A checkpoint-by-checkpoint The Past Never Dies walkthrough that earns the $100,000 buy-in, clears the stealth challenges and grabs every collectible.
The Past Never Dies drops James and Greenway into Aleph, a lawless arms bazaar built inside a grounded shipwreck, chasing answers about the missing agent 009. It is an open, sandbox-style chapter: you have to raise a $100,000 auction fee from a market full of side hustles before the story can move on.
This 007 First Light The Past Never Dies walkthrough follows the natural checkpoint order, from the desert drive to the crime scene on 009’s boat. We cover the whole mission plus every income stream, so you can hit the money target the fast way and still tick off challenges like Sightseeing, Silence is Violence and The Big Bang in as few runs as possible.
It also flags all ten documented collectibles the chapter hides, area by area, so you can grab the cards, postcard, mementos, Intel and Legacy item in a single pass instead of replaying to mop up.
The Past Never Dies walkthrough: Drive to Aleph and arrival
The chapter opens behind the wheel again, this time with Greenway riding along across the Mauritanian desert. Stick to the makeshift dirt road and follow his directions; when a barricade blocks the path ahead, take the hard right and follow the tire tracks through the rocky terrain. Cresting the hill triggers the title card, and driving down toward the huge wrecked ship starts the arrival cutscene.
On foot, follow Greenway into the hull until a mercenary bumps into Bond and you lose track of him. Take the left path around the inner circle to find a bathroom behind the central gun shop, then head right around the weapons stall to reunite with Greenway behind a fence. A pair of men watching TV will pick a fight, so beat them down and pass through the chain-link door.
After a brief scene where Bawma addresses the crowd, follow Greenway toward Ali. However you answer the pirates, you learn you need an invitation and $100,000 to meet him. Greenway sources the invite; you get the money.
Collectible here:
- 6 of Bells (Playing Card, checkpoint 02): once you regain control after losing Greenway, take the left path around the inner circle. The card sits on a bathtub in the bathroom set against the right-hand wall behind the central gun shop.
Black Market: how to earn the $100,000 auction fee
Head down the stairs to the right of the pirates and follow the left wall to Nirmala, a woman in blue running a stall. She points you toward the crypto lead and, if you offer to help, the Cup Game and a stolen jewel. You do not need every activity, so mix and match these income streams until you reach the target:
- Crypto Wallet: $50,000
- The Fight Pit / The Hammer: $60,000
- Scorpius deal: $52,000
- Shooting Range: $30,000 (costs $3,000 to enter)
- Cup Game: $30,000 (costs around $3,000–$3,500 to enter)
Tip: toggle your Q-Lens to scan guards and NPCs; anyone carrying cash glows yellow, and pickpocketing them nets a quick $3,000–$5,000.
Before you leave this opening stretch, sweep it for collectibles:
- 9 of Acorns (Playing Card, checkpoint 03): head downstairs into the market and turn right; follow the path to the overhang with the two guards to eavesdrop on. A fish tank is set into the wall there. Break the glass with your Laser Strap to grab the card.
- Mauritania Postcard (Postcard, checkpoint 03): from the market staircase, turn left and keep to the left through the crowds until you spot the giant red anchor in the ground. Just past it is a locked cage in the corner; laser the lock and take the postcard from the left-most table inside.
- Ober of Acorns (Playing Card, checkpoint 03): exit the cage and turn left to an abandoned truck with two men at the front. Around the back, laser the lock on the cabinet set into the wall to find the card.
- Bawma (Intel, checkpoint 03): from the truck, go through the opening back into the market to a central stall with a blue tarp. Walk up to its left side to find the Delivery Box, which unlocks the Bawma Intel.
The Crypto Wallet and the antenna climb (ATAC Device)
Turn from Nirmala’s stall and enter the large metal pipe. On the far side, wait by the crate to eavesdrop, then use your Q-Watch to hack the target’s phone and tail him to download its contents. If a guarded stall blocks him, hit the Spice Bag with a Phone Dart to draw him out (or simply block his path to stall him long enough).
Follow the teal marker to a woman in a white suit. You need a distraction to pickpocket her: set a trash can on fire with a lighter, shoot a spice bag, or, to save resources, interact with the yellow Charging Station on the counter behind her so it beeps and turns her head.
Next, reach the antenna above the market. Enter the space beneath it beside the laundromat, climb the stairs and pass through the double doors. From here you are trespassing, which is where Sightseeing (reach the antenna without knocking anyone out or getting caught) comes in. Stay crouched: climb the left ladder, wait out the binocular guard, use your Q-Watch to trace the ledge path above, then work along the pipes and ledges. Hack the breaker box in the corner to kill the TV, dart the enemy who investigates, and sneak up the stairs. At the final pair of guards, activate the fan with your Q-Watch and the laptop beside you to split them, then slip through the door to complete Sightseeing.
Jump the gap, climb the blue pipe, smash through the wall and fight the Brute (let him attack, then parry and counter). As you round the corner toward the tower, drop down instead of climbing up to reach a crossing to the far side.
Collectible here:
- ATAC Device (Legacy, checkpoint 03): behind the wall on that lower crossing you reach by dropping down instead of climbing, just before the signal tower.
Interact with the box at the base of the ladder to attach the wallet, banking $50,000 and completing Secure Transaction. Use the zipline to return to the market.
The Fight Pit, the Cup Game and the Shooting Range
The Fight Pit entrance sits on the far side of the market under mounted shark jaws. Eavesdrop inside, talk to the Ringmaster, then head to the rooftop gym and beat Omar in a fistfight; throwing him over the railing earns Fall Guy. Follow Yasin back to the arena for three rounds (the second is a two-on-one). Hitting every opponent with a thrown bottle earns Bottled It!, and the final brute, The Hammer, gives Hammer Time when you dodge his red swings, parry the yellow ones and counter. Clearing all three fights pays $60,000.
- Ace of Roses (Playing Card, checkpoint 03): inside the Fight Club, head upstairs through the bar to the rooftop training area. It sits on a box in the small corner room to the right of the entrance.
For the Cup Game, set your tracker to the Jewel of Jahari and follow the marker to Aadon ($3,000–$3,500 per attempt). Use your Q-Lens to keep eyes on the gem, pick the right cup, then return the jewel to Nirmala for $30,000 and the Cupped challenge.
At the Shooting Range, speak to the man in the red shirt near the umbrellas ($3,000 to enter, $30,000 to win). You must hit 10 targets in order with no misses; they appear in the same sequence each run, and you may use focus mode for the final pair. Playing earns Shoot ‘Em Up, and a clean run earns Gunslinger.
The Scorpius deal and Silence is Violence
From the platform where you left Greenway, take a right at the bottom of the ramp to a gate watched by two guards in military gear. Eavesdrop, activate the generator in the right corner to split them, then slip through the abandoned entrance. Phone-dart the guard with his back to you, climb the green box and pull yourself up through the hole in the hull.
Above a table with a disguise, wait for the guard below to step right, hack the television to hold the other guard’s attention, drop down and grab the hat to complete Soldier Boy and move freely (avoid soldiers with a solid white circle; those with an X can’t see through the disguise). Head up through the ship to the burner phone: drop into the gap between the stairs and wall, crouch to the desk behind the watcher and grab the Burner Phone. Reaching it unseen completes Silent Line.
Follow the marker to the shipping containers, but stop at the grenade vendor first. Ask for smoke grenades so he turns his back, then sneak through his shop and the shipping container into the deal area. Use the far-right gate, then interact with container 76 to trigger a six-man ambush. Take cover, lean on your smokescreen for silent takedowns, and clear them all. The buyer then appears to pay $52,000 and complete Art Lover.
Silence is Violence asks for 10 silent takedowns and is easiest as a dedicated run of the Scorpius hideout after you no longer need the stealth-only challenges. Re-enter the same way, then take down the crate guard, the guard inside the hull, the TV watcher (dart him, slam the patroller), the chemicals worker (refill resources here), the doorway patroller and his neighbour, the third-floor window guard, and finally rope-drop a crate on the whiteboard guard before darting and dropping the investigators.
Aim to reach $80,000–$99,999 before the Scorpius job so that its payout pushes you over $140,000 and completes Show Me the Money (crossing $100,000 ends the money phase). Once you have the fee:
- Pirate Grillz (Memento, checkpoint 03): after you hit $100,000, return toward the entry ramp but don’t go up. Turn back to the market: a man in a white shirt under a red umbrella has his stand in front of the ramp, and the Grillz now sit on his stack of crates.
Pay the Guard: winning the auction
Greenway waits where you first tried to reach Ali, so follow the marker up the stairs and present the money and invitation. Follow him to the curtained room and take a seat. Use any option on the polygraph machine; none get you caught. When Greenway signals, hack the polygraph to your right to get Mister Leung ejected from the bidding.
For the next bid, pick any option, then when the counteroffer comes, select Improvise to win the auction. What happens next plays out in a cutscene where Bond presses Ali for 009’s location.
Optionally, help the party’s DJ: follow his twin yellow cables, flip the remote generator switch and fit a replacement Fuse to fix the speakers for the Tech Support challenge.
Infiltration: the shipyard run (Easy Does It and The Big Bang)
Ali points to a crane in the distance where 009 keeps a boat; Greenway sends you there on foot. Break away and take the blue zipline across the water into the trespassing zone. From here, staying uncaught and knocking out no one earns Easy Does It.
Squeeze through the orange hull, grab the electronic to recharge your watch, then work left and out. Cross the beam marked 12, climb to platform 3, and head inside up two staircases into a larger area. Down the ladder, jump from the blue metal to the wall with the circle and X and kick it. Around the wall of screens, kill the fusebox, dart the remaining guard and climb the ladder.
Grab a weapon and push through into the next stealth area. Vault the window onto a staircase, slip past the patrolling guard, take cover behind boxes and climb right. Kick the double doors, retreat until the investigator moves on, and drop left. Climb the stairs, jump the gap behind the trio of workers, cross the crate and approach the group at the far wall.
The Big Bang (kill three enemies with one explosion) is best set up here. Start a fight with the guards in the room after the first window, then run your usual sneaking path so they draw weapons. With the license to kill active, reach the trio working near the gas canisters you’d normally sneak past, and use focus mode to shoot a canister so the blast takes all three. Restart the checkpoint if they scatter.
Loop the left of the ramp, jump the railing onto a staircase, and swap cover past the men who switch positions often. At the top, wait for the lone patroller to move, climb the ladder and run right. Wait out the sweeping camera, hide beneath it, then sneak up the stairs. Dart the last guard and approach the door to complete Easy Does It. Clearing the other Pacifist and Ghost challenges here also nets Pacifist: The Past Never Dies, and triggering zero confrontations along the way (arena fights don’t count) earns No Trouble At All.
Aleph’s Port and Find 009: the laser traps (Laser Show)
After a chat with Greenway, climb down and left, up at the E1 marking, then drop to deck B9 and follow the floating containers and pipes to 009’s boat.
The boat is rigged with explosive tripwires and laser traps. Disarm the first tripwire, squeeze between the box and shelf, and disarm the traps as you go, including the very long string and the pair guarding the blue tarp. Vault the box marked 635, disarm the trap there and head upstairs into the laser-trap garden.
Collectible here:
- Banner of Shields (Playing Card, checkpoint 07): after the short cutscene with Greenway on the upper garden deck, turn left toward the rear of the ship. A tripwire blocks the path to a chessboard, and the card sits beside it.
Activate the sprinklers with the yellow hose to reveal the lasers, then work across the deck: pass under the central-pillar laser, activate the next system, and jump the planter. For Laser Show, instead of a third faucet, Phone-Dart the hanging planter so it drops and exposes the slow vertical laser, then crouch under it. Jump the planter to the right, timing the swinging beam. Completing the other two Ghost challenges here also finishes Ghost: The Past Never Dies. Turn the final sprinkler and pass under the twin lasers at their highest point, then enter the boat and trigger the cutscene.
Examine the Crime Scene
Once the scene ends, sweep the room for evidence. There are optional objects (a telescope, bomb materials, hotel blueprints), but the important clues are at the back.
Collectible here:
- John Greenway (Intel, checkpoint 08): as you enter the final room with the evidence board, turn left to a small side table in the corner by the bust. The Photo of Greenway sits on it.
Examine a few photos on the wall until Greenway flags one on the floor of him and 009; flip it for the clue on the back. Return to the telescope, pan right across the ocean and zoom in on the orange ship bearing that symbol to trigger the closing cutscene. That ambush is the chapter’s cliffhanger, so we’ll leave what follows for the cinematic.
That wraps The Past Never Dies, but Aleph has more to give. If a card or Intel slipped past you, our all-collectibles 100% guide pins every location; when you’re ready to press on, our Beyond the Grave walkthrough picks up right where this cliffhanger drops you; and our Intel locations guide gathers every dossier in the chapter, all on Solo Jugadores.
