The Bureau: XCOM Declassified out August 20th, game length "unanswerable"

We are finally getting to know more about what shape the XCOM shooter is taking, and now, thanks to our interview with 2K Games’ Nico Bihary, we’re learning about some classified material.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, as it is now called, is a third-person shooter affair. We asked how long is the experience? It’s a ”13-16 hour narrative”, but game length depends on the player.

There’s a ton of side attractions we can delve into, explained Nico Bihary; levels can be searched, documents read, in-depth conversations with NPCs, battle strategies…

”It depends on what type of gamer you have, that’s really an unanswerable question,” said senior producer Bihary.

”The standard I’d say you’re looking at a 13-16 hour narrative experience, depending on how much an explorer you are and whether you want to engage in conversations or whether you take the shortest conversation path, are you searching the levels, are you reading the documents you find along the way.”

”How long (or short) the game is really depends on the level of player investment, not to mention we’ve got side missions and the opportunity to really invest in the strategies such as how you bring different Agents out on the field and synchronise their abilities. So very roughly 13-16 hours is my long-winded way of answering that question!”

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC August 20th via XBLA, PSN and Steam. Be sure to check out our full interview with 2K Games’ Nico Bihary, as well as our preview musings.