IO Interactive has released Extended Operations, the first major free DLC for 007 First Light. It arrives as Update 1.3.0 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and it delivers features players have been asking for since launch: New Game+, a Photo Mode and a new top difficulty called 00. On top of those there is new TacSim content built around the Aston Martin Valhalla and a return to Vietnam. The studio also says the patch carries more than 700 fixes.
New Game+ lets you replay the story your way
New Game+ unlocks once you have finished the whole campaign, and it changes more than enemy health bars. The first addition is what IOI calls Mission Wardrobe. In a New Game+ run you can open Bond's journal at any point, choose any outfit you own, and restart from a checkpoint of your choice to see it in the scene. On a first playthrough the story decides what Bond wears. On a second, you decide.
The second change is Gadget on Demand. Normally your loadout is fixed for each chapter. In New Game+ you can swap gadgets at any moment mid-mission, so if the tool you brought in turns out to be the wrong one, you change it on the spot. There is a limit that keeps the story intact: you can only use gadgets the campaign has already handed you by that point, so Q's inventions still arrive in the order the plot introduces them.
00 is the new hardest difficulty
The third New Game+ feature is the 00 difficulty, which also unlocks only after you finish the campaign. IOI pitches it as the hardest way to play the game, aimed at players who want to prove they have earned the number. Enemies spot Bond faster and hit harder, and resources only refill a fraction of a gadget's uses, so the tools you lean on in a normal run become scarce. It sits above the existing Novice, Intended and Purist settings.
Photo Mode arrives
Photo Mode is the other headline feature. You can freeze the action and frame shots of Bond, the locations and the fights from your own angle. IOI lists camera settings, overlays, filters, visual effects and poses among the tools.
The Valhalla Protocol and the Jungle Heist
TacSim, the game's training-simulation mode, gets two new pieces of content. The first is the Valhalla Protocol, the long-teased activity built around the Aston Martin Valhalla, which players have been spotting in the game's main menu since launch. You take the wheel of Bond's most heavily armed car, with machine guns and missile launchers, and drive a scenic road through Slovakia while chasing a high score.
The second is a new Operation called Jungle Heist. It sends Bond back to The Pearl Hotel in Vietnam to take documents from a safe inside the villa. IOI says every attempt plays out differently, so the Operation is meant to test how well you improvise rather than how well you memorise a route.
TacSim progression also gets new rewards. The Storm 12 Gauge shotgun unlocks at Clearance Level 20 for 6,000 Intel, and the Squire Marksman Rifle at Clearance Level 18 for 4,000 Intel. Three new outfits cost no Intel at all: Observant Spy at Clearance Level 19, and Leisure Beam and First Class at Clearance Level 15.
Combat polish, a bulldog and a deadline
Outside the new modes, IOI has reworked weapon handling animations across the arsenal, so reloads, aiming transitions, weapon swaps and throws should look and feel smoother. In a nod to fairness, Bond can now be thrown off ledges the same way he throws his enemies. MI6 headquarters also has a new resident: Jack the Bulldog, who sits beside Dr. Selina Tan's TacSim area. Yes, you can pet him.
There is one time-limited item to note. Anyone who links the game to an IOI Account before November 1 unlocks The Grey Standard outfit. IOI is also running a Twitch Drop campaign alongside the launch that ends on October 16.
More than 700 fixes
The other half of 1.3.0 is maintenance. IOI says the update contains more than 700 fixes and improvements drawn from player reports and support tickets since launch. They cover crashes, including one that could hit after a few minutes of play and another tied to pipeline cache generation on launch, plus progression blockers, clipping, audio, localisation and UI problems. There are also mission-by-mission fixes for TacSim content such as Arctic Skies, Lords of Rust and The Garden Party.
What comes next
IOI says more improvements and content are already in development, and that Extended Operations is only the first big drop. Separately, the studio has already moved the Switch 2 version to March 2027. For anyone who hasn't picked the game up yet, it is up to 30% off on Steam during the Autumn Sale, which runs from October 1 to October 8, and the update is free for every owner on every platform.
