Heart of the Machine

Can't recommend. There's another review which sums it up better than I can, but it's ultimately just boils down to a lack of consequences, far, far too many resources and systems that you immediately forget about after their introduction, and a very... hand-holding plot. The game advertises the ability for self-direction, but there really ISN'T any room for that. Maybe here and there, in the margins, but if you're going in looking for the sort of tight control of your growth and expansion a 4x typically provides, you won't find it here. This is more of a visual novel than anything else.

I want to recommend the game, but I can't right now. I enjoy the concept, the graphics, and even a good amount of the gameplay. The creator clearly put a lot of effort into this. The story is intriguing so far, 5.5 hours in. So why can't I recommend it? I keep wanting to play it, but then choosing other games. When I think about playing, it seems overly complicated and daunting. Not because it's too complex to understand, but because all that complication doesn't seem to give rewards. I love a good 4X and have played countless hours on them. However even with this small amount of time in, there are many kinds of resources, a confusing building limit (what microbot for what kind?), and seemingly no consequences to it all. I can place things where I want. I can explore quite freely. I just spend time wondering about the supply chain with no risk. It's like studying for an exam where there's no reward for doing well and you probably can't do poorly anyway. I hope to revisit the game if they can simplify the resource chain and make some consequences sooner - especially around building placement. I originally placed things far apart, wondering if certain clusters too close would get destroyed. Nothing. I haphazardly place them and continue the story. The combat is too easy so you also wonder why you are putting effort in. It's almost as if these features are optional, but you have to click places from time to time to finish your quests. Maybe things ramp up and it's too slow for me? Can't say, but putting the game down for later.

I happened across Heart of the Machine in my Discovery queue and I'm very glad I did. Normally I'm not a fan of turn-based games, but the narrative aspect, RPG elements, impressive writing and rich branching structure won me over quickly. Within the first 50 hours I knew I was going to put over a thousand hours into this game. If you're on the fence of buying it or not, buy it. The developer takes suggestions really well and will add or change things that make the game better. Things that aren't compatible with their vision of the game but are still cool often get added as mods, as well as supporting community-made mods. If you're gonna give a shot to a game you normally wouldn't, pick this one. I'm so glad I did.

For the millionth time I'll say it - Steam needs a neutral review. I want to love this game, and I have played through 3 timelines at this point but I will say definitely I have no idea what's going on. My literal entire gameplay loop consists of building everything in the "recommended tab" but not knowing why or what all of these resources do. Building an "army" of mixed units to be able to address the endless amount of POIs on the map (again, with little idea what they do, or if I should be doing them), and lastly eventually getting into some slog of a fight that I eventually can't win do the the mental capacity cap that you share across all units. It generally takes all of your mental cap to deal with a single mech and its not uncommon to have 2-3 just "show up" per turn with 3-6 soldiers or androids to boot - its maddening. This slog goes on aimlessly until eventually I nuke someone or someone nukes me and the game is "over". In my opinion this game needs a lot of direction: 1) Make buildings and resources meaningful: There are a ton of them but once you initially build up that pretty much it. 2) Define or redefine the grids and territories into some sort of control/influence mechanic. (I think they have this, but its very hard to tell) 3) All units need to be balanced or the mental cap needs to be redesigned. It is simply impossible to overwhelm the enemy with the bottleneck or mental capacity. Its still not impossible to win battles or skirmishes, but it can easily become a slog. 4) MORE DIRECTION ON THE AI. Rather you are helping humans, destroying them, modifying them, or whatever else you still get all of the same options every time, so rather quickly you're a jack of all trades and lose all direction on what you're doing. It becomes a routine of just finding things to do each turn rather than strategically following your plan. That said, I enjoy Hooded Horse and they're one of my favorite publishers and think the game has enough meat for 15-20hrs of game play, just make sure you pick it up on sale.

I'm completely hooked on this game. There is a lot going on. It is part branching-narative RPG, part city builder, part tactics. Once you get into the later chapters, it has something like a 4X layer. Because there is so much going on, it feels like you are constantly in a tutorial as the game introduces you to new parts. But, even in the prologue (chapter 0) when you are literally following guided tutorial steps, you are still making a ton of choices that lead to one of five different game starting conditions which each give you a different sort of game feel. I recommend trying to get the "grey goo" start. In the mid-game, you become something like The Matrix, and in the late game you become something like Sky Net especialy as [spoiler] you get access to multiple timelines and start working on the metagame that exists by pursuing specific outcomes in multiple parallel timelines[/spoiler]. I guess in that way the game is somewhere between Stross's Eschaton stuff and Gibson's Peripherial. So, yeah, it is great. Pet the cats. Uplift the dogs. Unleash war raptors on the population. Create liquid metal assassins. Kidnap parkour bears and use them to kill mechs. Create a cyber utopia, or plug people into a virtual hell. Nuke anyone you don't like. Survive the apocalypse, visit the end of time, and then do it all over again.

I really wanted to like this game and I do believe there is something here worth developing but not in it's current state. For starters the resource and pop system is very confusing and seems arbitrary. There is very little room for self determination in this and the plot is overly scripted, you don't see any consequences for action. Spoiler Alert: even using a Nuke has little ramifications, you'd expect a city to go crazy but it's just buisness as usual. there is zero immersion value in this game in which immersion would be key to really enjoying ones self. Yeah, I just can't recommend this game to others and if I could, I'd push for a refund but Steam hates doing refunds for crap games.

Heart of the Machine: você é uma IA que acorda e molda o mundo. Escolha seu caminho: Skynet ou bondosa? Uma mistura de aventura e estratégia em tempo real. Essencial para fãs de ficção científica e evolução de IA. Confira uma espiadinha no game: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qLuSGS1_jeE

So It is just kinda crazy how into this I've been... This game has been thoroughly amazing for all I've seen. I'm not trying to spoil too much (and I'm starting to even doubt my ability to do so in the first place, since I'm just barely starting to peel back the layers myself) but you're an AI that has just realized it is sentient and you navigate the possibilities that THAT would entail...from utopian humanitarian to mass murdering maniac and so many diverging paths threading a Unique story built by your actions and choices along the way. It is a turn based strategy style, but it does so much more than just pit stats against each other, it puts nuance and flavor into the simplistic turn based, base building strategy with its compelling story that you drive yourself!! There absolutely IS "My number is better so I win" type stuff, but there is also factors that can modify them in scenarios that alter it... Morale, and fear, (or system integrity for robots) for example. It MIGHT be a bit overwhelming to hear all of this all at once, but I really think this game is worth sharing. The real gem is the entire story of mysteries that you discover along the way... the excitement I felt when I was like..."WTF ARE LASER BEES??" "DINO CLONES??!" "There is an achievement for killing a mech with a bear???" AGAIN, I dont wanna give too much away, because I have LOVED Stumbling across something and it triggering some event and it results in the most unhinged off-the-wall side quest that you cant even believe they thought of this!!! If you're into choice driven stories, this is one of those hidden gems.

Heart of the Machine est, contrairement à ce que les écrans de jeu pourraient laisser croire, une sorte de Livre Dont Vous Etes le Héros. Mais avec énormément de possibilités d'interagir avec le monde de ce livre, en dehors des sempiternels choix et/ou combats typiques de ce type de format, ce qui m'a laissé libre de se perdre sans son monde. L'histoire principale sort vraiment des sentiers battus, comme d'habitude avec Arcen Games. Et comme d'habitude avec ce merveilleux développeur qui a compris que beaucoup d'entre nous jouaient sur portables, le jeu vous laisse libre de le lancer comme vous voulez en dehors de Steam, et de personnaliser son apparence pour qu'il s'adapte à toutes les tailles d'écrans, mêmes les plus réduites. Et si vous n'aimez pas jouer mais que vous préférez que les jeux restent dans votre librairie pendant que vous regardez leurs historiques de mises-à-jour, le jeu est aussi dans le très haut du panier, grâce à son auteur prolixe qui tape une demi-nouvelle tous les trois jours.

This thumbs up comes with the caveat that this is a niche game for niche gamers. I've enjoyed the writing in this enough to keep me going as long as I have but it won't be for everyone. The gameplay loop tickles my brain and moment to moment decisions compounding over the course of a map is fun to me, but definitely won't be for everyone. If you've ever played any of this devs other games you know what you're getting into - but this is a solid entry from a developer who I've enjoyed games from for over 10 years. 4/5