007 First Light Raises the Stakes: New Game Plus, 00 Difficulty and More Missions

IO Interactive has released Extended Operations, a free update for 007 First Light that arrived on all platforms on Thursday, October 1. As reported by Gamereactor España, the patch brings three major additions: a New Game Plus mode, an extreme difficulty called 00 and five brand-new TacSim missions, split between high-speed chases behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Valhalla and an infiltration of a luxury resort in Vietnam. All of this comes on top of the 4 million figure the outlet highlights in its headline.

Why does it matter? Because a campaign-focused spy game tends to run out of steam once you finish the story. With this content, the Danish studio gives the game something the competitive community values highly: reasons to come back, master its systems and test their skills under tougher conditions. It's not a paid DLC or a simple balance tweak; it's a clear commitment to extending the game's lifespan.

What You Need to Know

• The Extended Operations update is free and has been available on all platforms since October 1.
• New Game Plus unlocks after completing the campaign on any difficulty and keeps your unlocked suits and gadgets.
• On 00 difficulty, Bond goes down after two hits, and parrying and dodging demand greater precision.
• Five TacSim missions are added: four with the Aston Martin Valhalla in Slovakia and one at The Pearl, in Vietnam.

What Changes: New Game Plus and 00 Difficulty

The new New Game Plus mode lets you restart the full story or jump to specific checkpoints without giving up your progress: unlocked suits and gadgets carry over. It's a smart decision, because it makes replaying specific sections easy, which is ideal for anyone who wants to refine their routes or record content without replaying hours of the campaign.

The real star, however, is the 00 difficulty. Here, enemies react faster, tougher guard variants appear and gadget use is restricted while Bond is in sight. Combat becomes lethal: two hits are enough to take you out, and the parry and dodge windows demand much tighter timing. In other words, the game stops forgiving improvisation and rewards genuine planning and stealth.

The New TacSim Missions

The Valhalla challenges combine speed and destruction: every target you take out adds extra time, turning each run into an optimization exercise. It's exactly the kind of structure that fuels leaderboards and player-versus-player comparisons.

Our Take

Here at Underworld Lordz, we're clear on this: the 00 difficulty is the best part of the patch. Dying after two hits and losing gadgets as a safety net once you're spotted forces you to play smart. For competitive players, this opens the door to community challenges, speedruns on the highest difficulty and no-detection runs that actually mean something. A hard mode that changes enemy behavior, rather than just inflating their health, deserves applause.

For content creators, the combination is almost perfect. New Game Plus with checkpoints makes it easy to record specific sections, and the Valhalla missions, with their time bonuses, are pure gold for short clips, streamer challenges and record comparisons. That said, at least based on what the source details, we missed any mention of official leaderboards. Without built-in rankings, much of that competitive potential will depend on the community organizing itself.

Our main criticism: five TacSim missions sound good on paper, but four of them share the same car and setting. It remains to be seen whether the variety holds up or whether they feel like variations of the same challenge. Even so, the fact that it's all free counts heavily in IO Interactive's favor. This is the kind of post-launch support we'd like to see more often in the industry.

What Do You Think?

Are you diving into 00 difficulty, or would you rather chase records with the Valhalla? Drop by the team chat or our Discord and tell us: do you think 007 First Light has what it takes to become a challenge and speedrun favorite in the community?