007 First Light Free DLC Lets You Finally Drive the Aston Martin Valhalla

IO Interactive's free Extended Operations DLC adds Valhalla Protocol, Jungle Heist, Photo Mode, New Game+, a new difficulty, and a pet bulldog to 007 First Light.

Remember how 007 First Light spent the whole game teasing that Aston Martin Valhalla, only to stick you in a turret seat when you finally got near it? Yeah, that sting is finally easing.

IO Interactive dropped a free DLC pack for First Light earlier this week called Extended Operations, and it adds a bunch of new modes and missions. The headline act for car fans is Valhalla Protocol, a TacSim mission that finally puts you behind the wheel of Bond's heavily armed sports car. You'll tear through the mountains of Slovakia, using the Valhalla's rockets and twin machine guns to blow up drones and other vehicles. It's basically what you wanted from the campaign, just tucked into TacSim instead.

Speaking of TacSim, if you haven't touched it, think Metal Gear Solid's VR missions with a preposterous budget. That's where Valhalla Protocol lives, alongside another new operation called Jungle Heist. That one reworks First Light's showstopper Vietnamese hotel into a randomised affair, tasking Bond with swiping documents from the safe inside one of the hotel's luxurious villas.

But wait, there's more. Extended Operations also bundles in a Photo Mode, so you can finally snap that Valhalla from better angles than a Q-Lab pedestal. There's New Game+ too, letting you replay the campaign in different suits while adjusting your gadget loadout mid-mission. And once you finish the campaign, a new "00" difficulty level unlocks for anyone craving a tougher run.

Oh, and there's a bulldog you can pet now. IO says it's a thank you for hitting 7 million wishlists, which is a pretty wholesome way to celebrate.

First Light has been a big win for IO Interactive since launching back in May. It became the studio's fastest-selling game ever, moving 1.5 million copies within 24 hours. So a sequel feels likely, though it's still not wholly clear whether IO itself will get to make it. Back in July, Amazon Gaming's general manager said the company would "probably want IOI developing it," but a follow-up from IO has yet to be confirmed. Amazon also didn't rule out purchasing IO outright in that same conversation.

As for the original game's car problem, the Valhalla being liberated from that tiny garage next to Q-Lab is a welcome fix, even if plenty of us would've preferred a proper driving mission in the campaign itself. Still, free is free, and blowing up drones in a rocket-equipped Aston Martin sounds like a solid weekend.

Will you be jumping back into First Light for Valhalla Protocol, or are you holding out for a full sequel?