I played IO Interactive's new 007 game over the last week with the specific goal of seeing if James Bond would be thrown into the woke shredder.

It ended up being my favorite Bond story of all time.

Here's the trailer to get those secret-agent vibes going 👇

The story is a total reimagining of the franchise for the modern era. Set in 2026, it imagines an MI6 where Double-O agents have been replaced by artificial intelligence that now provides better and more efficient intel than elite human operators.

The new M, however, believes that computer analysis misses important details, including the all-too-important "heart" that only human agents can provide.

To this end, she has begun training six young recruits in a reboot of the entire Double-O program.

But then, at the very beginning of the game, a naval aircrewman named James Bond pops onto the scene.

This isn't the Commander Bond who served in World War II. This Bond was born after 9/11. He's just a helicopter crew member. He's only there to escort a SAS unit to Iceland.

But then his helicopter gets shot down and he becomes the lone survivor.

Bond is quickly faced with mercenaries who are investigating a secretive crash site. Freezing and injured (with a fresh facial scar described in Ian Fleming's novels), he nonetheless decides to investigate.

Then he gets a radio call from MI6.

Without giving away too many details, you can guess what happens next. Bond is invited as the seventh recruit into the Double-O program. You meet Moneypenny and Q, and then spend the first few hours of the game playing a ridiculously fun tutorial where you learn the skills that make Bond begin to feel more like, well, Bond.

As the game progressed, I waited for the game to lecture me about my toxic masculinity. I waited for some purple-haired lab tech to educate me about the finer points of transgenderism. I worried there would be a lecture about climate change from Greta Thunberg. I expected them to make James Bond a queer feminist, or make his best friend Muslim like Amazon's "Jack Ryan" show, or change his personality entirely to fit the expectations of the elusive "modern audience."

But for the first time in what must be at least two decades, the reboot for a modern era was respectful of the source material. 🤯

In fact, outside of featuring the Jaguar Type 00 that got mercilessly mocked last year, the game had zero wokeness.

Sure, Moneypenny is black and M is of SE Asian ancestry, but in these cases, the characters worked just as they have with a variety of different actors/actresses in the past. Unlike Christopher Nolan's insertion of #Diversity into ancient Greece, the cast of 007 First Light reflects modern London.

Bond, meanwhile, was Bond. Witty, charming, and good-hearted. Bound to his love for king and country. Fiercely loyal to his friends.

Also a bit reckless, prone to disobey authority, distracted by beautiful women, and a serial abuser of Q's gadgets.

He isn't suave and cultured in the beginning. He wears jeans. He bumbles several social encounters. Yet as the game goes, you see his rougher edges sanded away by discipline, teamwork, and sacrifice.

This is not a game that pulls its punches. Bond suffers loss, but the tragedies make him stronger and sharper. He learns what it means to give everything for the cause. He refuses to negotiate with evil.

Even the music teases the development of this profoundly masculine journey. At key points in the early game, Bond's iconic theme will make a brief appearance. A quiet flute trill here, a low bass note from a cello there. But by the end of the game, the theme becomes part of the background music, teasing the audience.

It was one of the only times in the past decade where I felt lost in the story of a video game, and I mean lost in the absolute best sense of the word.

Even better, the gameplay is ridiculously ... well, fun. I wasn't even sure it was legal to have this much fun playing a game. Just when you think you have the formula figured out, the game mixes things up. New exotic locales, invigorating chase sequences, interactive combat, heart-pounding stealth missions ... I had to be on guard every second for some new option to pop up.

That's no small feat, especially in a linear game like this that keeps players within certain bounds.

Added to this is the game's "Teen" (PG-13) rating. There are a number of fantastic games still in development, but it is disheartening when the majority of them are filled with foul language, blood, and sex. The best example of this for me recently was 2025's "Kingdom Come: Deliverance II," made by Czech developer Warhorse Studios.

Set in the Papal Schism of the 1300s, it looks at the unrest in the Holy Roman Empire that led to the Hussite Wars and the separation of the Protestant Moravian Church from Rome. The game is full of Christian imagery and language. The main character Henry prays at roadside crosses, visits monasteries, and is faced with choices to seek revenge or to honor Christ.

But the game is also filled with profanity and gratuitous blood and several raunchy (albeit optional) cutscenes that earn it a "Mature" rating.

007 First Light, in contrast, was a game that knew it didn't need coarseness and profanity to tell the story. Yes, there are women in beachwear and cocktail dresses. This is a James Bond story, after all.

Yet the game purposely stays away from raunchy, sexual jokes and depictions. It was honestly far more wholesome than your typical Bond film!

Yes, you do shoot bad guys in the face. Yes, you do break their bones. Yes, you do blow up a BUNCH OF STUFF. All of this should be expected.

We spend so much time mocking woke reboots that we don't often slow down to appreciate the people and studios that get things right. This one gets it right. It tells the most heart-wrenching, compelling, heroic 007 story that I've ever encountered.

There were scenes that had me tearing up in the same way audiences tear up at the end of "In His Majesty's Secret Service."

There were many other times I found myself laughing at the assorted puns.

Best of all, and some of you may consider this a very slight spoiler...

[I'll pause here for dramatic effect]

...the game teases the return of "them."

What do I mean by "them"?

Well, that's all the game says. Just ... "them."

If you are a Bond fan, you know precisely who "they" are.

The story wraps up on a satisfying cliffhanger with the words "James Bond will return."

It's the first time in forever I'm actually looking forward to a sequel.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.