Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2013
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
Developer 2K Marin
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a 2013 tactical third-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K. The eighth title in the turn-based strategy series X-COM and a narrative prequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, it was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in August 2013. Set in late 1962 at the height of the Cold War, the game's premise mainly revolves around The Bureau, the predecessor… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
256 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 6, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
66
Fresh
121 positive · 63 negative
95% range 59–72%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 121 | 63 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
72 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
8,484 of 12,093 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 256 · most liked firstOnce again, this Administration is playing a reckless game with foreign policy. A leaked EO shows plans to slash staffing at the U.S. Embassy in Canada and gut the Bureau of African Affairs. Because clearly, alienating allies and dismantling diplomacy is the key to "greatness," right?
unlabelledView post →Making a character sheet for the BUREAU of CHRONOLOGICAL AFFAIRS. Trying to ride the line of bureaucratic tax form and a useful game tool.
unlabelledView post →I don't usually care too much about credits in games as long as my name is in there, but the fact that I was "Additional Support" on The Bureau: XCOM Declassified still chafes. I bailed before the game shipped, fair. But the directors who also bailed were still credited as part of the team. Hmmm.
unlabelledView post →The other fun thing about The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is that WE knew that Firaxis was making a proper XCOM game but the public did not. So the response was always "this isn't XCOM!"
unlabelledView post →The Bureau started out life as the original XCOM reboot, and was passed from one developer to another, gradually going from "not in any way XCOM-related" to more and more XCOM-adjacent. In its final form, it's a fun tactical third-person shooter with a really intuitive and deep squad command system. Unfortunately, it came out way too late, straddled 2 console generations, and by this point XCOM had already reinvented itself into a form that was newbie-friendly and simultaneously…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been going back and playing all my "old school" games from better times. It's amazing how "average" games and movies from the Olden Times are literally masterpieces compared to the absolute slop we get served up now. This is a fun little lore ad on for the Xcom games, nothing earth shattering, but a solid story and light tactical shooter where you can order your squad mates. Def worth the 3 bucks or so it regularly goes on sale for.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Bureau is a desert island game for me. Its damn near perfect. It's got all the core mechanics from Liminal Horror - with MORE character and gameplay options. The layout is impeccable, the vibes are so rich & the book is so easy to reference at the table. And THE ART! it has so much personality.
unlabelledView post →After Biden pulled the Bureau of Prisons out of the private prison game (which was laudable), there was talk that many of the previous facilities would be converted into ICE detention centers. Now a broad expansion of detention using those shuttered facilities seems likely to happen under Trump.
unlabelledView post →@thaumavore.blue just dropped an excellent breakdown of the BUREAU of CHRONOLOGICAL AFFAIRS! I gotta say his wishlist of features for the game makes a lot of sense to me - and get my brainbox working.
unlabelledView post →cool idea, messy execution I really wanted to like The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, but it just feels off. The squad command system and 60s setting are interesting at first, but fights quickly turn into clunky cover shooting with dumb AI and repetitive encounters. The story starts strong but falls apart fast, and most of the characters don’t really stick. It’s not unplayable, but it feels like a game with good ideas that never fully came together. Hard to recommend over other XCOM or tactical…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →✨ Role Announcement! ✨ You'll be able to hear me as a couple of characters in this wonderful indie game; The Bureau of Fantastical Arcane Affairs! 🪄 It's such a cool concept which you can check out in the video below 🤯 🔗 👇 #voiceacting #voiceactor #indiegames #indiedev #gamedev
unlabelledView post →!! ROLE ANNOUNCEMENT !! I am excited to share that I am voicing multiple characters in the upcoming game The Bureau of Fantastical & Arcane Affairs from @hipflask.games Add The Bureau of Fantastical & Arcane Affairs to your Steam Wishlist today. #voiceactor #indiedev #videogames #indiegamedev
unlabelledView post →It's an often repeated claim on steam that this would have been a better received and remembered game if it wasn't tied to xcom, but frankly it would be still be a boring third person shooter that even less people would remember if that were the case. This is the first and last game I ever preordered; 12 years ago this very month. That only occurred because the preorder came bundled Spec Ops: The Line and all previous xcom games that had been released at that point, including the vastly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Check out the brand new trailer for our game: The Bureau of Fantastical and Arcane Affairs🐉
unlabelledView post →I should probably play through The Bureau: XCOM Declassified sometime. It's the only game I've ever worked on that I haven't played since it shipped. But it was a troubled project even before I joined, and it's difficult to revisit.
unlabelledView post →I honestly do not know why this game got so much hate back in the day. It might not be a great game but it's certainly not a bad one. If you completely ignore those who said that this is not an XCOM game, then it actually turns out into a solid third-person cover-shooter that I'm currently having a blast to play through. Although, why can't it be an XCOM game? Just because it's not tactical turn-based, base-building strategic shooter all the sudden it's not worthy of an XCOM name? I played my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly? This one’s hard to recommend. The 1960s Cold War setup is genuinely cool…there’s something about facing an alien invasion with sixties tech and government secrecy that makes the whole thing feel scrappier and more desperate than your usual XCOM. The aesthetic does a lot of heavy lifting early on. Problem is it doesn’t really go anywhere with it. The premise sets up something interesting and then just sort of… doesn’t cash it in. The AI is terrible. Your squad sticks to walls, stands…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My fifth game was the famously troubled The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. I watched so many good people depart the team during its development, before I finally also bailed a few months before it shipped. It was painful. I've never played all the way through it. store.steampowered.com/app/65930/Th...
unlabelledView post →Grabbed The Bureau: Xcom Declassified on Xbox as it was on sale for cheap. Years of hearing “it’s a bad game” and I just don’t see it. It’s no masterpiece but I’m having a lot of fun with it. Feels like a case of it just not releasing in the right climate due to the Xcom woes at the time.
unlabelledView post →Thrilled to see a game I voice, @hipflask.games The Bureau of Fantastical & Arcane Affairs, featured as a part of @futuregamesshow.bsky.social hosted by #LauraBailey and @matthewmercer.bsky.social . As Mercer said “This one's for the Critters." #voiceactor #indiegame #CriticalRole #indiedev
unlabelledView post →got a shop rpg game for 2 dollars in a bundle and im only like 10 minutes in but im so charmed. im playing as a bald fae woman trying to become a business lord and infiltrate the Bureau of Business from the inside to take them down. baller
unlabelledView post →The Game Does NOT Deserve the Negativity The game's number one problem is the X-COM label that led players to false expectations. It's not an X-COM game, The next problem: it's a cover-shooter. There's a reason the era of cover-shooters is over. Combat reminds me of Mafia II (others say Mass Effect, but I have never played that) and that wasn't great. More like something I put up with to enoy the rest of the game. However, unlike Mafia II, The Bureau has integrated squad tactics that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not the classic XCOM... I've played other titles in the series in the past; this is not a turn-based strategy game with management elements. Fans of the series will surely turn up their noses... With that out of the way, let's give a review of this game. This is a third-person shooter or action game that tells the story of how XCOM was created in the 1960s. It all starts with a sudden alien invasion and we obviously find ourselves in the eye of the storm!…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not only is the game mid, short, and the lore doesn't feel right for the rest of the series, it requires binding arbitration. Binding arbitration is a consumer screw job through and through. Do some research on it and the numerous abuses companies who force it have committed. You can almost be assured that if a company is requiring it, they are using it as smoke screen for illicit activities. It is entirely to suppress legal rights and bad PR from illegal actions. AVOID. Avoid every single…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oooh I recognize that voice! Check out this new(ish) trailer for game The Bureau of Fantastical and Arcane Affairs from @hipflask.games. #voiceactor #videogame #indiedev #voiceacting
unlabelledView post →Oh my god programmers modders whatever Somebody make any game space representing the Bureau of Labor Statistics in a game so Austin can perform an employment survey at the Bureau of Labor Statistics itself I want this more than Switch 2... MORE THAN 3DO M2
unlabelledView post →Actually a solid, if flawed, game. More or less a Mass Effect clone. Combat is effectively the same as that game, except that you can pause time to give orders, More so than in Mass Effect, your teammates can actually kill things when given the right equipment and perks. At the start they feel useless but by the end of the game they were accounting for more than half the total kills for me. Technical issues: -PhysX breaks the game, like literally there is a point early on where the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Getting together with Sean this week to play The Bureau. In accordance with the vibe of the game, I printed out the adventure, put it in a clear plastic folder and cannot find said folder. My re-read might have to wait. goblinarchives.itch.io/the-bureau
unlabelledView post →Today, the game that I have been pouring my soul into over the past year-plus was officially revealed at the Future games show. It's called The Bureau of Fantastical and Arcane Affairs and it's on steam if you would like to wishlist.
unlabelledView post →✨ROLE ANNOUNCEMENT✨ I am beyond honored to announce that I'll be voicing multiple characters in The Bureau of Fantastical & Arcane Affairs Check out the developers socials and wishlist the game on steam! @hipflask.games bsky.app/profile/hipf... #roleannouncment #voiceover #indiegame
unlabelledView post →THE BUREAU IS PLEASED TO PARTAKE. @lagshowcase.bsky.social #LAGS2026 #SummerGameFest #godot #indiedev
unlabelledView post →I don't get the bad reviews. The "acting" is perfect, really nails the time period. It feels like I'm playing in a 1960's movie. The combat is fun, the tension to save my subordinate agents is palpable, the relationships with the other NPC's feels semi-legit, the backstory of the main character rocks, and I'm having a freakin' blast! Once you get the controls down to muscle memory, it plays like a fast paced action movie, too. Use F1 and F2 along with the spacebar menu to your advantage.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you pretend its not a XCOM game, its a decent game. Nothing special about it, nothing memorable but you'll have some fun with it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really proud to announce I will be voicing several characters in the upcoming game "The Bureau of Fantastical & Arcane Affairs" a creative and unique spin on the classic fantasy genre from Hip Flask Games. It premiered yesterday on Future Games Show and it absolutely smashed it out of the park.
unlabelledView post →Xcom but this time with third person action. Destroy all aliens!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Bureau notes its classification of WWHB: cosmic horror, narrative game. Choices that matter. The frontier doesn't expect you to survive. Just to leave a mark. The Bureau has filed requests for more information with BM&BR... but they are still in meetings. shorturl.at/CObEV #indiedev #gamedev
unlabelledView post →This game tells an interesting story and has rapidly become one of my favourites, due to a combat system vaguely reminiscent of Mass Effect (which I adore). It should be noted it is imperfect: weapons, thus far at least, don't seem to be able to upgrade and the damage dealt leaves something to be desired. You can only carry two weapons, and one of those weapons must be something with a high ROF. Certain enemies are insufficiently hurt by slower ones, like sniper rifles, so not a reasonable…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a game caught between two worlds, and it shows. From the very beginning, it presents a concept with undeniable intrigue: a tactical third-person shooter set during the height of Cold War paranoia, reimagining the origins of the XCOM organization amid a secret alien invasion in 1962. This backdrop is more than just aesthetic dressing—it becomes the game's strongest asset. The art direction leans heavily into period authenticity, with diners, government bunkers,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →playing this game on the ps3 wasnt so bad but on pc its horrible ur fps goes down to 10 when entering a room that has too much effects and crashes duo to some outdated PhysX issue but overall a good game only grab this game on sale when its like 1 buck
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Marathon feels like it's joining Shadowrun (2007), Syndicate (2012), and The Bureau: X-Com Declassified (2013) in the noble halls of "Dude, why does this game even have that name if it doesn't have the original's aesthetic, writing, or GENRE?"
unlabelledView post →So I started The Bureau.........I expected and XCOM-like game but it's actually a 3rd person shooter 😅 I can't believe I misread the tags and went in blind with Veteran difficulty lol I think I'll be fine but damn, I cannot shoot with m&k 😂
unlabelledView post →I mean maybe? This is such a funny game, because it doesn't feel like an XCOM game and only shares the name and I guess aesthetic of it? It's so odd because it takes place in 1962 and has some of the aliens you know from the series, but thats really where the comparisons end. This is a third person shooter with very light control over your NPC teammates (think Mass Effect) as opposed to the turn based strategy games XCOM and XCOM 2. This game lacks the customization and depth to be called an…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My wife said if this review gets 50 likes and 5 awards, she will buy a case of beer, guys help me out.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I should probably sleep but instead I'm still talking about The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. Just rewatched this narrated E3 2011 demo, and it's weird. This was the turning point between the first-person horror game it was and the third-person strategy game it became. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeVT...
unlabelledView post →This was the first X-Com game i played, so i had no real expectations. I really liked it. The setting was cool (50s-60s small town Americana) The game-play is really fun. I don't understand the bad reviews. If you like 3rd person shooters and tactical games, you should like this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am an XCOM fan. More accurately, I am a UFO: Enemy Unknown fan. So I will tell you up front: Do not think of this game as an XCOM game. We got the firaxis games, we can give this game a fair shake. Which makes it into... an Okay game. It's okay. It does have one twist, one little trick that it uses and makes so many small details very funny.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I told someone the other day that there was a Star Wars Xcom game coming out and they said oh a FPS I was talking to the one person who only knows XCom from the Bureau
unlabelledView post →most reviews seem to be coming at this from being old x-com players which makes sense its part of the franchise but its not xcom... its a nice little mash up of the 360/ps3 days cover shooters like gears of war mixed with the squad commands of mass effect story is ok and gameplays good by no means a goty contender for the year it released but its a good game that wears its influences for all to see and a good one to pass a weekend by
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a lot better than I expected. The devs did a great job turning the XCOM games we know into a cover-based 3rd person shooter. Giving orders to team mates works well enough and adds a tactical touch to the combat. Definitely worth playing!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not the greatest game I played, but also not bad - and definetly worth a playthrough for any XCOM fan. Bought the game for like 2€ on sale and played through it in like 3 days. As someone who sometimes finish to struggle games, this one got me hooked enough to barely play anything else until it's done. If you look at the different peaces this game is made of, none of them is really great. The voice acting is kinda meh, the 3rd person shooter aspects are okay, the story isn't necessarily…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Only a couple of days left for our open voiceover casting call! The Bureau of Fantastical and Arcane Affairs needs YOU! We're a passionate volunteer video game development team looking to make funny and fun content that's free to play. No experience needed, just a good mic and a lot of heart!
unlabelledView post →Aster Pebble and the Case of Bad Bureaucracy by @wanderingdoorgames.bsky.social, a time loop mystery, is out now! [PC] On her first day apprenticing at magic organization The Bureau, Aster Pebble gets saddled with helping a village out of a time loop. Her challenge: Bureaucracy #indiegame
unlabelledView post →Even for its' era, this wasn't a good tactical cover shooter. Too many clear and obvious problems with execution, from unit AI to unenjoyable weaponry. A lacklustre story and ending make it not particularly worth revisiting, even for a fan of the Xcom games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Welcome to XCOM You begin the game as Agent William Carter, who finds himself caught in a secret alien invasion of Earth after being shot during the opening events. From there, you're introduced to a central hub filled with a cast of characters who all play a role in either the story or gameplay. From the hub, you'll be assigned missions across various locations in the United States to stop the aliens' plans. There are two mission types. Main missions advance the story, while extra…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🚨 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (@tbij.bsky.social) and Investigative Simulations Lab are running a two-day simulation game on crime, corruption and corporate enablers from 26-27 May in London. Test your investigative skills! For more information, contact: [email protected]
unlabelledView post →Meet Gale, a conspiracy theorist with a camera that makes the Bureau nervous. Meet characters like this in The Matter of Being, a narrative-strategy game set in the world of #cultistsimulator store.steampowered.com/app/3869880/... Demo & Kickstarter coming soon.
unlabelledView post →In no particular order, off the top of my head: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Dead Space 2 F.E.A.R. Platinum FOREGONE Remember Me *Insert Telltale game here* Midnight Suns The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Deus Ex: Human Revolution
unlabelledView post →Had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone today and the game is FANTASTIC! Todays raid thanks go to @eternalmoonmist.bsky.social , @egancaerwyn.bsky.social and @harbingyr.bsky.social ! 💖 We moved the party along to @mjpastellis.scares.men who is playing The Bureau: XCOM Declassified! Go say hi~
unlabelledView post →❤ Audience ❤ ☐ Beginner ☑ Casual Gamer ☑ Normal Gamer ☐ Expert ☼ Graphics ☼ ☐ Bad ☑ Alright ☐ Good ☐ Beautiful ☐ Fantastic ♬ Music ♬ ☐ Bad ☑ Alright ☐ Good ☐ Beautiful ☐ Fantastic ☠ Difficulty ☠ ☐ Easy ☑ Average ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Hard ☐ Unfair § Bugs § ☑ Bugs destroy the game ☐ Lots of bugs ☐ Few Bugs ☐ You can use them for speedrun ☐ Nothing encountered ☯ Story ☯ ☐ There is none ☐ Bad ☑ Alright ☐ Good ☐ Fantastic ⚔ Gameplay ⚔ ☐…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →✨ THE BUREAU OF FANTASTICAL AND ARCANE AFFAIRS! ✨ I'm proud to announce that I'll be voicing a character in this upcoming game! 😁 Please wishlist via Steam as it helps the developers massively. Huge thanks to @hipflask.games for asking me to be a part of their vision 🎮 #voiceactor #indiegame #bfaa
unlabelledView post →
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