Developer 2K Marin is currently in the process of adapting the XCOM series into a third-person action game. That has the franchise’s fans worrying that tactics will take a backseat to run-and-gun shooter gameplay.
That’s not the case, as The Bureau: XCOM Declassified creative director Morgan Gray explained to GamesBeat in April.
“It’s pretty much classic X-Com,” said Gray. “But we wanted to move it away from the classic isometric god-view mechanics of the previous games. We wondered what it would be like to be the guys in the battlefield.”
Now, 2K Marin is showing off the game’s more thoughtful, tactical side in a new trailer starring The Bureau’s Battle Focus mechanic:
Battle Focus enables players to slow down the action, assess the situation, and enact commands and strategies in a gun fight. It looks similar to the turn-based interface that developer Firaxis used in 2012’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown, only The Bureau reverts to real-time gameplay once the player exits Battle Focus.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is due out for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on Aug. 20.