The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was originally developed as a first-person shooter, but after criticism from fans of the series 2K Marin reworked the concept into a third-person tactical action shooter set in the Cold War of the 1950s, in which a secret government agency faces first contact with an alien invasion. The player commands a small team of agents, to whom orders can be given on the move in a way similar to the tactical pause of the classic XCOM strategy games, while actively shooting and taking cover behind obstacles personally.

This hybrid approach, combining third-person action with tactical control of squadmates, tried to join the accessibility of a shooter with the depth of the strategy series, which led to fights where positioning the team correctly is just as important as aiming a weapon. The retro-futuristic visual style with a 1950s aesthetic, including period cars, clothing and propaganda, gave the game a distinctive atmosphere unlike more modern sci-fi shooters of the time, and the music underlined the tense atmosphere of the Cold War combined with an alien threat.

Critics received the game rather ambivalently: they praised the original setting and decent tactical elements, but criticized occasional unevenness in difficulty and the fact that in the end it does not fully measure up to either of its two genres. Even so, thanks to its unconventional setting in the XCOM universe, The Bureau found a group of loyal fans who appreciate the courage to tell the story of an alien invasion from a different historical perspective than is typical for the series.