If you've been grinding through 007 First Light and certain combat sections feel harder than they should — there's a good chance you walked right past the one area that fixes that. We did too.
Buried inside Q-Lab is a fully built-out advanced training system called TacSim. It teaches close-quarters combat techniques, tactical movement, and combo mechanics that the main campaign simply never explains. Most players speak to Selina Tan once and move on. That's the mistake.
What Is TacSim in 007 First Light?
TacSim — short for Immersive Agent Training and Tactical Simulator — is an optional but powerful training mode built directly into the game world inside Q-Lab. It's not a separate menu or a post-credits unlock. It's a physical location you can access during your playthrough, as early as Chapter 2.
The mode functions as a series of escalating combat and tactical challenges, each designed to teach you mechanics the campaign glosses over — or skips entirely. Think of it as Bond's actual training program, not just a gameplay afterthought.
Key detail: TacSim unlocks at the end of Chapter 2 after speaking with Selina Tan, head of Tactical Simulation at MI6. Two escalations become available immediately: Advanced Tactical Training and Advanced Close Combat Training.
How to Unlock TacSim: Step by Step
- Step 1 — Get to Q-Lab. This becomes accessible during the story naturally — don't skip the area when you arrive.
- Step 2 — Find Selina Tan. She's the head of Tactical Simulation at MI6. Most players speak to her once and move on. Go back and talk to her again.
- Step 3 — Grab the free Intel first. Before jumping into challenges, pick up the Classified Files on a nearby desk — it gives you 1,000 Intel and 500 XP for free.
- Step 4 — Start with Advanced Tactical Training. This is the intro escalation and the best place to learn foundational combat mechanics before anything gets complicated.
- Step 5 — Follow with Advanced Close Combat Training. This escalation covers the hand-to-hand techniques you'll need for sections where the game expects you to fight up close — without ever having taught you how.
Why It Actually Matters for Combat
Here's the part the game doesn't tell you: a lot of 007 First Light's mid-game difficulty spikes don't exist because the combat is hard. They exist because the game expects you to know techniques it never explicitly taught you. TacSim is where those techniques live.
In close-quarters combat, the game rewards speed and environmental awareness over straight brawling. TacSim is specifically designed to train both. You'll learn combos, grab mechanics, and close combat flows that make the same sections feel completely different once you've run them in simulation first.
The No Gadgets modifier in TacSim is especially worth doing early. Stripping away your Q-Watch and tools forces you to rely on the melee system alone — and reveals how much the base combat can carry when you actually know how to use it.
What You Unlock
TacSim isn't just a training sandbox. Completing challenges earns Intel — the in-game currency used to purchase upgrades, gadgets, and cosmetics at the TacSim Shop. You can also raise your clearance level, which gates access to more advanced challenges and rewards.
Some of those rewards — specific cosmetics and gear — aren't available anywhere else in the campaign. If you're planning to put real time into First Light, running TacSim early is genuinely worth it, both for the skill building and the unlocks.
The Short Version
Go to Q-Lab. Talk to Selina Tan again. Complete at least the first two tiers of Advanced Tactical Training and Advanced Close Combat Training before you push further into the campaign. The sections that feel impossible right now will make a lot more sense afterward.
It's the worst-kept secret in 007 First Light — and most players are still walking right past it.