Following the shock announcement that Milla Jovovich is becoming a member of Hitman: World of Assassination and Gemma Chan’s upcoming flip as Selina Tan in 007 First Gentle, your complete power within the room modified when Lenny Kravitz stepped onto the stage at IO Interactive’s showcase. This was recent off the reveal of his swaggering new character, the pirate king Bawma, within the subsequent James Bond journey.
IOI needs to redefine how gamers hook up with the Bond mythos in 2025 and past. Throughout our dialog, Senior Licensing Producer Theuns Smit made one factor clear: Kravitz didn’t simply be a part of the world; they constructed a part of it round him.
“Kravitz actually understood the character of Bawma from the very starting,” Smit defined. “He might carry that sense of charisma, but in addition be the form of antagonist the place you don’t actually know the place you stand with him. He’s mercurial. He calls for respect and worry.”
You could like
A daring soundscape
Based on Smit, the four-time Grammy winner and star of the unique Starvation Video games movies brings such commanding presence and easy charisma that he slips into the position as if it had been written for him, immediately feeling like he belongs in Bond’s pantheon of unforgettable villains. And whereas Smit wouldn’t reveal simply how central Bawma is to the plot, he did promise gamers will face loads of “twists and turns” and urged them to expertise the journey themselves.
Given Kravitz’s musical legacy and the lengthy historical past of iconic Bond themes, I needed to ask the apparent query: Will First Gentle get its personal authentic theme music? The final time a Bond recreation did was again in 2010 with Joss Stone’s “I’ll Take It All” for James Bond 007: Blood Stone, and earlier than that Mya lent her voice to the 2004 EA title James Bond 007: Every part or Nothing. Smit wouldn’t spill any secrets and techniques, however he did stress simply how central music is to the general imaginative and prescient for the sport.
“We’re actually engaged on elevating the complete expertise,” stated Smit. “Video games are sometimes praised for visuals, however sound is what immerses you. We’re working with extraordinarily gifted musicians and sound designers to carry that stage of musicality into the expertise.”
He didn’t affirm whether or not a signature theme is coming, however the way in which he emphasised “full expertise” suggests one thing vital is going on behind the scenes. And with an artist like Kravitz already within the constructing, the probabilities really feel broad open.
Channeling momentum as a design cornerstone
Not like earlier video games that includes the enduring MI6 agent, 007: First Gentle isn’t a movie tie-in however an authentic IOI take that stars Patrick Gibson (Shadow and Bone & Dexter: Unique Sin) as a mid-20s Bond trying to get 00 standing as a younger MI6 agent.
Support Greater and Subscribe to view content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
