In ‘The Bureau: XCOM Declassified,’ You Only Live Once [Video]

Just like the classic XCOM games, death in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is permanent. If you send half of your squad running through mines and right into the line of fire from aliens, chances are high that none of your team will live to see another battle.

One might say that in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, you only live once. You know, YOLO. Well, someone did say that, and they made a trailer out of it. Naturally.

To show off the lighter side of the game’s permadeath, 2K Games released a trailer called, you guessed it, #YOLO. Your goal in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified should be to keep your squad alive, but sometimes you might make a bad call. Regardless of how bad your call is, you can rest assured that your subordinates will follow you no questions asked. Again. YOLO.

One of these days, people are going to stop saying that. We have to believe. I have to believe.

If you’re looking for something new, don’t expect the trailer to show you much. Somehow, despite its silliness, it does at least manage to emphasize that it’s important to not mindlessly send your team to their untimely demise, which is something that XCOM: Enemy Unknown players – and fans of the original series – already know all too well.

The trailer aside, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified does look interesting. XCOM: Enemy Unknown dealt with the issue of permadeath very well, and made it very apparent early on that every decision matters. It will be interesting to see how developer 2K Marin translates that into a third-person shooter.

We won’t have to wait long to find out, either. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is scheduled to make its debut on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on August 20. Those of you in the PAL region will have to wait, but not long – the game comes out in that region on August 23.