A checkpoint-by-checkpoint route through the Malta training that bags all seven collectibles and clears Pacifist, Ghost and Spinning a Yarn.
The Needle’s Eye, the game’s training chapter (in-game it reads as The Needle’s Eye), is where James earns his place on the revived 00 programme. It rolls a driving lesson, hand-to-hand drills, a shooting range and two proper stealth courses into one long introduction, with a handful of missable challenges baked in.
This 007 First Light The Needle’s Eye walkthrough follows the natural mission order, from the arrival in Malta to the flag heist that closes the chapter. Everything is grouped by checkpoint so you can jump back in via Select Chapter if a challenge or item slips past you.
It also pins every collectible, key item and gadget the level hands out. There are no safe codes here, but there are seven collectibles and a few missable challenges, so grabbing them in one run beats replaying the whole chapter to mop up.
The seven collectibles in The Needle’s Eye:
- Malta Postcard (Postcard) — Basic Training checkpoint
- Selina Tan (Intel, “Workshop Notice”) — Q-Lab checkpoint
- 00 Recruits (Intel, Recruit Stats) — Q-Lab checkpoint
- Lennox Monroe (Intel, “Family Photo”) — Home checkpoint
- Cressida Bright (Intel, “Dress Box”) — Home checkpoint
- Under of Acorns (Playing Card) — Advanced Training checkpoint
- 7 of Roses (Playing Card) — Search the Compound checkpoint
The Needle’s Eye walkthrough: arriving in Malta
You open the chapter in the passenger seat as Greenway drives you to the training ground and parks beneath the overhang. Enjoy the banter, then before you catch up with the recruits, walk down the path and check the table with refreshments on the right for your first collectible.
- Malta Postcard: on the refreshments table on the right-hand side of the path, just after Greenway parks.
Follow Greenway to the other recruits for a cutscene, then a brawl with a recruit named Monroe. You have no parry, dodge or grab yet, so you are meant to lose this one. Greenway assigns Monroe and another recruit, Cressida, to bring you up to speed.
What follows is a training montage: a no-timer driving lap around the island (crashing carries no penalty), a flag-retrieval run, target shooting and hand-to-hand drills. In fights, watch the enemy’s stance: a slight crouch signals a grab you need to dodge, otherwise expect an attack you can parry. The montage ends with a full fight against Monroe that teaches the Fake Surrender tactic; stay alert through the cutscene beats, since the brawl mixes in quicktime inputs.
The Heart of the Matter: MI6 and the Q-Lab
Back in London with M, follow her into the underground facility to meet the quantum computer THEIA, then let Moneypenny walk you to the Q-Lab, where you pick up your first gadget. Explore the gadgets under development before you meet the two scientists you are here to see, Q and Selina Tan.
- Selina Tan (Intel, “Workshop Notice”): head to the back-right corner of the floor, near two scientists talking by a printer. The flyer sits on a cupboard/dresser there.
Selina herself stands in front of the yellow TacSim wall on the left side of the room, between testing chambers Q-02 and Q-03. Q is just to the right of her, past the pillar with the extinguisher. Approaching Q triggers a cutscene that hands you your first gadget, a spywatch (the Q-Watch); the colour scheme you pick is purely cosmetic. A short tutorial shows how the watch works, and you can quiz Q about THEIA, M or Moneypenny as much as you like.
- 00 Recruits (Intel, Recruit Stats): after selecting and testing the Q-Watch, turn back toward the desk where Q was waiting. The terminal behind his desk is now interactable and holds this Intel.
Once you have both collectibles, return to the entrance and speak with Moneypenny to move on.
A New Home: the apartment, the room key and Mr Mnemonic
James arrives at his agency apartment. This is a calm sequence for settling in and picking decor, but it hides two Intel pieces and an easy challenge. Explore, and note that your room at the back is locked; Cressida across the hall has the key.
- Lennox Monroe (Intel, “Family Photo”): head straight down the hall to the living room. The photograph sits on the dresser against the far right-hand wall.
- Cressida Bright (Intel, “Dress Box”): from the living room, go down the main hallway to the bedrooms. The last door on the right is Cressida’s room, with a gift box on the bed.
Grab your room key off the dresser, unlock your room and drop your bag, then go socialise with Monroe and Cressida. When they finish talking, hack the TV Monroe stands next to; he sits down and challenges you to a memory game.
For the Mr Mnemonic challenge, get the answer right in Monroe’s memory game. In practice the card layout is consistent, so answer carefully; a wrong answer means reloading the checkpoint or using Chapter Select for another try. Finally, speak to Cressida in the kitchen to pick which decoration the group displays, there is no wrong choice, then continue the chapter and head back to Malta.
In at the Deep End: the stealth course, Pacifist and Ghost
After a cutscene, you must reach a flag through a guarded course. There is a single path that satisfies both the Something to Prove (no soldiers knocked down) and Cressida’s Way (full stealth) challenges, which together feed the Pacifist and Ghost completions for this chapter.
- Under of Acorns (Playing Card): after Greenway explains the rules, head downstairs and unlock the gate with your Q-Watch, but do not pass through. Turn back and go upstairs to the ledge where Greenway stood, overlooking the grounds; the card is there.
Now run the course, staying crouched throughout unless told otherwise:
- From the start, enter the chamber with the crate on your left. A second chamber to the left has items to recharge your watch battery, so top up if needed.
- Jump the half-broken wall back in the first chamber, then approach the half wall with an agent leaning on it. When he stands and walks left, hop over and descend the staircase ahead.
- Hide on the right side of the staircase, then slip into the grass to the right of the stairs when no guard sits between the grass and the stairs. One soldier patrols around the grass but won’t enter it; if you need him gone, use your watch to trigger a nearby speaker.
- With everyone distracted, climb the ladder to building B2 in front of your grass. Do the next steps quickly: from the ladder, hide in the grass and kick the B2 door open. It draws a guard, but climb the box and ledges to your left fast to reach a window and climb through.
- Turn and climb the ladder to a small exposed room. The final ladder is through a gap in the wall with a soldier patrolling outside; wait until he is on the left, trigger the speaker just outside the gap, then squeeze through, turn and climb the last ladder to the flag.
Clear it clean and you complete both Something to Prove and Cressida’s Way.
The chapter’s second card sits in a separate, combat-heavy checkpoint, so grab it on a run where you are not chasing the stealth challenges:
- 7 of Roses (Playing Card): at the Search the Compound checkpoint, on entry head left and slip past the guard and the leader by the radio (use the Q-Watch on the radio as a distraction if needed). Knock out the guard relaxing by the stairs to take the basement keys, which open a double door by the pier at the bottom of the stairs. Inside is a storage room with three guards you must fight, not sneak; the card is on the pallets in the back-right corner.
Polygraph Lesson: Spinning a Yarn and the spy phones
This short section exists mainly for one missable but easy challenge.
For Spinning a Yarn, lie to Greenway on every question while Bond is strapped to the polygraph; after the third lie the challenge unlocks. The trick is to only lie during the polygraph itself. A light-hearted cutscene follows in which Bond and Monroe put Cressida on the lie detector, and your question choices only change the comedy.
Another cutscene issues the trainees spy phones, which fire darts that temporarily sicken and disable a target, your first non-lethal ranged tool for what comes next.
Going In: steal the flag, White Flag and Always Do the Unexpected
The trainees decide to grab the target flag a night early. Follow Monroe while Cressida distracts the first pair of guards, then follow the prompts to take out another pair. When you split from Monroe you are caught and taught to bluff; bluffing spends instinct meter and only buys limited tolerance, so a target may not believe you a second time. You can safely knock out this one guard as he passes.
Once you leave that room the challenges go live: reach the flag without being caught (Always Do the Unexpected) and without knocking anyone down (White Flag). One clean path covers both:
- From the start, head left and drop down where the half-wall ends, then crouch down the stairs using the wall as cover.
- Move to the tall grass and wait for the two talking men to separate. Enter the grass, then head left to wait under the right side of the arch; the guard beyond walks off shortly after you approach.
- Pass under the arch to the building on the right, climb the ledge on the left (with a pipe above it), round the corner to a ground-level pipe and climb it.
- Climb to the open window on your right, enter, crouch and go straight right out the far window. Hop out, climb the pipe to your right up to a ledge.
- Sidle around the corner and climb two ledges to a small roof. Use the zipline there to ride to the roof of the flag building, drop through the open hole and grab the flag to complete both challenges.
After a brief cutscene with Monroe, climb the ladder to the roof and take the zipline down to Cressida’s boat. A guard may wait on the dock, but your stealth challenge is already banked, so ignore him and go straight to Cressida. You then pilot the boat briefly, following the on-screen markers, and the chapter wraps with a cutscene, leaving the outcome to play out on its own.
That is The Needle’s Eye cleared with every collectible in hand. If a card or Intel still eludes you, our all-collectibles 100% guide pins each one; to keep building the loadout you just unlocked, see our best gadgets and loadout guide; and you can line up what comes next with our A Night Out walkthrough on Solo Jugadores.
