Action
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
Give it 10 hours
Gets good by 10h then rated almost like by veterans
Fully opens up by 15h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 30% of players who started
Started playing 54% of owners
Steam reviews 70% positive of 12,094
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (54%); after 15h it's 1 in 6 (16%).
- Fully opens up by hour 15.
- The opening is criticised more than in 82% of games we track.
- 30% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “All That Remains” (Escaped Groom Range) and “So Just Let Me Introduce Myself” (Secured the package): from 100% to 64% of starters.
- Only 54% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 12,156 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 282 reviews: 12.9h for positive, 4.7h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (53.7% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- All That Remains Escaped Groom Range 100%
- So Just Let Me Introduce Myself Secured the package Most players quit here 64% −36
- The Devil's Tower Infiltrated the Outsider Tower 47% −18
- ... And the Body Dies Confront the Outsider Leader 34% −13
- Exorcised the Demon Retrieve and escape with information on the enemy base 31% −2
- The Fat Lady Has Sung Now, it's time to end this 30% −1
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (41)
story milestone ending side
- All That Remains Escaped Groom Range 100%
- Dead Head Get 20 Headshot kills with any gun within a single campaign 89%
- Bringing down Goliath Defeat a Muton 68%
- Is He Old Enough to Drive? Defeat a Sectopod 66%
- So Just Let Me Introduce Myself Secured the package 64%
- The Last Suit You'll Ever Wear Customize an agent 64%
- Away Team Complete your first Minor Operation 56%
- The Devil's Tower Infiltrated the Outsider Tower 47%
- A Dish Best Served Cold Defeat a Titan 46%
- Leader of Men Give 150 commands to agents while in Battle Focus within a single campaign 46%
- I've Seen Better, But Not Many Reach Rank 5 46%
- Glad My Trust Wasn't Misplaced Complete your first Dispatch Mission 45%
- A Story of Axis and Allies Closure 40%
- Not Playing Favorites Take an agent of every class into the field within a single campaign 39%
- ... And the Body Dies Confront the Outsider Leader 34%
- Bursting the Bubble Take down 20 Outsider Shields using laser-based guns within a single campaign 34%
- Top. Men. Get an agent of each class to Rank 5 within a single campaign 33%
- Clever Girl Get 40 kills on Flanked enemies within a single campaign 33%
- Exorcised the Demon Retrieve and escape with information on the enemy base 31%
- See the World, They Said... Complete 6 Minor Operations within a single campaign 30%
- The Fat Lady Has Sung Now, it's time to end this 30%
- What Are You Without Your Armor? Strip all of the armor off of 5 Mutons before killing them within a single campaign 30%
- Ready for Anything Reach Rank 10 30%
- Can't be Everywhere at Once Complete 6 Dispatch Missions within a single campaign 30%
- No One Left Behind Complete the game without a single agent bleeding out 21%
- Sight Beyond Sight Perform 15 unique scans within a single campaign 15%
- Don't Run, You'll Just Die Tired Attach 10 Sticky Grenades onto Outsider enemies within a single campaign 14%
- Welcome to Earth Finish off 20 aliens using melee attacks within a single campaign 11%
- Spring Cleaning Complete all Investigations in the base within a single campaign 9.9%
- We Will Fight Like Lions! Defeat all the Outsiders before escaping on the Skyranger 9.5%
- Conduit Connection Complete the first trial in Hangar 01 7.4%
- Enemy Within Have Mind Controlled enemies get a total of 15 kills within a single campaign 6.1%
- Drive Through Trigger the Invasion in Hangar 6 6.0%
- Let the Boys Have Their Fun Complete an entire Operation without the player firing a weapon or using a grenade 5.8%
- It's In The Air Defeat the Hangar 6 R&D Invaders 5.8%
- Vigilo Confido Beat the game on Commander difficulty without ever changing it 5.6%
- They Won't Know What Hit Them Use all of the agent and player abilities in the field within a single campaign 5.4%
- Mind Blown Destroy 60 enemies with DaSilva's Demo Charges within a single Hangar 6 R&D campaign 5.0%
- Conscientious Objector Beat Hangar 6 R&D without firing any alien weapons 4.8%
- Know Your Groceries Take a level 5 agent of every class into the field within a single Hangar 6 R&D campaign 4.8%
- Only a Man Complete DaSilva's perk tree without choosing Lift, Drone, or Mind Control 4.8%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-18.