Cover Reveal – 007 First Light

James Bond is poised to make his grand return to video games for the first time in over a decade through IO Interactive’s 007 First Light, and we’re excited to feature the world famous superspy’s latest adventure on our next cover. We traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, to get the behind-the-scenes story of how the studio best known for the Hitman series developed another kind of globetrotting agent adventure.

007 First Light is an origin story for Bond, telling how he became the agent he is in most media in which we see him depicted. As such, our cover art depicts this younger version of the character from a sequence called “The Iceland Incident” where MI6 first notice Bond’s potential. However, according to art director Rasmus Poulsen, the art is not a direct adaptation of those events. “It’s partially inspired by the story of the game, and it’s partially inspired by the overall tone of the game,” he says. “The thing that was important for us was that you get a sense of what the product feels like as a whole, rather than a singular scene.”

But that’s not all that’s housed within the pages of this issue of Game Informer. The biggest feature in this issue is a massive look at the most exciting games in 2026 and beyond. Whether you’re excited for Grand Theft Auto VI and Control: Resonant, or Judas and Stranger Than Heaven, or Forza Horizon 6 and Gears of War: E-Day, we’ve got you covered! 

But that’s not all that’s housed in the pages of this issue, which launches digitally on January 27! In addition to the in-depth 007 First Light cover story and our huge Most Anticipated Games of 2026 and Beyond section, we have a retrospective on the first 30 years of Bandai Namco’s Tales franchise from contributor Michael Murphy, while freelancer Andrew King has a great investigation into the evolving definition of adventure games. Nicole Carpenter also contributes a fascinating look at the enormous success of a seemingly niche type of game in Love and Deepspace. All of that is on top of our standard suite of departments, including Gear, Replies, Reviews, Top Five, and smaller interviews 

The issue launches digitally on January 27, with print issues rolling out to subscribers in the subsequent weeks. If you don’t already subscribe and would like to get a copy of this issue, you’ll be able to find them at select newsstands and bookstores, or you can subscribe to receive the next 10 issues delivered straight to your mailbox.