THE BUREAU

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (formerly XCOM) is an upcoming video game in the X-COM series, currently in development by 2K Marin to be released by 2K Games for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. XCOM, in development since 2006, was unveiled as a first-person shooter in June 2010 and since then it has been repeatedly delayed and changed. In April 2013, the game was rebranded as The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.

Plot

Set in the United States in 1962, the game tells the story of special agent William Carter, working for the US "Bureau of Strategic Emergency Command", tasked with investigating and stopping an extraterrestrial incursion on American soil. According to PC World, the game is "less Starship Troopers, more X-Files" than the classic X-COM series. It was announced that part of the game will explore the struggles of a scientist named Dr. Weir, who is persecuted for both his homosexuality and his political views. Furthermore, the game will explore other cultural tensions of the 1960s.

Gameplay

Development

In May 2006, Irrational Games announced they were hiring for a work "on the sequel to one of the best loved PC franchises of all time." By February 2007, there were unconfirmed rumors about a new X-COM game being developed by Irrational Games. The game's early prototype featured a different setting and highly stylized, cartoonish character models.

XCOM was revealed at E3 2010 in June 2010, as being developed by 2K Australia (2K Marin), which had split from Irrational Games. It was originally announced to arrive in 2011, then scheduled to launch on March 6, 2012, before being delayed again. For a while, the game was supposed to come out before March 31, 2013.
The 2010 version of XCOM was first-person shooter based. The game was later retrospectively described as a survival horror title, "like a Silent Hill sort of game, where it's sort of the cerebral horror versus the run and gun horror game." Regarding the game's move away from the strategy genre, 2K Games president Christoph Hartmann said at the time "strategy games are just not contemporary." However, 2K Marin assured they would keep elements from the original game, such as squad and base management, free-form non-linear mission progression, and squad-based tactical combat. Following widespread criticism of the original project from X-COM fan community and parts of the media, the game got completely revamped by mid-2011, while the game's original lead designer Ed Orman and art director Andrew James left 2K Marin to form their own studio, Uppercut Games.
XCOM director of development, Morgan Gray, said in 2011: "I think – from a development perspective – we've been focused less on how to make it less like BioShock and I would counter and say we're trying to make it more like X-COM.... It's been like going to X-COM boot camp for the team, creatively – really understanding the core of the franchise." The game's narrative director Jordan Thomas wrote that the initial project "was kind of a run-and-gun affair, without a lot of focus on the command of your squad, or indeed on tactical play itself. Candidly, it just wasn’t XCOM enough for the hardcore fans of the original games at 2K Marin, who serve as our creative conscience. So over the past year, we’ve made some pretty aggressive design changes, in pursuit of the feelings that we experienced when we played the original games." In April 2012, it was estimated to be released between April 2013 and March 2014.
The mid-2012 version of the game was a tactical shooter from a first-person perspective, in which the player could enter a tactical-view mode, during which the game paused for a while, to "use time units to order the two agents traveling with him on the field."According to GameSpy, "the core aspects of the game are about working with a team of agents who have a variety of classes that you can customize, to have certain abilities that assist you on missions (think RPG party building)," using "experience points where you can level them up or upgrade them along different paths." The player was also offered to choose the missions from a variety of choices, "each offering different strategic options."
According to Kotaku in October 2012, the game was rumored to be "coming back as a third-person shooter. While the 1960s setting and general XCOM prequel vibe remains, it's now apparently being pitched as a squad-based game similar to SOCOM or Republic Commando" and "is being developed by the same people who created BioShock 2". According to rumors, the game would be released only for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and possibly as a $30 downloadable title. Kotaku commented, "All of which, if true, make it sound like 2K is set to pull an I Am Alive, cutting its losses on a troubled project and trying to make the best of a bad situation by selling it on the cheap.

As The Bureau

In April 2013, the game's official website xcom.com/xcom was seemingly deleted without any official announcement; materials relating to it disappeared from 2K Games' official YouTube channel as well. One month earlier, 2K Games has registered the Internet domains thebureau-game.com, thebureau-game.net, whathappenedin62.com, and whathappenedin62.net, which suggests that the game might return with a new title (possibly as The Bureau). VideoGamer.com received a package containing a dossier labeled "Burn After Opening", containing materials confirming a link between XCOM and the name "The Bureau". GameZone's analysis of a viral teaser video "What Happened in 62" predicted that the redesigned XCOM would reappear on April 26.
On April 24, 2013, 2K posted an announcement titled "2K Marin's [redacted] is coming soon":

The XCOM universe is expanding. In the coming days the world will get a fresh look at the long-awaited squad-based tactical shooter in development at 2K Marin. Announced back in 2010, the game has undergone an evolution since we last showed it to you at E3 2011. Firaxis’ critically acclaimed turn-based strategy title, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, has reignited the classic franchise and we feel that the time is right to deliver a new experience within the world of XCOM. The creative development of this game has been a collaborative process of discovery and iteration. 2K’s culture allows our studios the freedom to refine their visions, to explore new ideas, and to deliver the best possible experiences for players. Through this exploration, 2K Marin has refined their vision, and as a result the game has evolved into a high-stakes narrative experience imbued with core XCOM concepts. The wait is nearly over and we can’t wait to share more details with you about the game in only a matter of days.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was officially unveiled as a full-priced title along with a live-action trailer on April 26, with a planned release date of August 20, 2013.

Reception

The initial public reaction to the XCOM reboot was negative. Destructoid called it "the first-person shooter that the Internet loves to hate." UFO: Enemy Unknown designer and X-COM series creator Julian Gollop also criticized the original-announcement version of the game for abandoning the turn-based combat system of the original games. Gollop later commented: "I think they got some bad reactions on several levels. One was the fact it was an FPS. Secondly, the presentation was a bit… this 1950s style alternate reality thing probably didn’t go down too well with a lot of people, either, so it may be they’re rethinking that. I’m not sure. Graphically, it was amazing." The reactions have improved when XCOM was re-designed. 1UP.com called the revised version "the dark horse" of E3 2011.According to IGN, "XCOM the FPS was announced before the strategy remake, so fans cried foul at defiling such a sacred series. But with top-notch style and a focus on team-based combat, the new take on XCOM.