, but based on IOI's experience accumulated from the "Killer" series and the information disclosed everywhere, this speculation is not too outrageous.

　　Conclusion

　　The "Killer" series is not only a successful game IP, but also a manifestation of IOI technical strength, the crystallization of design philosophy and the monument of independent spirit. It laid an unparalleled solid foundation for "007 First Light" - top sandbox construction capabilities, revolutionary NPC group intelligence, mature stealth gameplay design, and experience in mastering grand narrative scenes.

　　"007 First Light carries the grand vision of IOI's "ultimate spy fantasy". The core key to its success lies in whether the fascinating "high-degree-of-freedom sandbox essence" of the "Killer" series - giving players a sense of control, creativity and infinite possibilities - can be creatively and deeply integrated with the unique charm, adventure spirit and the shocking tension of cinematic performances of James Bond IP.

　　As the content of "007 First Light" continues to advance, can IOI "sandbox assassination" genes be injected into the cinematic narrative of the agents, and define the spy game again?

　　The answer may be hidden in the killer universe that has been tempered for twenty-five years.