The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (former XCOM FPS), Aug 20th

Hey, remember that XCOM FPS that was shown on E3 2010 and was then never heard from again? Well it seems it's very much alive, is now called The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, and has abandoned the FPS format for a third-person squad-like format (I'm thinking Mass Effect-ish). And apparently it's being released on August 20th (August 23rd in the UK)! 2K Marin, who made BioShock 2, are developing it, with 2K Games publishing. Here's a live-action teaser:

Kotaku ran an interview with Creative Director Morgan Gray.

He called the Bureau a *JARGON ALERT* "third-person, squad-based tactical combat expression of the core pillars of the XCOM franchise, which we define as team, tactics, technology, tools, terror, tension."

"It's pretty hardcore," Gray told me. "We're not trying to make a hyper-accessible game. We're trying to keep XCOM tied to its roots as a game that demands skill. Some people might say 'ahh, that's hard.' Hard's not the same. It's a game that requires you to use your brains and your bullets to win. Picture a modern, small-unit tactical combat game set in the '60s with technology that NASA should've made back then and your opposition are aliens.. That's what we're shooting for."

Others are not as optimistic.

‏@supererogatory

As @LukePlunkett points out, the fact that The Bureau: XCOM Whatever was reannounced 4 months prior to release is probably not a good sign. Especially considering that the game has been in on-off development since 2005. I will say that The Bureau's live-action trailer is quite surprisingly the best I've seen in recent years. Easily so.

More news are coming soon. Are people hyped over the change of plans? Indifferent?

Sounds like it's going in a good direction. It might be alright. Or better.

I can't stand "life action" trailers but I'm curious about this game

If it was just called The Bureau, it would have sounded awesome. The subname just makes my face feel weird.

Seems cool.

Good song in the trailer. I'm surprised they tied it to the XCOM franchise at all, but I guess at some point it would be more work to strip out all those elements than leave them in. I loved Bioshock 2 a lot more than a lot of people, so I am hopeful this will be good.

Also, I know that it wasn't on purpose with this game, but I love to see games like this come out of nowhere and be released a few months later. So much more satisfying than a drawn out PR cycle.

I'd love this to be good.

It sounds like something I'd very much like to play. As someone who just reinstalled XCOM, very much indeed.

I like how the phrase "From the makers of Bioshock 2" appeared in the trailer, then was immediately redacted, as if they suddenly thought "we'd better not mention this."

Also, it seems like they're sticking with black oil and rectangles for the enemy designs. Well, we'll see.

^___^ That was the exact thing I was thinking too when I saw that. Although, I did actually like BioShock 2.

Anyway, I still wish they disassociated this game entirely from XCOM - it still seems to have nothing at all the do with any other XCOM game (aside from having aliens...)

Mechanically, I thought Bioshock 2 wasn't bad at all. So I'll be pretty interested to see a 60's themed alien shooter from the dudes who did that I guess.

It looks like they put sectoids in it, so it's now have something to do with XCOM. Look at the first picture.

Im interested in this game and hope its a pretty neat game

I'm glad this game officially exists again.

Maybe it'll be good? We'll find out in 4 months, I guess.

I'll hold off on opinions until I see actual gameplay. I'm mildly interested in seeing how it turns out.

@beachthunder: I agree, if they did that in the first place people probably wouldn't have whined so much (despite getting the traditional XCOM game they wanted anyway) and they wouldn't have had to mess around with the original concept they had. I thought the first trailers for this game looked pretty great so I'm cautiously hopeful that this turns out ok despite all the changes it has gone through.

You know, this trailer plus the discussions of the Mad Men writers possibly making a 60s NASA tv show makes me realise I would fucking LOVE an XCOM show. Especially if it's set in the 60s.

Aww why did they change it to 3rd person. It looked great in first person.

Edit: I would watch a show like that live action trailer.

This could be pretty interesting, but I'm not happy with the idea of turning XCOM into a third person shooter. Hopefully the tactical stuff means it'll be more Valkyria Chronicles and less Gears of War.

Also, why has XCOM become part of the American government? Seems to go against the whole point of the agency.

They should have just called the game "the Bureau" and dropped the XCOM connection altogether. It seems tenuous at best anyway.

I'm not sure third person and tactical really go together (well I am sure they don't)but hey, if they're calling it a team based tactical shooter I will have to keep my eye on it, maybe it'll be like Rainbow Six 3. (It won't :( )

I was interested in this game the first time around.
Though it could be kinda cool to see what they could do in the universe.

Then of course I also sat down and laughed at everyone loosing their shit over it not being a turn-based tactical shooter-thingy in the first place.
Even if people had said "No no, that's game is also coming, just not from us". But the angry mob of little kids who sat on a broomstick were to deaf to hear that statement at all because of all the beautiful rage that filled their tiny little hearts.
Loved every second of it =D

More interested in it now than I was, but live-action trailers do nothing for me - show me the game, not a bunch of live-action thematic stuff you hope your game will evoke. Unless your game contains a significant amount of grainy cold-war footage of children riding bikes and shadowy gubment guys "redacting" stuff with black-out markers, I fail to see the point of the trailer.

Freedom Fighters was good and it had third person and tactical plastered all over it when it came to interviews.

I don't get why they have to tie it back into the XCOM name. This could very well be a potentially interesting new IP. I guess they'll explain it in the game.

Maybe it's before XCOM was an international organization. Or these events led up to the creation of the XCOM project. But it also kinda fits with the whole theme of 60's government conspiracies to cover up supposed UFO sightings and Area 51 and all that shit. I dunno, lore is the last thing I'm concerned about when it comes to XCOM. Everyone in Enemy Unknown has American accents anyways.

The bracelet thing seems a weird choice but who knows maybe it will be really cool. If anything, Bioshock 2 was a functional well made game, whether it had the story to back it up thats another thing entirely so I'm thinking 2K Marin are capable of making a good first person shooter.

When they said tactical shooter, do you think it might be similar to SWAT 4 and Rainbow Six where you control your own guys and your trying to figure out how to clear out a room filled with bad guys before you start shooting? I hope so. I like the idea of a tactical shooter with aliens

Can I level up in it?

I'm not liking the 60s approach. It should be modern setting or futuristic in my opinion. Let's see how this unfolds but man I'm not feeling optimistic.

Cool. I hope this game ends up being good.

I really hope this game is not crap. It has seemed interesting.

Weren't some of the later Rainbow Six games third person? Or were those just while in cover or something like that.

In any case, I don't see how being third person would hinder the tactical elements. If anything, a third person view will give you a better overview of the battlefield, enhancing the tactical parts.

I was interested when it was an FPS. I think it's better that it's a TPS though. I'm sure this will turn out good. I liked Bioshock 2 and I'm sure 2K Marin will make a good game, even if the story isn't great. Let's hope it turns out good.

This post sounds like I repeated myself three times.

let me know when you have actual game play footage. I would love to see this more modern version of cowboys and aliens though, maybe call it gmen and aliens?

Back when it was an FPS, they put out a huge deal about how you had to choose squad members from a pool of recruits, and dead is dead for them, and how most of your gun/gear upgrades came from stealing alien tech and reproducing it.

That all had me excited.

Now they've pushed it even more down that route, so I'm even more excited.

My main worry is that it was already a second tier game, and then it got sidelined due to the negativity, THEN it was remade, so there is a very good chance it won't be any good. I'll have my $50 on hand for it though if the QL looks good.

Bioshock 2 was a good game. Worst part about it was it was a sequel to Bioshock.

August or OH SHIT WE NEED TO GET THIS OUT BEFORE NEXT GEN/GTA month

Not necessarily. They are both 2K games, so they obviously don't want to be competing with themselves. but August isn't a complete wasteland of quality. Bioshock, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Darksiders 2, Sleeping Dogs and Deus Ex: Human Revolution were all August games

I'd like this to be good.

"'When we first showed in 2010, the focus was on a different side of XCOM. It was a focus on investigation,' Gray explained. 'In 2011, we had decided that XCOM was an organization that was built on going out and kicking alien ass'"

I dunno, I think I like the sound of the 2010 version more. Then again, what they showed back then wasn't exactly LA Noire what with all the first person shooting.

Still think this could be a cool game, XCOM related or not.

Still not interested.

I want to see some gameplay before I let myself get hyped, but that was a great teaser trailer.

Even though it still has XCOM in the title, it's much easier to swallow now than when it was simply called XCOM. And if it ever gets a sequel, they can just call it The Bureau 2 and drop the XCOM association.

The Bureau 2: Terror from the Deep.
And you have to beat super insane crazy whatthefuckthatsjustunfair difficulty to unlock "kinda unfair" difficulty

I hope this gonna be the origin story of the Organization ("We'll be in touch, Commander.") and XCOM.