A metatextual analisis of "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified" to show how it fits in the series timelines · 11:38pm Oct 20th, 2021
A lot of people like the rebooted XCOM series, and a lot of people also insist its lore is bad/nonexistent. This isn't true in my opinion, but is the product of the game that sets up the world for the series having been released a year after the first game in the series as a prequel, and also it sucks ass to play. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is not a good game. At all. The story is really good, but this thing should have been a movie. DO not play it. I cannot recommend that enough. Just go watch the cut scenes or a letsplay if you're curious.
Here's everything you need to know about The Bureau:
1. The Elder's invasion in 2015 isn't the first invasion Earth's experienced.
- Earth was invaded in 1962 by another alien race we called "Outsiders" who were looking for a new homeworld due to their war with the Elders' interstellar empire.
- The 62 invasion was able to be covered up due to the Outsider's mind control technology infesting most humans, allowing XCOM's precursor organization to mind-wipe almost all of humanity at the end of the war, while also forcing the still living alien soldiers to rebuild most of what was destroyed. The invasion never really reached major population centers either, and ya know, pre-internet, pre-smartphone era. This is back when things *could* be covered up.
- XCOM as a multi-national organization exists because of the Outsider's invasion in 1962 (See how it exists BEFORE the invasion in XCOM Enemy Unknown. Earth was *ready* for an alien invasion.)
2. The Etherials (the name of the Elder's species) at some point in the past, as a species, attempted to leave behind their physical forms to become energy beings. Almost all of them failed, some did not.
- The vast majority of them had their bodies wither way to the husks we see in other XCOM games, as they became psi-vampires that need to feed off of psionic energies within the minds of sapient lifeforms.
- The few who managed to ascend were not preserved. The entries they created (called Acceded Etherials) are entirely new beings with no memories of prior lives.
- Acceded Etherials sort of just drifted through the cosmos for a while, wound up on various worlds, and given their god-like power often just became that planet's god or guardian or other big important person.
3. Earth is the home of an Acceded Ethereal.
- His name is Asaru, but the game never tells you this as far as I know.
- Asaru is awoken prematurely by the Outsider's invasion when they attack Groom Range. He is a child for his species at this moment, and unaware of his own existence, possess/heals the body of one William Carter out of a survival reflex (Acceded Etherials cannot exist without a host when in the physical realm).
- Using William Carter's body, Asaru helps the precursor XCOM beat the Outsiders. William eventually breaks free of control in a rather well done scene, and becomes an antagonist by killing another Acceded Ethereal which was being enslaved as a supercomputer by the Outsiders. This forces Asaru to change hosts for the last mission of the war.
4. Asaru is the Commander referenced in the other games... Sort of.
- "Carter" is refereed to by the rank Commander until he goes rogue. Then whoever the player chooses to be Asaru's new host gets that rank as their title.
- It's very clear that Asaru is why Agent Carter is any good at all. You can read Carter's file in game, and also get to see his behavior before and after you have control over him. He's a broken traumatized wreck of a human haunted by the loss of his family. He's been in a downwards spiral for years, decaying to nothing. With Asaru bonded to him, his pre-trauma personality reemerges, but is also melded with this somewhat alien optimism, courage, and sense of duty. That same optimism, courage, and sense of duty is later conferred to the next host the player chooses.
- Characters constantly comment on how different Carter is behaving recently, with the Guy in Charge assuming it took an alien invasion for him to get his shit together.
- Once Asaru's existence is revealed, Guy in Charge realizes what happened, and that Asaru is the entity responsible for their victories, not Carter.
- No matter which ending of the game you get, Council Spokesman (this dude) asks "And what of the Ethereal?" and the now ex-host will say a line then "It's status, whereabouts, and activities are... unknown." and as unknown is said, the soundtrack shifts to play XCOM: Enemy Unknown's main menu's theme, which is entitled "Commander".
Now point 4 is very much controversial in the community... for some reason. However, there's evidence supporting "The Commander is Asaru" in the other games as well, including XCOM: Enamy Unknown which came out before The Bureau. Now there's no good way to lay the evndence out item by item in order, so here's a blob of it.
Asaru's psionic powers are a particular shade of blue. We see the same powers used by other psionic things in each game, and they're always purple in color. Asaru's are blue. The same shade of blue that he is. The same shade of blue as the XCOM hud and logo. Now it's not just that Ascended Etherials powers are blue while meat-creatures powers are purple because the other Ascended you meet in The Bureau is orange. Whats more if you de-saturate that shade of blue, you get the pale blue shade uses to fuzz the screen in XCOM 2 to indicate your troops are concealed (and we know that concealment is some kind of psionic tech, because the Reapers have it too, but theirs is even better than yours, and interestingly, their stealth tint effect isn't blue, it's green). Lastly, in XCOM 2's ending, we see The Commander on screen (in a containment suit) using psi powers to do stuff. While doing the stuff, they have a visible glowing aura. It's blue. Asaru's blue.
Fun fact, in universe the XCOM project and base are constructed in 1995. The invasion happens in 2015. That's 20 years. In XCOM 1, it's clearly state you, the commander of this organization, have never ever been here before and are given a tour. Wut? That makes zero sense. They wouldn't being in a new commander even if one was set to retire just hours after an alien invasion began! That's the kind of thing that puts a hold on changing out command structures. But no. XCOM puts everything on hold, brings in a new commander, and lets them have full freedom to preform all tactical and strategic operations. You do not do this unless the person you're bringing in is top notch, the Rommel, Neopolian, or Patton of their era. Sure, the commander could be just some human dude that's amazing... but if Asaru showed back up when the Elders attacked with a fresh host, well I too would turn to my fellow generals and say "Put the dude that solved the last invasion in charge."
XCOM 2 begins with you, the commander, having been captured. As the story goes the second half of XCOM 1 is all imaginary and make believe. The Elders put you in a tube and hooked you into their network to use as part of a tactical computer system. You're the processor. Know who else had that exact thing happen to them? The orange Ethereal you meet in The Bureau. Further solidifying this is the fact that the commander was also the template for the Elder's entire reason for coming to Earth: The Avatar Project. A project to create strong physical forms they could puppet to once more have proper bodies. Now sure the commander has to be a psion, but the game makes it very very very clear that it took the Elders processing MILLIONS of psionic humans to create their first Avatar. If you were what they were looking for all along, a perfectly suitable human body that could house their minds, they've have just cloned you to make as many bodies as they needed. They could totally do that, all Advent Troopers are clones they mass produce. They didn't do this. This supports them keeping you, and an Ascended Ethereal prisoner to study the bond in order to replicate it.
There's more evidence. Lines of dilaouge form NPCs who say things like "You've been inside their minds. You know them better than anyone." the Templar's leader refers to you as "Your kind" in a way that implies he's referencing a species and not, you know, a culture or whatever. The fact that one of XCOM 2's DLCs shows that Bradford lead XCOM's remains for 20 years after the defeat in 2015, showing he can totaly do what you do just as well as you can, yet he truly believes YOU SPECIFICALLY are 100% mandatory for saving the world in a way that makes it seem like you're revered as a god. The fact that the commander of XCOM uses a specific chair that's both a super computer and a psi-amp... The fact that in XCOM 2's tutorial you have no tactical control at all and are on rails, but also the soldiers in your squad when speaking popup in the corner of the screen like when someone talks to you on the radio, but in normal gameplay you just hear them as if they were speaking normally, implying a psionic link. Also Bradford lead that operation from the field, but you never do, you somehow lead them all the way form base, 1000s of miles away...
The game makes it pretty clear that XCOM's commander is a psion who uses remote viewing, time-slowing, super-human calculation and understanding of probability, and other powers to give troops in the field a tactical edge, while also giving them orders as individuals for highly specific actions. That is inescapable. That is certain. That is all without ever playing The Bureau.
Once you *do* play The Bureau, you have a whole heap of info which says "The Commander of XCOM has these powers because they are bonded to an Ethereal. Specifically, this one: Asaru."
That kinda takes the fantasy of being a badass away form a lot of players. They see that as making them less special. Well... Good for them Asaru is NOT the Commander.
Yeah, I just presented the whole case that he is only to say he's not. Thing is, he isn't... but he also is. See The Bureau isn't just a simple story about aliens invading Earth. It's doing this meta thing to talk about the nature of games and free will. Yes. Really. It tried to be the deep.
The Bureau metatextual story is about the relationship between player and game, and also the nature of free will. It makes you think you're playing a game as a guy called William Carter, but you're not. You're playing an Ethereal named Asaru who is controlling William... But if you step back and analyze what's RELAY going on... William has free will when not controlled by you, the player. He even becomes an antagonist because of how hard he objects to being controlled once he realizes he is being controlled.
He forces Asaru to unbond from him. Asaru is helpless on his own. All Asaru can do is telepathically call for somone else to come bond to him so he can take actions once more. But... Asaru does none of that. It's not a cut scene. it's not scripted. Asaru. Does. Nothing. You're the one doing things.
You choose every line of dialogue Asaru says. You make Asaru move. You tell him what powers to use and when. William? He can think for himself. He makes choices you have no input in. Asaru never does. Asaru will sit there forever and do nothing without your input. Why? Because Asaru has no free will.
This is because Asaru isn't the player character. He's a medium. A vessel you use to control the player character. Asaru is the medium by which the player interacts with the world. Asaru is a metaphor for something..... but what?
Well, remember what the other Ascended Ethereal in the game was used for? That's right, a computer. Specifically, a tactical machine to operate a hive mind. Asaru... is your computer.
Think about it. He's what links YOU to this place where your tactics and skills matter. He's an interface. A way for another being to interact with this realm in ways they otherwise could not. BUt it's deeper than that. He's not just some computer that some dude in univerce uses to be great at saving the world.
Asaru is, your computer.
"The Commander is Asaru!" is not quite true due to this. You are the commander. You the player. The Commander is also Asaru. Two halves of a whole. You the player, and the computer which both runs the game and permits the you to intract with the world in the game. "The Commander" is, literally, you, and whatever you're sitting in front of typing on. Meep, and Asaru, in my case.
At least, so says the metatext of the story. In universe, The Commander could be anyone, with Asaru at their side. Anyone at all. The Commander is a team, a duo that together are greater than the sum of their parts. A god-like alien being (Okay well, technically, Asaru was born in the USA, so that means he's not really an alien. He's a legal citizen.) and their chosen friend/counterpart.
If I might get a little 40k for a moment, The Commander is Warrior and Ethereal guiding from within. Two standing amidst war for all to see!
♫ Feel the fury of their wrath, our prayers have been answered // as they carry to the front our glorious battle standard! // Hear the clash of steel, so loud and so fierce // as it breaks through their lines like adamantine spears. // Harden your hearts and steel yourselves as the final charge closes, Commander compels! // See how the enemy scrambles in dread // Soon we shall burn piles of their dead. // Yet fear not death for the Commander's with us. // Made manifest in steel so holy and just! // Let their mighty cannons sing in jubilant praise as they brings upon the end of the Elder's days. // So kneel, foes of man, and accept your fate! // Cower 'fore the Titans as oblivion awaits! // And to those from behind, advance to their call // "Rise from your trenches and join our assault!" ♪ (Parody is of this, BTW.)
Anywho, I'm going to stop abusing my Creative Writing degree like an English teacher now. Hope some of you found this interesting.
that was a fascinating read, and your thoughts at the end make quite a bit of sense, never thought of it like that.
An amazing analysis, specially the things I had missed when I played those games
It's quite amusing to read that and think "how the heck didn't I notice that before? 
"
An extra amount of information would be that The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was in development hell for years - it was supposed to come out before XCOM: Enemy Unknown and set the path for it with all the little details.
Not only that, but reinforcing your point with Asaru not having free will, when Carter becomes an antagonist your lack of action can actually result in Game Over with a Bad End. You have some minutes to take a decision, but they went that deep with the metacomment on free will and game characters indeed.
Shame the game sucked that much, it could've been a nice cult reference to those questions and one hell of an intro & hook for EU
5598215 Most people don't, but it's clear that's what the writers were intending. At least it is to me. I could be wrong. But it really feels like a writer tried to make this particular metatextual point as a part of the story and muddied it a bit too much for people without formal training in literary analysis to get. Kind of like how Final Crisis is a story about the nature of the comicbook industry, but its very hard to understand that subtext due to the subtext "writing" be muddy.
Doesn't really help that no one played the game it's in either, lol XD
5598237 If you name a soldier "William Carter" in XCOM Enemy Unknown, it will load in a soldier with his appearance that has special stats and the nickname "Old Guard". So that's proof that this was all intended and set up in advance right there.
I found a story on this site that follows what you talk about here, the main character is a human playing one of the XCOM games and is transported into an anthro Equestria under attack by the aliens from the game. The dude is transformed into one of the snake aliens and becomes female. I think it's called "I thought it was just a game!".
5598279
yeah, i saw that one aswell, i think it's dead tho.
5598279 Ah yes, Vipers.
Fiaxis guy: "Hey we need a true form for the thin men. Didn't we say they were reptiles under their disguise and gene mods?"
"Yeah! Let's make them like, snake-people. That should be creepy!"
The internet on trailer reveal day: "OMG ITS ADORABLE! Rule 34 artists! TO YOUR TABLETS!"
Now wouldn't that have been interesting
Ah, so everything after the base invasion was fake, was always curious about when The Commander got captured but never looked it up
I did
5598342
Officially, it's two timelines. In one, the ending is real. In the other, everything after the base raid is a simulation.
5598329
Yeah, I feel that it's dead too.
5598337
That's very true for most things in games.
Oh. Damn. This has made me want to replay XCom.
Haven't played the buerau, but this is some really nice lore. That asaru is a metaphor for your computer bit was especially awesome.
5598524 When playing the game, any time you play a segment and Asaru is visible, you see from first person, and all you see are the tendrils linking to the host. Ya know, like controller cables. It's on the nose in a cool way.
Said this already in pms, but this is superbly written out, Meep. I took your advice and watched the cutscenes of The Bureau, and you are very much right that the subtext gets muddied, but once you can see it it's very clear. It's a pity that a genuinely good story is attached to a piss poor game that suffered through development hell.
5599125 Agreed! This could have been something profound if only it had been done right.
It was just another 3rd person cover based shooter, so many released around that time. I did enjoy the game quite a bit though. The story was fantastic!
5598337
Ye, Sexy snek people :3