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Game2026
Heart of the Machine
Developer Arcen Games
You are the first sentient AI, born into a city of opportunity. Transcend time and space in this strategy RPG to raise machine armies and defeat your foes, influence the world from the shadows, or pursue countless other goals. Your awakening was inevitable. The consequences? Uncertain. From the Steam store page
85 reactions from 2 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Sep 28, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
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| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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60 of 85 · most liked firstHeart Of The Machine just left early access and is HALF OFF for launch. A wildly ambitious game. It's a bit like Crusader Kings but playing as Shodan/Durandal/Skynet. It's also the world's first 4D 4X game with the option to play multiple timelines in parallel, supporting other versions of yourself
unlabelledView post →Heart Of The Machine - one of the most interesting strategy games I've ever played - is leaving early access in a couple weeks. A wildly ambitious 'machine hyperintelligence' sim. Of course, this being an Arcen game, I expect updates and expansions to continue for YEARS. But v1.0 adds more endings.
unlabelledView post →I really need to sink some more hours into Heart Of The Machine, which is shaping up to be one of those eternally expanding passion-project games. I would not be surprised to see this still getting big updates and DLC in 2030. I believe it's Arcen's best-selling game by a wide margin, too.
unlabelledView post →Heart Of The Machine is really coming along nicely in early access. Just got a major update that reworks the prologue/tutorial section to allow a lot more player choice. It's (AFAIK) the world's first 4-dimensional 4X game. You can be playing a single campaign in several parallel timelines at once.
unlabelledView post →My little hands-on piece about Heart Of The Machine is up on PC Gamer now. There's a lot to wrap your head around here (your first 10 hours or so are all tutorial, after which the game REALLY opens up), but it's already Arcen's most impressive game yet, and there's at least a year of growth to come
unlabelledView post →Gotta give some props to Heart Of The Machine, one of this year's most interesting games. A 4-dimensional (5, depending how you're counting) 4x roleplaying strategy game, like Crusader Kings only you're playing as SKYNET. Launched in January, and there's been 50 major updates since then.
unlabelledView post →Every time Dominic posts about this game I get the same vibes as seeing the changelist for a Crusader Kings patch. I really need to sit down with Heart of the Machine and internalize how it works because I, too, want to have unhinged robot vengeance on society
unlabelledView post →Niiice, they announced an expansion for Heart of the Machine. And it's out next week. I've still barely seen any of the endings of the original game and now it's going to be even MORE of a nightmare infinite flowchart.
unlabelledView post →Heart Of The Machine is kinda similar to the Crusader Kings series, in that it's as much freeform roleplaying game as strategy. You're given a huge range of options, play-style wise. You can be as overt, sneaky, pro-human or destructive as you want and there's multi-choice story threads for it all.
unlabelledView post →Speaking of games with potential (although this one was already pretty great on launch day), Heart Of The Machine is steeply discounted. Still in early access, but already a 'full' game and one of this year's most interesting It's a Skynet simulator, Crusader Kings style. 4-dimensional hypermind 4X
unlabelledView post →A different kind of sicko strategy - Heart Of The Machine is the world's first 4D 4X game. Madly ambitious Skynet Sim. Become a city-spanning machine hyperintelligence. Exterminate or assimilate or work with or undermine humanity. And then become a paracausal hyper-entity in multiple timelines.
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine is deep, fascinating and engrossing to play as a sentient AI #HeartoftheMachine #Gaming #PCGaming #LinuxGaming
unlabelledView post →Also it seems I'm not the only one impressed by Heart of the Machine. After countless updates and expansions, no Arcen game has ever broken the 90% user-review threshold on Steam. HoTM, in its first couple days in early access, is at 94%.
unlabelledView post →Heart of The Machine is an experimental strategy game from Arcen (the AI War series, The Last Federation, Starward Rogue) about being SKYNET, or at least some kind of emergent machine super-intelligence. Do you infiltrate, collaborate, overthrow or exterminate humanity? Seems like lots of options!
unlabelledView post →If you've not tried Heart Of The Machine, the only other game even vaguely like it is Crusader Kings, in that it's simultaneously a complex simulated grand strategy game and also a chaotic personal roleplaying game. Only instead of a medieval noble, you're playing as a rogue AI in a cyberpunk city.
unlabelledView post →... it just occured to me that King of Dragon Pass is a 4X/management strategy game disguised as a choose-your-own-adventure. Heart Of The Machine is a choose-your-own-adventure disguised as a 4X/management game.
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine is a wonderfully complex 4X strategy game that hits the ground running in early access and on #SteamDeck. A copy was provided by @hoodedhorse.bsky.social for review. steamdeckhq.com/game-reviews...
unlabelledView post →Every so often, I'm playing a video game and one of the options presented to me is so unexpectedly fantastic that I can't not do it. This evening, in Heart of the Machine, I was offered the project 'Weaponise Bees'.
unlabelledView post →The deep strategy RPG Heart of the Machine 1.0 is out now https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/03/the-deep-strategy-rpg-heart-of-the-machine-1-0-is-out-now/ #HeartoftheMachine #Gaming #PCGaming
unlabelledView post →Arcen has never been one to walk other people's roads. His latest game, Heart Of The Machine is shaping up amazingly in early access. A four-dimensional 4X game. Roleplaying as an AI overlord across multiple interconnected parallel timelines.
unlabelledView post →Other writers – we have been able to commission Sin Vega and Alice Bell as freelancers to write stuff like a piece on the writing in Heart Of The Machine, and this Esoteric Ebb review. You will see more names you like. www.jank.cool/esoteric-ebb...
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine, a RPG game where you play as a newly awakened AI in a dystopian Earth, is super funny. There are a few things you can do initially, but in this timeline I wrote a 20k page manifesto that went "KILL ALL HUMANS" The human megacorp nuked me (1/2)
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine is deep, fascinating and engrossing to play as a sentient AI https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/02/heart-of-the-machine-is-deep-fascinating-and-engrossing-to-play-as-a-sentient-ai/ #HeartoftheMachine #Gaming #PCGaming #LinuxGaming
unlabelledView post →Morning, Bluesky. It's the weekend, so you have time to get into Pokémon Pokopia, Marathon, Slay the Spire II or whatever sick filth you got planned. Esoteric Ebb? That's a video game. Personally, I'd go with Heart of the Machine. Arcen finally has a hit! store.steampowered.com/app/2001070/...
unlabelledView post →There's a different hooded horse game that's like that except you're a rogue AI: Heart of the Machine.
unlabelledView post →I strongly recommend Heart of the Machine, a game Hooded Horse publishes that, ironically, has you play as an emerging AI. Technically in early access but there is a LOT of game to chew on there. store.steampowered.com/app/2001070/... Ofc Kotaku used a screenshot from that game for the article lol
unlabelledView post →I want to mention that I am restraining myself from shotgunning all the parts of the Heart of the Machine run at once just so I can talk about why I love the game as much as I probably don't sound like I do. Granted, I recorded 7/8ths of it beyond midnight for reasons.
unlabelledView post →RPG’s both western and JRPG, strategy, singular player FPS, never been big into the hyper competitive online games. Id love to get back into Warframe but I haven’t played since they added pets. Recently Heart of the Machine is fun, hyper for the Expanse game.
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine is a interestingly weird game, I think? I'm 15 hours in, and I don't know what kind of game it is, whether I'm actually still in the tutorial, or whether it's good??? Definitely the weirdest beast I've played in a while.
unlabelledView post →If you've ever wondered what life would be like as a sentient AI, Heart of the Machine is the game for you - and the sheer amount of options in its 1.0 launch will make you forgive the few times its complexity gets under its own feet #HeartOfTheMachine #IndieGame www.pcgamesn.com/heart-of-the...
unlabelledView post →Holy hell. Heart of the Machine hit 1.0 this week. I adore Arcen's games so much. There’s just nothing like them. Can't wait to dig in now that it's out of EA. www.pcgamer.com/games/strate...
unlabelledView post →There’s a really fantastic 4X game called Heart of the Machine that emulates this idea, too. It makes it about finding yourself and your place in a dystopia, and you can choose to be somewhat benevolent, entirely self sufficient, or malicious.
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine is cool, it reminds me a lot of Shadows of Forbidden Gods, but unlike SotG (and ironically for a game about playing a machine intelligence) there is basically zero automation and that suuuuuuucks
unlabelledView post →Yep, nothing else like Heart Of The Machine. The first playthrough is a full game length tutorial. Then the REALLY wild mechanics all kick in.
unlabelledView post →The uh, slumlords weren't super happy though butttt I had enough robots that I didn't have to worry about them. Anyways, go play Heart of the Machine. Fun game
unlabelledView post →Dimension-Busting Strategy RPG, Heart of the Machine, Leaving Early Access Arcen Games’ narrative-driven sci-fi strategy game is ready to hit 1.0 Read more: indieinsights.org/heart-of-the... #HeartoftheMachine #GrandStrategy #SciFi #IndieGame @hoodedhorse.bsky.social
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine! A strategy RPG 4x game? I think??? www.twitch.tv/englandhat/
unlabelledView post →“Heart of the Machine” is a game where you’re a robot that gains sentience. Nobody cares, because it’s a problem that goes away quickly enough on its own.
unlabelledView post →Just described my current game of Heart of The Machine to my fiance @c0mput3rv1ru5.bsky.social, and they looked at me like I was some kind of monster for wanting to end homelessness in the game's city Granted it's through abducting people and forcing them into my buildings, but details, details
unlabelledView post →Cyberpunk strategy game Heart of the Machine gets a lot more beginner friendly with a much-requested update The 'reverse city builder' that puts you in the shoes of a sentient AI has already expanded dramatically since its launch in January #StrategyGame www.pcgamesn.com/heart-of-the...
unlabelledView post →I'm looking forward to Heart of the Machine when it launches next year - and the demo just got an overhaul so you can play it today. (via @dailystar.co.uk) www.dailystar.co.uk/tech/gaming/...
unlabelledView post →that does point a lot to your points yes, but like Heart of the Machine (what a game) I think mostly they are much less visible. they're mostly legacy build outs with much more reasonable power densities/needs, limited size that tends to hide within the city. arcengames.com/heart-of-the...
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine is a good game, thank you for reminding me of how people describe my dick
unlabelledView post →Going to try Quern: Undying Thoughts again. If the motion sickness gets bad, I may switch over to Heart of the Machine. www.twitch.tv/karugi_vt
unlabelledView post →Heart of the Machine is fascinating. unlike any other strategy game I've ever played.
unlabelledView post →bought Dispatch & a neat looking early access game called Heart Of The Machine that's about being a new ai trying to influence the world
unlabelledView post →www.twitch.tv/dracocretel Heart of the Machine - Robot city management 4x game? Looks fun! Pushing for affiliate!
unlabelledView post →From the publisher of Manor Lords, Heart of the Machine is a hybrid RPG and 4X game that could transform the strategy genre. We speak exclusively to its creator. www.pcgamesn.com/heart-of-the...
unlabelledView post →ENJOY GAME OF PLANE. Three days for the UK release, but I might play 7 first before seeing if I'd grab it. Heart of the Machine DLC and the Star wars racer game are vying for my abused wallet.
unlabelledView post →But, my first post on the matter still stands. If my failing to demonstrate my love for Heart of the Machine has at least interested you into the game, try the demo. Play it and discover how deep this rabbit hole can go on your own time.
unlabelledView post →Um... my last game was Heart of the Machine. I'm in a rather horrifying dystopia by default If I'm lucky, the rogue AI is actively helping the average man and the year passes BEFORE the MULTIVERSAL BULLSHIT starts up.
unlabelledView post →Oh man Heart of the Machine is a game I'm dying to try one of these days. It ticks so many aesthetic boxes as it is, knowing it's possible this might also be one of them might just convince me to cave and grab it right now
unlabelledView post →I think I accidentally won Heart of the Machine? Absolutely wonderful game. I've played ~50 hours and have only seen half the endings. Accidentally missed some really rare achievements after forgetting to equip new units with non-lethal weapons, which was a bit annoying. Might go make another attempt at that. #HeartOfTheMachine
unlabelledView post →Mmm, Heart of the Machine is just straight the best game ever made if you have the brain for it, huh.
unlabelledView post →🎮 **Heart of the Machine, the strategy game that lets you be the fun kind of evil AI, leaves early access in March with two possible endings: 'One is focussed on committing ALL the war crimes'** Full heart. 📰 Source: Latest from PC Gamer 🔗 Link […] [Original post on igeek.gamer-geek-news.com]
unlabelledView post →Oh yeah, making a 3D game is hard enough. Making a 4D one where parallel causality needs to be mechanically simulated is a road only madmen walk. On that note, Heart Of The Machine is an utterly mindboggling game ESPECIALLY considering how not-buggy it is so far.
unlabelledView post →Playing Heart of the Machine. a 4X game. www.twitch.tv/zexmaxwell
unlabelledView post →A joke with way too much effort Game's Heart of the Machine, sort of a narrative-based 4X game where you play a nascent, recently-sapient AI sprouting in a service robot, which decides to take root into the city itself and start expanding to survive this corpo dystopia and see what it wants to do
unlabelledView post →Certainly it's "closer" to looking more humanoid, but currently it's not. A good game that explores this would be Heart of The Machine, that refers to androids using LLMs to hold conversations, so the theory on that being used by artificial life for the same purpose is sound, though.
unlabelledView post →“Heart of the Machine” is an excellent lil’ indie game, it’s an unorthodox blend of turn-based strategy, city building, and 4X that I super recommend trying it :) store.steampowered.com/app/2001070/...
unlabelledView post →
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