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The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
The year is 1962 and the Cold War has the nation gripped by fear. A top-secret government unit called The Bureau begins investigating a series of mysterious attacks by an enemy more powerful than communism.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
36 of the 71 reviews raise this.
“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…”
“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…”
20 of the 71 reviews raise this.
“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…”
“I liked the story after around 1 hour and half in. But the game just keeps crashing so I can't continue. Crashed my whole computer too. I just don't think it's very playable on Windows 11.”
“A fairly good third person shooter (gears of war style) with a few annoyances. The shooting feels good, controls well, decent story and voice acting, interesting locations. For the most part I enjoyed playing the game.…”
6 of the 71 reviews raise this.
“A fairly good third person shooter (gears of war style) with a few annoyances. The shooting feels good, controls well, decent story and voice acting, interesting locations. For the most part I enjoyed playing the game.…”
“Easier to get running than AC: Black Flag, and surprisingly fun once you get the hang of it.”
“Dissatisfied. Playing under Bazzite Linux and running on a Ryzen 7700X3D, Radeon 7600. Performance is solid and game runs perfectly. The game lore is fine but the plot is generic and unremarkable. The controls (on…”
3 of the 71 reviews raise this.
“underrated with a cool retro aesthetic, and similar in mechanics to rainbow six vegas/mass effect in terms of combat.”
“My first game from the XCOM franchise, i do like it (probably because of the vintage visuals), but the AI here is barely reasonable for a game primarily focusing on cooperative attacks and utilising your teammates'…”
3 of the 71 reviews raise this.
“A fairly good third person shooter (gears of war style) with a few annoyances. The shooting feels good, controls well, decent story and voice acting, interesting locations. For the most part I enjoyed playing the game.…”
“Nice footsteps!”
32 of the 71 reviews raise this · 15 of them still recommend the game.
“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 first time I heard about this game was from the RetroAhoy video about X-COM. And I agree with him that the game feels a little half-baked: the AI squadmates aren't the greatest and there was definitely room for…”
“this game has NOT aged well - a TPS with XCOM related lore is conceptually great, but the extremely thin layer of "tactics" slabbered on top doesnt do much when your squadmates are braindead and bleed out the moment an…”
15 of the 71 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“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…”
“This game get's a bad wrap, for what it is, it's quite fun and inventive. The mix of real time strategy and first person shooter is quite unique, and is actually pretty fun. It's not amazing, it's not lifechanging, the…”
5 of the 71 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“Honestly, not terrible, but nothing worth getting into either. Maybe buy it on a massive sale. The gameplay is simply Mass Effect-style, but frankly, even on the hardest difficulty you can manage without it and make it…”
“More of a mass effect game than x com, without the riveting story and lore. Although the 50s atmosphere is well developed. I felt like the gameplay had potential, if it had less of a need for micromanagement. The most…”
“My first game from the XCOM franchise, i do like it (probably because of the vintage visuals), but the AI here is barely reasonable for a game primarily focusing on cooperative attacks and utilising your teammates'…”
4 of the 71 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“I liked the story after around 1 hour and half in. But the game just keeps crashing so I can't continue. Crashed my whole computer too. I just don't think it's very playable on Windows 11.”
“I like this game. Even if I have to play it in window mode.”
“Rife with problems in both story and gameplay from a clearly borked development, also definitely a game of its era but a bit of old school was fun. Although once I got past the startup crashes which was easy btw, I had…”
4 of the 71 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“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…”
“I had a blast playing this. Enjoyed it way more than I expected. Very good game for the TV too! Cinematic, nice characters, good story, sublime gameplay. I had 25 hours of fun and wished there was more content like this.”
“More of a mass effect game than x com, without the riveting story and lore. Although the 50s atmosphere is well developed. I felt like the gameplay had potential, if it had less of a need for micromanagement. The most…”
Counted across 71 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 70.2% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“[h3] [u] This is not the classic XCOM... [/u] [/h3] 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…”
— a player, Steam review · 13 hrs played“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”
— a player, Steam review · 9 hrs played“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…”
— a player, Steam review · 254 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-23 23:39 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Patch notes for 10/7 update
Here are the patch notes for the latest update. Localization/Localized UI: • Multiple fixes and translation improvements for Japanese and Korean language version Tech/Code: • Fixed reflective surface
Patch notes for 10/7 update
Here are the patch notes for the latest update. Localization/Localized UI: • Multiple fixes and translation improvements for Japanese and Korean language version Tech/Code: • Fixed reflective surface
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Action |
| Player tags | Action · Tactical · Sci-fi · Third-Person Shooter · Singleplayer · Third Person · Aliens · Strategy · Shooter · RPG · Atmospheric · Adventure (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Full controller support · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Cloud · Remote Play on TV · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , German * , French * , Italian * , Spanish - Spain * , Japanese, Korean, Russian * * |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 41 |
| Estimated owners | 2,000,000 – 5,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | http://thebureau-game.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows Vista Service Pack 2 32-bit Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: DirectX9 Compatible ATI Radeon HD 3870 / NVIDIA 8800 GT Storage: 12 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Additional Notes: Incompatible with Intel HD 3000 Integrated Graphics