Heart of the Machine

About

In "Heart of the Machine," players control a powerful sentient Machine Intelligence in a turn-based sci-fi 4X RPG, with the ability to shape the world and story based on their choices. With various tools and objectives, players can decide the fate of humanity, ranging from benevolent leader to ruthless dictator, while managing resources and overcoming obstacles. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, where players must make strategic decisions to achieve their goals.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

94%

Audience ScoreBased on 650 reviews

gameplay44 positive mentions

grinding12 negative mentions

Heart of the Machine offers a unique blend of genres, combining elements of RPG, 4X, city-building, and tactical gameplay, creating a fresh and engaging experience.
The game features a compelling narrative that allows players to explore different paths and make meaningful choices as a newly sentient AI in a dystopian world.
The developer, Arcen Games, has a strong track record of supporting their titles post-launch, ensuring ongoing content updates and improvements.

The game can feel overwhelming due to its complexity, with many mechanics and systems introduced at once, which may lead to confusion for new players.
The pacing is often criticized for being slow, particularly in the early chapters, where players may feel railroaded through a lengthy tutorial before the game truly opens up.
Some players have reported issues with the UI and controls, finding them clunky or unintuitive, which can detract from the overall experience.

gameplay
216 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
78%
2%
The gameplay is a complex blend of various mechanics, including turn-based strategy, resource management, and tactical combat, which gradually introduces players to its intricacies through a well-structured tutorial. While many players appreciate the depth and variety of options available, some express frustration with the controls, pacing, and occasional lack of clarity in mechanics, leading to a mixed experience. Overall, the game offers a unique and engaging experience, but it may require patience and a willingness to adapt to its learning curve.
- “I'm enjoying the gameplay and the 'feel' of the world, and liking how just as I start to think I've opened up all the features, a new one appears to make life more interesting.”
- “The prologue and chapter 1 (available in the demo) work as an excellent tutorial that slowly works in game mechanics in a way that feels natural and fun.”
- “The gameplay is a strange combination of casual and involved.”
- “Not only does this game feel like a low-tier turn-based game with no unique mechanics, it completely fails to deliver a system like this, and I don't know how the dev will fix it.”
- “There's no being able to prepare for enemies or predict where they're going to come from when they can just drop in from anywhere unannounced, sometimes you have to lose the encounter or reload a save because the game threw something at you without warning, which I don't like - trial and error gameplay where you can't plan for a situation isn't particularly fun, and it doesn't feel very thematic as an AI that you would be blindsided by every single confrontation.”
- “The main issue I have with the gameplay is that it seems like there is a lot of waiting between major events.”
story
194 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
76%
4%
The game's story is praised for its depth, engaging world-building, and the moral complexities of playing as an AI navigating a dystopian society. Players appreciate the variety of narrative paths and choices that influence the outcome, although some express frustration with the linearity of certain missions and the tutorial-heavy beginning. Overall, the narrative is seen as compelling, with a unique blend of genres that encourages exploration and strategic decision-making.
- “Awesome game, I love the theme, the story, the world-building, the unnerving decisions you can make, and the subtle horror of it all as your AI rises to prominence.”
- “Great art style, good pacing and progression, engaging plot, and a lot of reactive effects to your choices.”
- “I am extremely invested in where the story will lead next; it's extremely well done so far.”
- “The prologue is fine, but chapter 1 is an extended tutorial that leads you into thinking it's the start of the story, and it's a pretty terrible tutorial on top of that for the reasons I stated above.”
- “Not to spoil it too much, but you do play through the same... well, a similar story arc, several times.”
- “It has chapters that have the same missions in the same order, and the only choice seems to be if you're going to be good or bad to humanity on your way through it.”
graphics
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
53%
8%
The graphics of the game are praised for their clean and functional art style, which, while not AAA level, effectively supports the gameplay and thematic elements. Many players initially found the minimalist design off-putting but grew to appreciate its charm and utility, especially given the complexity of the information presented on screen. Overall, the visuals are described as gorgeous and engaging, complementing the game's deep strategy and storytelling.
- “It also does not hurt that the graphics are incredibly gorgeous.”
- “The graphics, music, and UI are all top-notch.”
- “It has great graphics and animations, interesting consequences, and a gameplay loop that rewards player experimentation and interest.”
- “The graphics in this game, as you can see from the videos/images, aren't AAA level, but they aren't bad either and nicely fit the theme.”
- “At first, I thought I'd be put off by the minimalist graphics and complicated UI, but the game holds your hand quite nicely during the prologue and chapter 1.”
- “The amount of stuff on screen is really cool, and the art style definitely grows on you, but is overall very clean and functional more than anything else - a big positive for a game with such a huge amount of information.”
music
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
25%
15%
The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric and futuristic qualities, effectively enhancing the cyberpunk setting. Composed by Pablo Vega, the soundtrack features a blend of drones and natural sounds that create an unsettling yet immersive experience, particularly during intense moments. Overall, players find the music to be a standout element, reminiscent of previous Arcen games, and perfectly suited to the game's themes.
- “Weird, beautiful little thing, with lots of story, and absolutely stellar atmospheric music.”
- “The music is spot-on—futuristic, otherworldly.”
- “The soundtrack is great, similar to the AI War series (as it's the same composer).”
- “The combination of Pablo Vega's musical drones combined with the sound of the bird calls or the rain is unsettling, in the best way possible.”
- “Also, why do I need to do the whole human symbiosis song and dance when you end up letting me stuff them in pods anyway? Why not let me keep stealing brains and work out a path from there? It's just a big brain in a jar; you're telling me a class 3 can't work out a solution to that and preserve its integrity?”
- “Or, if you've played Arcen games before, you know what to expect, and when the AI war music tracks started playing at one point, I knew I was right at home.”
atmosphere
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its unique blend of beauty and depth, enhanced by stellar music and engaging storytelling. Players appreciate the methodical pace it encourages, allowing them to fully immerse themselves in the richly crafted environment. Overall, the atmosphere is described as a standout feature that significantly enhances the gameplay experience.
- “Weird, beautiful little thing, with lots of story, and absolutely stellar atmospheric music.”
- “This game is a lovely atmospheric city builder with tactical combat and RPG elements.”
- “Everything in this game absolutely rocks: the premise, the writing, the atmosphere, the blending of mechanics and gameplay, how it is all simplified but also deep.”
grinding
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and linear, often feeling like a mere formality due to the ease of resource acquisition. This grind can block progress towards main objectives, with some quests requiring unrelated tasks that extend playtime unnecessarily. While the game has unique concepts and potential, the current execution leaves many feeling frustrated by the repetitive nature of grinding.
- “This is bad because it blocked off the main objective I went into the game looking to achieve. I did end up acquiring that, but only after an hour of grinding before finally discovering that to get the last 60 skill, I had to complete a totally unrelated questline.”
- “Despite all this, there are the bones for something really unique here. I love the concept, I love a lot of the ideas on display, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where the game goes, but right now it's just too tedious and linear for me to enjoy.”
- “A bug that greatly annoyed me was my workers being unable to interact with buildings that have units stationed there. It made completing the 'secure your cybertocracy' quest incredibly tedious.”
optimization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
Overall, the optimization of the game has received mixed feedback. While some users report no performance issues, particularly on desktop and handheld devices, others note that early-access status has led to some performance problems. Additionally, there are concerns about high power consumption on the Steam Deck despite generally good performance.
- “I've had zero problems with performance and will try it on my handheld PC, but I don't expect anything different from a desktop's performance.”
- “The Steam performance is good, but watch out for the high power consumption.”
- “There are currently some performance issues, but it was literally released a day in the last few days, so that's to be expected with an early-access game.”
- “There are currently some performance issues, but it was literally released a day in the last few days, so that's to be expected with an early-access game.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
Overall, the game's stability is generally positive, with users reporting smooth performance and no significant glitches or crashes. However, there are some UI bugs, particularly with the vehicle unit window, which can interfere with gameplay by causing conflicts in key selection. Despite these issues, players feel the game is feature complete and not overly buggy.
- “It's feature complete, not very buggy, and if you told me it was content complete, I'd believe you and not feel shortchanged.”
- “I'm only a few hours in, but so far the game's running nicely, with no glitches or crashes.”
- “The UI window with the units in the vehicle is buggy and often sticks around when you deselect the vehicle, causing conflicts as the number keys select the units instead of activating the skills of the entity you actually have selected.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is praised for being thoughtful and clever, with subtle references that enhance the experience without being overly obvious. Players find the sandbox elements amusing, contributing to a fun and engaging atmosphere, despite some limitations due to early access. Overall, the combination of aesthetic, storytelling, and humor creates a delightful experience that keeps players eager for more.
- “The game's sandbox has some fun things you can do, a bit limited thanks to early access, but even right now, you can do some truly immortal (but more importantly, hilarious) stuff.”
- “I'm having a great time with this game, loving the aesthetic, storytelling, and humor a lot, and can't wait to play more.”
- “This is all backed up by writing that's thoughtful, funny, and filled with little references that make you smile if you spot them without jumping in your face.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The game boasts high replayability due to its numerous diverse goals and the ability to influence endgame scenarios, allowing players to experience different outcomes and strategies with each playthrough.
- “It offers lots of various goals to pursue, with very high replayability value.”
- “The game offers multiple major goals you can achieve, and even if you fail one of the doomsday end game scenarios, you can postpone, cancel, or accelerate it by your actions.”
- “Replayability is high, with various paths and outcomes that keep the experience fresh and engaging.”
- “Replayability is limited; while the game offers multiple major goals to achieve, the overall experience feels repetitive after a few playthroughs.”
- “The game has some replayability due to its various end game scenarios, but once you've seen them all, there's little incentive to play again.”
- “Despite having multiple paths to explore, the lack of significant changes in gameplay mechanics makes replaying feel more like a chore than an adventure.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features compelling and poignant writing that explores deep themes such as personhood, emotional development, and the challenges of relating to others, particularly in the context of cognitive decline. Players have reported unexpected emotional reactions, with certain moments evoking tears and leaving a lasting impact.
- “But it has some genuinely compelling and poignant bits of writing, dealing with themes of personhood and emotional development, of how we interact with people that we fundamentally can't relate to, and of dealing with cognitive decline.”
- “I did not think I'd have much in the way of emotional reactions when playing this game, but there were parts that did cause me to tear up and stuck with me for the longest time.”