007 First Light The Past Never Dies Mission Walkthrough (June 2026)

If you are stuck on The Past Never Dies in 007 First Light, you are not alone. This mission is one of the longest and most complex in the entire game, packing 14 distinct objectives, 23 challenges, and a steep $100,000 auction fee that forces you to get creative. Our team spent over 20 hours running through this mission on multiple difficulty settings to put together the most complete 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission walkthrough available, covering every objective, every challenge, and every money-making shortcut we could find.

Whether you are going for a clean Pacifist run, trying to Ghost your way through every encounter, or just want to finish the story without the frustration, this guide has you covered. We break down each step with specific directions, point out where hidden collectibles are stashed, and share the fastest ways to grind out that auction entry fee so you can stop wandering the streets of Aleph and get on with the mission.

By the end of this guide, you will know exactly how to complete every part of The Past Never Dies, earn enough money for the auction, and unlock the Mauritania outfit for TacSim mode. Let us get into it.

What Is The Past Never Dies Mission in 007 First Light?

The Past Never Dies is the 4th main mission in 007 First Light and takes place in Mauritania, a coastal region filled with markets, docks, and hidden dangers. Bond is sent to follow up on intelligence provided by Greenway, a contact who leads you into the bustling trade hub of Aleph. The mission quickly expands from simple reconnaissance into a multi-layered operation involving high-stakes auctions, underground fight clubs, and the discovery of a fellow agent’s fate.

What makes this mission stand out is the open-ended middle section. You need to raise $100,000 for an auction entry fee, and the game gives you at least five different ways to earn that money. Some methods are fast and violent, others are slow and stealthy. Your approach here shapes how the rest of the mission unfolds and which challenges you can complete along the way.

The mission features 14 sequential objectives and 23 challenges spread across three categories: Pacifist, Ghost, and Assault. Completing all 23 challenges unlocks the Mauritania outfit for use in TacSim mode. If you care about 100% completion, you will need to replay this mission at least twice to cover all challenge types since some are mutually exclusive.

007 First Light The Past Never Dies Mission Walkthrough: Step by Step

This walkthrough covers all 14 parts of The Past Never Dies in order. We provide both stealth and combat approaches where relevant, along with challenge opportunities at each step.

Part 1: Drive to Aleph

The mission opens with Bond behind the wheel, heading toward the market district of Aleph. The drive is straightforward but serves as an introduction to the area. Pay attention to the streets and landmarks as you drive through, because you will be navigating this district on foot later and familiarity with the layout saves real time.

When you arrive, park near the marked waypoint. A short cutscene introduces the atmosphere of Aleph: narrow alleyways, merchant stalls, and plenty of places to hide. Before you leave the car, check your gadget loadout. The Q-Lens and Dart gadget are both useful here, and the Flash gadget can bail you out of tight spots if you prefer combat over stealth.

Part 2: Follow Greenway

Your first task in Aleph is to tail Greenway through the crowded market. He moves at a moderate pace and stops periodically, giving you time to find cover. The key here is maintaining distance. Stay roughly 15 to 20 meters behind him and use market stalls, doorways, and corners as cover.

If Greenway turns around or pauses unexpectedly, duck behind the nearest obstacle immediately. Getting spotted here does not fail the mission, but it triggers a conversation that shortens the tail sequence and locks you out of the Ghost challenge for this section. For a clean Ghost run, keep your distance and move only when he does.

Greenway eventually leads you to a building near the waterfront. This is your entry point into the next phase of the mission. Take a moment before entering to scout the surrounding area. There are two collectible Intel items nearby: one on a crate by the docked boats and another on a second-floor balcony overlooking the alley.

Part 3: Obtain the Auction Fee ($100,000)

This is the section that trips up most players. You need $100,000 to enter the auction, and the game does not hand it to you. You have to earn it through activities scattered around Aleph. There are five main methods, and we ranked them by efficiency below.

Method 1: The Fight Pit (Fastest, $30,000-$40,000 per run)

The Fight Pit is located in the basement of a building in the eastern market district. Look for a staircase leading down near the weapon smith stall. Inside, you face waves of enemies in hand-to-hand combat. Each round pays out based on your performance, and completing all rounds earns a bonus. This method gives the highest payout per time spent, but requires solid combat skills. Bring health items and use Focus slow motion to counter heavier opponents.

Method 2: Scorpius Missions ($15,000-$25,000 each)

Scorpius offers side missions around Aleph that involve stealing items, delivering packages, or eliminating targets. These pay well and can be completed stealthily, making them ideal for players going for Pacifist or Ghost challenges. Check your map for the Scorpius icon and pick up available contracts. Most take between 3 and 8 minutes each.

Method 3: Crypto Wallets ($10,000-$15,000 each)

Scattered around Aleph are crypto wallets hidden in desks, safes, and locked containers. Use the Q-Lens to spot them through walls and furniture. There are at least four wallets worth $10,000 or more. The downside is that finding them all requires thorough exploration, but if you are already searching for collectibles, you will find several wallets along the way.

Method 4: Pickpocketing ($5,000-$10,000 per target)

Certain NPCs in the market carry large amounts of cash. Use the pickpocket mechanic when you are close enough, and target well-dressed merchants and buyers near the auction house. Each successful pickpocket nets between $5,000 and $10,000. This method is slow but works well for Ghost runs since it does not raise alarms.

Method 5: Side Activities and Selling Items ($2,000-$8,000)

Various side activities like helping merchants, finding lost items, and selling collectibles you no longer need can supplement your income. These are the lowest paying options but are low risk and easy to complete between other methods.

Our recommendation: Start with the Fight Pit for a quick $30,000 to $40,000, then use Scorpius missions to make up the remaining difference. This combination gets you to $100,000 in under 20 minutes on most difficulty settings.

Part 4: Speak with Barkhad Ali and Win the Auction

Once you have the $100,000 entry fee, head to the auction house in the central market district. Barkhad Ali runs the auction and you need to speak with him to gain entry. The conversation has a few dialogue options, but none of them change the mission outcome significantly.

The auction itself is for the Jewel of Jahari, an item that holds critical intelligence. The bidding starts at $100,000 and can escalate quickly. You do not need to worry about spending extra money here. The story ensures you win the auction, but the scene that plays out during the bidding reveals important plot details, so pay attention to the other bidders in the room.

After winning the auction, Barkhad Ali gives you information about 009’s last known location: a boat docked at the eastern pier. This kicks off the investigation portion of the mission.

Part 5: Reach 009’s Boat

Leave the auction house and make your way to the eastern docks. The route takes you through a mix of open streets and tight alleys. You can approach this section with stealth or speed. For Ghost challenge seekers, stick to the side streets and avoid the main thoroughfare where guards patrol.

The boat is a medium-sized vessel moored at the end of the longest pier. Before boarding, scan the area with your Q-Lens. There are guards on the dock and on the boat itself. You can take them down quietly from behind, use the Dart gadget to knock them out from a distance, or climb up the far side of the boat to avoid them entirely.

Part 6: Find 009

Board the boat and begin searching. The interior is a single path through cabins and corridors, so you cannot get lost. However, the atmosphere is tense. The lighting is dim, and the sound design does an excellent job of making you feel like something went wrong here.

As you move through the boat, use the Q-Lens frequently. It highlights blood stains, broken objects, and other signs of a struggle that tell the story of what happened to 009. These environmental clues are not just for atmosphere. Some of them count toward challenge completion, specifically the Sightseeing challenges that require you to find specific points of interest.

You will eventually reach the main cabin where it becomes clear that 009 is no longer on the boat. The trail leads deeper into the dock area.

Part 7: Examine the Crime Scene

The crime scene is located in a warehouse adjacent to the docks. This is a dedicated investigation section where Bond must scan and analyze evidence. There are six pieces of evidence to find, and the Q-Lens is essential here.

Start by scanning the blood trail near the entrance, then work your way through the warehouse systematically. The key pieces of evidence are: the broken restraints on the chair, the coded note on the desk, the drag marks leading to the back door, the shattered phone near the crates, the map with circled locations, and the torn fabric caught on a nail near the exit.

Once all six pieces of evidence are analyzed, Bond pieces together what happened. 009 was captured, interrogated, and moved to another location. The map you found reveals the destination: a shipwreck site along the coast.

Part 8: Wake Greenway

Return to Greenway, who is waiting near the auction house. A short cutscene plays where Bond shares the findings and Greenway agrees to help investigate the shipwreck. This is a brief story beat with no gameplay, but it sets up the second half of the mission.

Use this downtime to check your loadout again. The shipwreck section ahead has environmental hazards including booby traps and laser grids. Make sure your Q-Lens is equipped, and consider bringing the Flash gadget for the enemies you will encounter underground.

Part 9: Lower the Bridge

Following the lead from the crime scene, Bond and Greenway arrive at a coastal area with a raised bridge blocking access to the shipwreck site. To lower it, you need to find the mechanism controls located in a small guard station on the near side of the gap.

The guard station has two soldiers inside. You can take them down with stealth if you approach from the side entrance, or use the Dart gadget through the window. Once inside, interact with the bridge control panel. A short animation shows the bridge lowering into place, and Greenway drives across.

For the Silent Line challenge in this section, you need to lower the bridge without triggering any alarms. This means eliminating both guards quietly and avoiding the patrol that circles the area every 30 seconds. Time your approach between patrol passes for the cleanest result.

Part 10: Explore the Shipwreck

The shipwreck is a partially submerged vessel that has been converted into a hideout. This section is one of the most challenging parts of The Past Never Dies because of the booby traps and laser grid protecting the interior.

Booby Traps: The first room contains three pressure-plate traps on the floor. Use the Q-Lens to see them highlighted in blue. Step between the plates carefully. The safe path is: left side, center gap, right side. If you trigger a trap, dart-like projectiles fire from the walls. They deal moderate damage but can kill on higher difficulties.

Laser Grid: Beyond the trap room is a corridor with a horizontal laser grid. The lasers move in a slow pattern, creating gaps you can crouch or slide through. Watch the pattern for one full cycle before attempting to cross. The timing is roughly: wait 3 seconds, crouch and move forward, stand and sidestep left, crouch and slide through the final gap.

Additional Hazards: The deeper sections of the shipwreck have tripwire traps and swinging pendulum blades. The Q-Lens reveals all of these before you reach them. Move slowly and check every corner. Rushing through this section is the number one cause of deaths in The Past Never Dies based on community reports.

Part 11: Follow the Clues

After navigating the shipwreck’s traps, you find a series of environmental clues leading deeper into the underground passage beneath the wrecked hull. This is a linear tracking section where Bond follows blood stains, footprints, and disturbed debris.

The path twists through flooded corridors and collapsed bulkheads. There are no enemies in this section, so take your time and soak in the environmental storytelling. The developers packed a lot of detail into these corridors that explains what happened to 009 and who was responsible.

Along the way, there are three collectible items: a Memento tucked behind a collapsed wall, a Playing Card on a shelf in the flooded storage room, and Intel on a clipboard near the ladder leading to the next area. Grab all three for the Sightseeing challenge progress.

Part 12: Search 009’s Stash

The clue trail leads to a hidden compartment where 009 stashed critical materials before being captured. The stash contains documents, a crypto drive, and a coded safe. The safe code is found on the coded note you recovered from the crime scene in Part 7. If you missed it, the code is written on the wall near the safe in faded ink. Use the Q-Lens to make it visible.

Inside the safe, you find 009’s final report and a key item needed for the escape sequence. Collect everything in the room. There are also two more collectibles here: a Postcard pinned to the bulletin board and another Intel document in the desk drawer.

This room also contains a Transworld reference, which ties into the broader storyline of 007 First Light. Read the documents carefully if you are following the narrative, because they contain information that becomes relevant in later missions.

Part 13: Escape

Grabbing the stash triggers an alarm. Enemies flood into the underground passage and you need to escape quickly. You have two options here: fight your way out or sneak through an alternate route.

Combat Route: Turn around and fight through the enemies in the corridors. The passageways are narrow, which works in your favor since enemies cannot flank easily. Use the Flash gadget to stun groups, then take them down with melee attacks. The Focus slow motion ability is extremely useful here for timing your counters.

Stealth Route: Instead of going back the way you came, look for a ventilation shaft on the left wall of the stash room. It leads to a parallel corridor that bypasses most of the enemies. You will still need to avoid two guards near the exit, but you can use the Dart gadget to put them to sleep quietly. This route is faster and preserves your Ghost challenge progress.

Both routes converge at the exit of the shipwreck. Once outside, a cutscene shows Bond emerging with the recovered materials, but the situation quickly escalates.

Part 14: Protect Greenway

The final section of The Past Never Dies is a defensive encounter. Greenway comes under attack from multiple enemies while trying to start a getaway vehicle. Your job is to keep him alive while he gets the engine running.

Enemies approach from three directions: the dock ahead, the elevated walkway to the right, and the ground level from the left. Take cover behind the crates near Greenway’s vehicle and prioritize the enemies on the elevated walkway first. They have the best angle on Greenway and deal the most damage.

The encounter plays out in three waves. Wave one is four enemies, manageable with standard weapons. Wave two adds six enemies including one armored opponent. Focus fire on the armored enemy first, then clean up the rest. Wave three is the largest with eight enemies, some of whom flank from behind. Watch your minimap and turn to address threats behind you quickly.

Once all three waves are cleared, Greenway gets the vehicle started and the mission ends with a cutscene. Bond and Greenway escape with the intelligence, setting up the next mission in the campaign.

Best Money-Making Methods for the Auction Fee

Since the $100,000 auction fee is the biggest roadblock in this mission, here is a dedicated breakdown comparing all five methods. We tested each one multiple times across different difficulty levels to give you accurate timing estimates.

Tier 1: Fight Pit – Best for players comfortable with combat. Each full run takes about 5 minutes and pays $30,000 to $40,000. You can run it twice and have enough for the auction. The downside is that it is loud and does not count toward Pacifist or Ghost challenges. On higher difficulties, the later rounds can be punishing, so stock up on health items before entering.

Tier 2: Scorpius Missions – Best for stealth players. Each mission pays $15,000 to $25,000 and takes 3 to 8 minutes. They can be completed without raising alarms, making them compatible with Ghost and Pacifist runs. Complete four or five of these and you will have enough for the auction fee.

Tier 3: Crypto Wallets – Passive income from exploration. Each wallet holds $10,000 to $15,000. Finding all four takes about 15 minutes if you know where to look. Use the Q-Lens to scan through walls and furniture. The wallets are located in the auction house office, the hotel back room, a locked cabinet on the pier, and a hidden safe in the market basement.

Tier 4: Pickpocketing – Slow but reliable. Each target drops $5,000 to $10,000. You need to pickpocket 10 to 15 NPCs to hit $100,000, which takes roughly 20 minutes. Best combined with other methods. The high-value targets congregate near the auction house and the upscale market stalls.

Tier 5: Side Activities – Supplemental income only. Selling found items and completing minor favors for NPCs pays $2,000 to $8,000 each. Not viable as a primary money source, but worth doing while you are exploring for collectibles. Every dollar counts when you are trying to reach $100,000.

For the absolute fastest approach, combine the Fight Pit with two Scorpius missions. That should get you to $100,000 in about 15 minutes total. For a stealthy approach, run four Scorpius missions and pick up crypto wallets along the way for a 25-minute total.

All Challenges in The Past Never Dies (23 Challenges)

The Past Never Dies contains 23 challenges, the most of any mission in 007 First Light. They are divided into three main categories: Pacifist challenges that require no kills, Ghost challenges that require no detection, and Assault challenges that encourage aggressive combat. There are also special challenges like Silent Line and Sightseeing that have unique requirements.

Pacifist Challenges: These challenges require you to complete objectives without killing any enemies. Takedowns are allowed as long as they are non-lethal. Key Pacifist challenges include completing the entire mission without a kill, completing the Fight Pit using only non-lethal moves, and finishing the escape section without lethal force. The Q-Lens and Dart gadget are your best tools for Pacifist runs since the Dart knocks enemies unconscious without killing them.

Ghost Challenges: Ghost challenges require you to complete objectives without being detected. This means no guards can see you, hear you, or find bodies of knocked-out enemies. Key Ghost challenges include tailing Greenway without being spotted, infiltrating 009’s boat without alerts, navigating the entire shipwreck without triggering alarms, and completing the escape through the stealth route. Hiding bodies in designated containers is essential for Ghost runs.

Assault Challenges: These are the opposite of Pacifist and Ghost. They reward aggressive play. Key Assault challenges include eliminating all enemies in the Fight Pit within a time limit, completing the escape section in under 2 minutes using combat, and finishing the Protect Greenway section without taking damage. If you are doing an Assault run, bring the Flash gadget and upgrade your Focus ability for maximum combat effectiveness.

Silent Line Challenge: This is one of the hardest challenges in the mission. It requires you to lower the bridge in Part 9 and navigate to the shipwreck entrance without any guard detecting you or triggering any alarm. The key is eliminating the two guards in the station with perfectly timed takedowns and avoiding the patrolling guard entirely by timing your movements. Many players recommend saving this for a dedicated Ghost replay rather than trying to pick it up on a mixed run.

Sightseeing Challenge: This challenge tasks you with finding specific points of interest throughout the mission. There are 8 Sightseeing locations total, spread across Aleph, the docks, and the shipwreck. Most are found by using the Q-Lens in areas with environmental storytelling elements. We listed the locations of several in the walkthrough above, including the collectibles in Parts 2, 11, and 12.

Completing all 23 challenges unlocks the Mauritania outfit for TacSim mode. Since some Pacifist and Assault challenges conflict, you need at least two playthroughs to complete them all. We recommend one Pacifist or Ghost run and one Assault run.

Pro Tips for The Past Never Dies Mission

After running this mission more times than we can count, here are the advanced strategies that made the biggest difference.

Use the Q-Lens Constantly: The Q-Lens is the single most important gadget in this mission. It reveals traps, hidden items, enemy positions through walls, and Sightseeing locations. Get in the habit of activating it every time you enter a new area. On the shipwreck section, it is the difference between a smooth run and repeated deaths from booby traps.

Save Before the Fight Pit: The Fight Pit difficulty spikes on the third wave. Create a manual save before entering so you can retry without losing progress. This is especially important on higher difficulties where enemy damage output increases significantly.

Memorize the Trap Patterns: The booby traps in the shipwreck follow fixed patterns. Once you learn them, the section becomes trivial. Left-center-right for the pressure plates, and the laser grid cycles every 8 seconds. Run through once slowly to learn the timing, then speed through on replays.

Stealth Saves Time on Challenges: If you are going for 100% completion, start with a Ghost run. Stealth gameplay naturally avoids most complications and lets you complete Pacifist challenges simultaneously. Save the Assault challenges for a second run where you can be as aggressive as you want.

Speedrun Strategy: For the fastest completion, skip all optional content and head straight for the Fight Pit. Earn $100,000 in two Fight Pit runs, complete the auction, then sprint through the investigation and shipwreck sections using the combat escape route. With practice, the entire mission can be completed in under 45 minutes. The booby trap and laser sections are the only real roadblocks in a speedrun, so memorize those patterns.

Difficulty-Specific Advice: On Agent difficulty (easy), you can brute force most combat sections without much strategy. On 007 difficulty (hard), every enemy encounter is dangerous. Prioritize stealth, use the Dart gadget liberally, and never engage more than two enemies at once. The Protect Greenway section on 007 difficulty requires you to be nearly perfect with your target prioritization since Greenway’s health drains fast.

FAQ

Conclusion

The Past Never Dies is one of the most ambitious missions in 007 First Light, and completing it fully requires patience, planning, and at least two playthroughs. This 007 First Light The Past Never Dies mission walkthrough covers every objective across all 14 parts, breaks down the fastest money-making methods for that $100,000 auction fee, and details all 23 challenges so you can unlock the Mauritania outfit. Whether you choose stealth or go in guns blazing, the key is knowing the trap patterns, using your Q-Lens religiously, and picking the right money-making method for your playstyle. Good luck out there, Agent.