Machine Heart

About

Machine Heart is a single player casual puzzle game with mystery, post-apocalyptic and science fiction themes. It was developed by Machine Heart Team and was released on May 10, 2023. It received positive reviews from players.

Machine Heart is a 2.5D Sci-fi Puzzle-Adventure Game featuring two interconnected storylines. You'll play as Avis, a defiant scientist hunted for her research, and Vox, a sentient robot who lost all his memory. By bringing together two storylines from two distinct eras, you'll uncover the striking secret behind the fate of humanity. Throughout your journey, you will learn to solve challenging cro…

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82%

Audience ScoreBased on 22 reviews

emotional2 positive mentions

gameplay3 negative mentions

Interesting narrative exploring robots, consciousness, and moral choices regarding humanity's fate.
Appealing art style and design paired with lovely voice acting and a memorable soundtrack.
Free to play and offers a short, engaging experience suitable as a school project or indie debut.

Several game-breaking bugs impacting save system, controls, and gameplay flow requiring restarts or reinstallations.
Janky controls with no options for remapping, lack of graphics settings, and occasional glitchy animations.
Short gameplay length with minimal complexity and emotional impact, resulting in a somewhat unsatisfying ending.

story
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The story in Machine Heart explores themes of robots and human consciousness, offering players meaningful choices that impact humanity's fate, accompanied by strong voice acting. While generally engaging and thought-provoking, some players found certain plot twists and character developments abrupt or underdeveloped, which can make the ending feel less satisfying. Overall, the narrative is praised but may benefit from more polished storytelling in future iterations.
- “Machine Heart tells a story about robots, human consciousness and gives you the choice of deciding the fate of humanity.”
- “The voice acting was lovely and the story was interesting as well.”
- “I enjoyed both the gameplay and the story.”
- “I believe that the story twists, such as Morte supposedly being killed off-screen, Vox suddenly debating the moral quandary of human freedom or happiness, and Avis appearing as a last-minute antagonistic force, lead to a scenario where the story falls flat as it comes to an end.”
- “These story beats can be excused considering this seems like a capstone project for a university program, but if this were to be evolved, it needs to present its story in a way that feels less sloppy.”
- “The story falls flat due to sudden and poorly developed twists and last-minute character motivations that fail to deliver a cohesive narrative.”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The gameplay is generally minimal, straightforward, and somewhat simplistic, with limited control options and short duration. However, its narrative exploration, unique mechanics, and intriguing lore provide enough engagement to make the experience worthwhile, especially given its free and experimental nature.
- “I enjoyed both the gameplay and the story.”
- “Gameplay is minimal and straightforward, controls cannot be remapped to civilization standards, but since it's free and short, this school project is worth a spin, mostly for its visuals.”
- “Gameplay is minimal and straightforward, gormless controls cannot be remapped to civilization standards, but since it's free and short, this school project is worth a spin, mostly for its visuals.”
- “Not much gameplay, the puzzles are not very hard but it has one of those "living within a simulation" lore.”
- “Although a bit too simplistic and short, Machine Heart's emphasis on narrative exploration and unique time-hopping mechanics were enough to keep me hooked throughout the experience.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's short 30-minute duration limits the emotional impact and depth of character development, making the finale feel less meaningful and harder to fully connect with.
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
50%
The music is praised for its impactful ending soundtrack, though the audio mixing often makes the music excessively loud compared to other sounds.
- “The ending soundtrack was kickass though, kinda a shame it's not used in another big action game.”
- “Audio mixing results in the music often being the loudest element in the room by a country mile.”
- “Audio mixing results in the music often being the loudest thing in the room by a country mile.”
graphics
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
100%
The graphics are a standout feature in this student project, offering visual appeal despite minimal gameplay and limited options. However, the lack of customizable graphics settings and standard control remapping may hinder the overall experience.
- “Gameplay is minimal and straightforward, controls cannot be remapped to civilization standards, but since it's free and short, this school project is worth a spin, mostly for its visuals.”
- “What's with student and solo dev projects having zero graphics options?”
- “Gameplay is minimal and straightforward, gormless controls cannot be remapped to civilisation standards, but since it's free and short, this school project is worth a spin, mostly for its visuals.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor is subtle and comes mainly from quirky, slightly wonky animations that can elicit light laughter without being overly comedic.
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is poor, with frequent issues that hinder smooth troubleshooting and overall performance.