007: First Light’s free Aston Martin Valhalla DLC is finally here, but is locked behind a score-chasing TacSim mode

IO Interactive created a blockbuster hit with its James Bond take in 007: First Light, and now the first free DLC is out, letting you drive the Aston Martin Valhalla. However, it’s only a score-chasing TacSim side activity.

The latest update for 007: First Light, Update 1.3.0, has added New Game+, Photo Mode, and an Aston Martin Valhalla driving TacSim mini-game, along with more than 700 fixes. The update was released on October 1 and also added a “00” difficulty to the main campaign.

A free DLC update

The first DLC, Extended Operations, was released for free on all major platforms on October 1. The new TacSim side activity is called Valhalla Protocol, where players aim for the highest score across four Valhalla Protocol missions.

Previously, players could only try Valhalla in the main campaign, where they never got a chance to drive it and instead acted as a turret to eliminate enemies toward the end of the game.

Another TacSim Operation added to 007: First Light is Jungle Heist, which returns players to the Pearl Hotel in Vietnam, where they must retrieve documents from a safe. IO Interactive touts that every attempt will be different.

IO Interactive has also added two new weapons to replace the Service Pistol: the Storm 12 Gauge and the Squire Marksman Rifle. However, players must grind to reach Clearance Level 20 with 6,000 Intel points, or Clearance Level 18 with 4,000 Intel points, to unlock the weapons from the TacSim shop.

A new difficulty tier in addition to New Game+

As standard, players can unlock New Game+ by completing the campaign. The second run allows players to change outfits from the journal and switch gadgets between missions instead of selecting a loadout at the start of each one.

The new “00” difficulty is also locked behind the campaign and makes for a more realistic experience, as enemies spot James Bond faster and chip away more health, while gadgets regain only a fraction of their usage for each resource collected.

However, this isn’t much of a surprise, as the Valhalla and Slovakia’s mountain slopes were already teased on the game’s main menu at launch.

Buy 007 First Light Specialist Edition on Amazon here