007 First Light Wiki

Chapter 1 — The Needle's Eye — 007 First Light Walkthrough

Overview

The Needle’s Eye is the formal training arc. After Moneypenny’s briefing in the bridging segment “In His Majesty’s Secret Service,” Bond flies into Malta and Greenway picks him up from the airport personally. The Double-O programme has been revived, Greenway runs the show, and Bond’s two fellow recruits — Cressida Bright and Monroe — are assigned to teach him the basics.

It’s a tutorial sandbox. Driving course, parkour “Grab the Flag” runs, fistfight tutorial, gun-throw, shooting range, fake-surrender takedowns. The chapter wraps with a free-roam fistfight against Monroe across most of the base — the first encounter that actually tests every melee technique the chapter teaches.

Objectives (in order)

  1. Opening punch-out with Monroe — strikes only, no dodge or parry yet.
  2. Drive the timed car course (handbrake-drift the sharp corners).
  3. First “Grab the Red Flag” parkour run.
  4. Fistfight tutorial: strike, dodge, parry-counter.
  5. Push-up montage QTE.
  6. Second flag run.
  7. Charge attacks (Shift + strike).
  8. Shooting range tutorial.
  9. Drive course again.
  10. Live-target shooting + the gun-throw (RMB + G).
  11. Grapple + knee-strike tutorial.
  12. Third flag run.
  13. Leg/hand stagger + disarm tutorial.
  14. Climactic Monroe fistfight — free-roam across the base, all techniques fair game.

Walkthrough

Tutorial mindset. Don’t worry about challenge counts here. The chapter is one long input rehearsal. Use the parry timing window — the rest of the game punishes mistimed parries hard, especially on Purist.

Flag runs. The three “Grab the Flag” parkour runs reward stealth solves. Vault the blue-marked ledges, climb the blue ladders, takedown rather than fistfight. Guards respawn during training reps, so brute-forcing wastes time. In the open course, going right into tall grass is the safest path, and you can grab batteries en route to keep the Q-Watch charged for later missions.

Final Monroe fight. This is the first real combat test. Open with Fake Surrender → Takedown to bank Instinct. Parry yellow flashes, sidestep red glints. Chain combos to keep the Instinct meter topped up — you’re going to need it for the Bluff routes in London. Q’s Watch can hack the raised targets above doorways: they fold down and KO a guard for you.

Collectibles (1)

#TypeNameLocation
1PostcardMalta Postcard”Basic Training” checkpoint while following Greenway. Fold-out table with water bottles, right of the training-ground entrance.

The Malta Postcard is one of the lightest collectible loads in the game and one of the most-missed — the game keeps pushing you toward Greenway. Veer right before the second checkpoint.

Notable Challenges

12 challenges total. Highlights:

  • Drive-course time targets (handbrake-drift the inside line).
  • Pacifist and Ghost variants on each flag run.
  • “Full Marks” fistfight finish on the Monroe brawl using every technique at least once (Fake Surrender, parry, charge, knee, disarm).

Tips

  • Internalize the parry window. Purist runs of the back half of the campaign rely on it.
  • Tall-grass right side on the flag courses. Don’t rush the open ground.
  • Q-Watch the doorway targets — free KOs and silent.
  • Open the Monroe finale with Fake Surrender for the cleanest takedown.
  • Pick up batteries during flag runs even if you can’t equip Q-Watch yet. They carry over.