The best settings to make IO Interactive’s Bond look sharp and run smooth on every platform.
007 First Light is the first genuinely good James Bond game in years, and IO Interactive has carried over its PC know-how: it runs very well once you clear its fairly steep requirements. The catch is that it ships without graphics presets, so finding the best settings for your platform takes a little thought.
This guide covers what to change on PS5, PS5 Pro, PC, Xbox Series X|S and the Steam Deck, so you can spend your time on the missions instead of the menus, plus a note on what’s confirmed and what isn’t.
A quick reality check on hardware first:
- Minimum: AMD Radeon RX 5700 or GeForce GTX 1660 — modest.
- Recommended: RTX 3060 Ti or Radeon RX 6700 XT — a big jump.
- VRAM: textures are a sponge for video memory, so you’ll want at least 12GB to max them at any resolution, and 16GB at higher resolutions to avoid stuttering.
One caveat on scope: the most detailed public breakdown of 007 First Light focuses on the PC version, with clear notes for handhelds like the Steam Deck. For the PS5, PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S, less is confirmed at the time of writing, so below I’ll tell you what’s known and what to prioritize rather than invent numbers the source doesn’t back up.
The best settings for PC
007 First Light has no graphics presets. There’s a button that resets everything, but it drops every option to its minimum, so you can’t just pick a profile and play. The upside is there aren’t many individual settings, so finding your sweet spot is quick.
For most people who meet the recommended spec it comes down to setting most things to high, then deciding whether to prioritize frame rate or base resolution.
Start with Transfer Function at 2.2 and forget about it; only switch to sRGB to troubleshoot visual glitches, though you’ll get lighter blacks, which matters in a stealth game full of dark scenes. For upscaling, set Resolution Scaling to DLSS on Nvidia and FSR on everything else.
As a rule of thumb for the upscaling factor, use Performance for 4K, Balanced for 1440p and Quality for 1080p, then push it higher if you have headroom. DLSS Frame Generation is optional and Nvidia-only; it unlocks very high frame rates at the cost of some latency and minor artifacts, and the game supports Dynamic Multi Frame Generation out of the box.
For a capable mid-range card like an RTX 5070, this is a strong high-quality baseline:
- Texture Quality: Ultra
- Texture Filter: 16x
- Level of Detail: Ultra — barely touches performance or VRAM, so keep it cranked.
- Terrain Quality: Ultra — same story.
- Shadow Quality: High — shadows are ray traced.
- Volumetric Fog Quality: High
- Volumetric Effects Quality: High
- Reflection Quality: High (go Ultra if you’re feeling adventurous).
If you fall short of 60 fps, cut fog, volumetric effects and reflections first, since those are the heaviest. With this baseline an RTX 5070 averages around 63 to 70 fps through most of the game, higher still with frame generation.
Two more notes. Texture Quality is by far the biggest hit to VRAM, so if the in-game VRAM meter in the lower right maxes out, lower it first, though you’ll usually be GPU-limited before VRAM-limited.
Native 4K without upscaling is basically off the table on a 5070, so treat upscaling as mandatory at 4K unless you own something like an RTX 5080 or Radeon RX 9070 XT. A weaker RTX 3060 Ti still runs great at 1080p with DLSS on Quality, and can stretch to 1440p if you accept turning a few things down.
The best settings for Steam Deck and handhelds
007 First Light will run on the Steam Deck, but it isn’t really the intended platform. You can hold around 30 fps most of the time, yet it comes with severe stuttering, especially on battery power. If you play anyway, go lean:
- Transfer Function: 2.2
- Texture Quality: Low
- Texture Filter: 4x
- Level of Detail: Medium
- Terrain Quality: Low
- Shadow Quality: Low
- Volumetric Fog Quality: Low
- Volumetric Effects Quality: Low
- Reflection Quality: Low
More powerful handhelds like the Xbox Ally X fare a bit better, but this is a game built with full gaming PCs in mind.
The best settings for PS5, PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S
On consoles the same priorities apply even where per-mode figures aren’t yet confirmed. Expect the usual choice between a fidelity-leaning mode that favors resolution and image quality and a performance mode that targets a higher, smoother frame rate.
If you want the responsiveness that suits Bond’s mix of stealth, gunplay and driving, the performance-oriented mode is the safer pick. The PS5 Pro should give you the most headroom to keep resolution and effects high without sacrificing smoothness. Beyond that, I’d rather not quote mode names or numbers the current material doesn’t confirm, so verify the exact labels in-game.
Post-processing, controller, aim and difficulty
After the main sliders comes a set of post-processing toggles, and none of them meaningfully affect performance. IO Interactive warns that disabling fullscreen and radial blur can make some gameplay states, such as being low on health, harder to read, so it’s worth leaving them on unless you strongly dislike the effect.
On controller, aim sensitivity and difficulty, the available material doesn’t detail specific values, so I won’t fabricate them. In practice, treat aim sensitivity as personal: set it in the opening mission, then adjust after your first real firefight. For difficulty, if this is your first IO stealth-action game, start on the standard setting and step up once the systems click.
The settings above will keep the game looking and running its best no matter which difficulty you land on. From here, our 007 First Light beginner tips guide covers the systems these menus don’t explain, our best gadgets and loadout guide helps you build Bond for each mission, and if you’re still weighing your options, our breakdown of which difficulty to choose walks you through the trade-offs — all over on Solo Jugadores.
