SPLICED Magazine Issue 01 Oct/Nov 2013 | Page 95

SPLICED GAMING / REVIEW / The Bureau: XCOM Declassified ISSUE 01 Like its turn-based, tactical brethren, The Bureau features permadeath. Depending on your chosen difficulty level, squad members who perish in the field will stay dead. Forever. It’s meant to evoke a sense of attachment to your squad, and while this certainly works in the context of its siblings (few things are more painful than losing a valued, experienced operative in X-Com), in The Bureau that emotional attachment is heavily watered down. It’s partly due to the fact that, even on the higher difficulty levels, you’re highly unlikely to ever find yourself in a situation where losing a squad member is a real threat. 95