The Bureau: XCOM Declassified DLC detailed and dated

The Bureau, 2K's third-person tactical shooter prequel to the XCOM strategy series, wasn't a great game but it was better than expected and seems to have sold well enough to warrant a spot of DLC.

As revealed on the 2K Games blog, Hangar 6 is a prequel to the prequel, set just before the first major alien invasion which forces the XCOM organisation into action. You'll play as Nico DaSilva, a supporting character from the main game, as he and his squad are dosed with alien elerium gas to see if it gives them the ability to see past the extra-terrestrial invaders disguises.

The game uses the US military's real experiments into psychic and supernatural phenomena as its jumping off point. "We did a lot of research on psychic and psychotropic military experiments of the 60s," says Harley White-Wiedow, lead designer for the DLC. "We watched lots of videos of soldiers giggling in trees. We read up on Remote Viewing (a series of government experiments wherein trained soldiers were supposedly able to know things about a subject using only Extra-Sensory Perception - that is, psychically). We stared really, really hard at goats."

The DLC is said to be even harder than the original game, but comes with new weapons and abilities to level the playing field a little. DaSilva can plant and trigger remote bombs - a skill he displayed in the mission "Signal from Beyond" in the main game - and there's also a new AK47 rifle and a microwave gun that cooks enemies from the inside out.

Hangar 6 is exclusive to Xbox 360 and launches on October 8th. It's priced $4.99 in the US. We're chasing UK and European prices now.