This thread is for everyone to list the funny/interesting details, references and other easter eggs they find in the game, I’ll start by naming a few of what I’ve found. Can’t provide screenshots because they are broken on PS5 unfortunately.
The description of the “Chess Biography” item you can collect in “All the time in the world” mentions that is about a chess master in the 60s that turned out to be a member of a criminal investigation. This is a reference to Kronsteen, from “From Russia with Love”.
In Finch’s office in Webb industries, you can find a letter that mentions that he was trying to prove he descended from a Duke, just like Blofeld in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”
In Vietnam, Bond uses the alias Saint Jhon Smythe. This was also the alias he used on “A View to a Kill” during Zorin’s horse breeding event.
In Antarctica, Bond impersonates one David Somerset, this was also the alias he used when on the train in “From Russia with Love”.
When Cressida invites Bond to the pub, he makes a joke about tea and cucumber sandwiches. That is the same thing Drax offers Bond in “Moonraker”.
Dartmoor’s floor plan on 009’s boat, found by @LandirtHome. You can also find some of the same post it notes from the tornado shelter in Colorado, like the “Who is he?” one.
On Bond’s appartment after Mauritania, there are some Joseph Clarence and Ken Morgan Magazines. There’s also a book called “The Merchant of Sapienza”.
There’s a Sebastian Sato magazine somewhere on either the museum or Webb Industries, can’t remember where exactly.
There are pictures of some Hitman NPCs on the MI6 operations room. Most notably are Valery St. Claire from Paris, Oscar Lafayette and the guy you can run over in Sapienza. There’s also a picture of one of the Providence members from Colorado.
Of course, there are some “Alan, Please add details” notes scatered around the game.
Monroe has a “47% protein” supplement. Can be found in the kitchen of the appartment.
Cressida’s note has some visible spots on the paper, which implies she was crying when writting it. I love little details like that.
You can hear a conversation between two scientists in Q lab (the first time you go there) about the croc submarine from Octopussy.
This could surely just be a coincidence, but the cutscene where Bond looks through the ledger in Vietnam to check for names of checked in guests really mirrors 47 doing exactly the same thing in Traditions of The Trade in Codename 47 and Contracts.
There’s another one in Antarctica as well, although you can’t inspect that one.
Q lab is filled with references, from Rosa Klebb’s shoes from From Russia With Love to the jetpack from Thunderball to the couch from The Living Daylights.
The achievement list obviously references a number of the movie/Fleming novel titles. But there are some other references too. All Time High and Writing’s on the Wall are references to the theme songs of Octopussy and Spectre. Agent Under Fire is a nod to the PS2 game. Icebreaker, Solo, Trigger Mortis, Win, Lose or Die, Nobody Lives Forever, and Double or Die are all references to Bond book written after Fleming.
Also references in some of the chapter (and I guess sub-chapter?) titles. Some are obvious, like All the Time in the World and Time to Die. On His Majesty’s Secret Service is a obviously a nod to the very similarly named Bond book, but they actually released a Bond novella called His Majesty’s as a bit of a celebration to tie-in with King Charles ascension. The Past Never Dies is a play on Tomorrow Never Dies, and For England is a reference to Goldeneye.
Webb Industries, you can find Webb is a member of Blades, and Finch was rejected from Blades. Blades is a club featured in the novel Moonraker, in which M and Hugo Drax are members of. The suitcase 009 hides the evidence in has the same self destruct functunality as the Q briefcase from From Russia With Love, although they look different. Greenway criticising Bond for touching his ear piece is a call back to Casino Royale, where Bond criticises another agent for doing the same thing.
Arguably a part of First Light’s plot is very reminiscent of the novel Moonraker. In the novel, Hugo Drax is a wealthy British industrialist, building the Moonraker for Britain’s nuclear defence, and is seen as a national hero. Similar to how Webb in the game is seen as a very well respected British defence contractor, gifting MI6 THEIA for national security. Granted, they have very different motivations, but it does bear a striking similarity.
I appreciate it, but I’m really neither. I love Bond, but there’s a lot I still don’t know, such as reading the wealth on non-Fleming books.
Anyway, one more reference: at the Webb Gala, there is reference to chief of security Director Hamilton. A nod to the film director Guy Hamilton, who directed Goldfinger, Live and Let Die, and The Man with the Golden Gun.
I also really enjoyed how the title sequence does the reversal of the classic gun barrel entrance, where we see over Jame’s shoulder as the light closes in on him and then he does the snap shot.
