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Created by Novaterra
5 revisionsThe Glacier Engine is IO Interactive's proprietary game engine, evolved for 007 First Light from the version used in the modern Hitman trilogy (2016 through 2021). The studio characterized the 007 First Light build as a significant generational step rather than a port: real-time global illumination replaces the bounce lighting Hitman used, a new proprietary volumetric system handles fog and smoke, dynamic streaming carries larger mission spaces in real time, and a Frame Graph rendering pipeline introduces up to four asynchronous compute pipelines on PlayStation 5.
System | Hitman Trilogy | |
|---|---|---|
Global illumination | Pre-baked bounce lighting | Real-time global illumination, fully dynamic |
Volumetric system | Standard volumetric fog | Proprietary system internally named Smolder |
Streaming | Per-mission fixed loads | Dynamic brick streaming that swaps geometry and texture bricks at runtime |
Render pipeline | Standard render graph | Frame Graph render system with up to four async compute pipelines on PS5 |
Crowd density | Crowd density scaled per-mission | Significantly higher per-frame NPC density supported across mission types |
Engine direction | Stealth assassination set pieces | Stealth, melee, gunplay, and drivable vehicles in the same engine pass |
The shift from baked bounce lighting to real-time global illumination affects every mission environment. Dynamic light sources (mounted lamps, headlights, fire) propagate diffuse light into the scene as they move. Day-night transitions and time-of-day variations on outdoor missions remain visually consistent without pre-baked GI passes. The trade-off is the higher GPU cost on lower-tier hardware, addressed by the dynamic resolution scaling baked into performance modes on consoles.
Smolder is IO Interactive's proprietary name for the volumetric smoke, fog, and dust system used in 007 First Light. The team describes Smolder as a step beyond standard volumetric solutions: it supports denser, more directional volumetrics, smoke-versus-light interactions, and the kind of cinematic explosive flashes that the Bond fantasy invites. Smoke Pods deploy through Smolder and the resulting cloud can be moved by character motion.
Mission spaces in 007 First Light are larger than the Hitman trilogy's hubs. Rather than pre-loading the full mission area into memory, the engine streams in geometric and texture bricks dynamically as Bond moves through the space. The streaming pipeline runs in the background and is one of the techniques that allows the game to support the bigger, more crowded environments shown in pre-launch coverage.
The Frame Graph render system tracks every render pass as a graph node and schedules them across the GPU efficiently. On PlayStation 5, the engine uses up to four asynchronous compute pipelines, allowing the GPU to run shadow passes, post-processing, and lighting work in parallel rather than strictly sequentially. This contributes to the engine hitting its performance targets on console hardware.
Platform | Quality Mode | Performance Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
PlayStation 5 | 30 FPS, target 4K | 60 FPS with dynamic resolution scaling | Most reviewers prefer the performance mode despite occasional resolution drops |
PlayStation 5 Pro | 60 FPS at quality settings | Single mode only | PS5 Pro skips the 30 FPS option |
Xbox Series X | 30 FPS, target 4K | 60 FPS with dynamic resolution scaling | Quick Resume behavior occasionally inconsistent at launch |
Xbox Series S | 30 FPS only | Not available | RAM and GPU headroom prevent a 60 FPS mode |
PC | Player-configurable; up to 4K with DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution and Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation | Uncapped framerate with DLSS | Path tracing and DLSS Ray Reconstruction land in a Summer 2026 update |
On PC the Glacier Engine supports DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution and Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation at launch. The Summer 2026 update adds path tracing and DLSS Ray Reconstruction. Uncapped framerate and ultrawide aspect ratios are supported out of the box. The PC System Requirements article covers minimum through ultra tiers.
007 First Light is IO Interactive's first title with drivable vehicles. The studio brought specific driving expertise onto the team to support the Aston Martin DBS, Aston Martin Valhalla, and other rides featured in the campaign. Vehicle physics, environment streaming during chases, and traffic AI are all engine systems built on top of the same Glacier pipeline used for the on-foot mission design.
PC System Requirements
Aston Martin Valhalla
