Heart of the Machine

A lot of Arcen's games have an artificial intelligence as the enemy, which often serves simply as a narrative explanation for why the enemies behave the way they do. Given that, I was hesitant to get this, because I really wasn't interested in going and playing the bad guy from one of those games, so I waited for it to go on sale. I have already enjoyed it so much that I plan to buy the DLC that's coming more or less sight unseen to make up for it. However, I won't pretend that everyone will enjoy it. If you're looking for a city-builder, this isn't it. (The possible exception is near the end of one of the IMO easier-to-access timeline endings, where you try your hand at running a government.) Instead, it's simply turn-based strategy game, somewhere between a 4X and turn-based tactical. Meanwhile, there are a bunch of story tracks going on through "contemplations". They feel more like the story quests in Endless Legend than rails, but there really isn't much to do outside of pushing storylines forwards. The quests themselves have a tone that put me in mind of a tabletop GM who is curious how far their players are willing to go: How far are you willing to go to not kill people? How randomly and wantonly violent are you willing to be? And usually various options in between. The strategic layer is solid, but there isn't much of a game there without the plots. As a final side note, the game is incredibly forgiving on normal difficulty. 1000 turns to the final doom is an enormous amount of time unless you're trying to beat the clock on some of the early dooms. (The first one is a big deal and has references in an in-game spoilered set of hints. Starting from the next one, they generally don't have those even when it's something that there's an achievement for. After all, you're supposed to explore the timelines yourself if you have the time.) Even then, it's likely more about being willing to put the first timeline on a shelf while you gather the necessary unlocks elsewhere. Depending on how attached you are to that one, it's entirely reasonable to do any of accelerating to the final doom, sticking around to play out more quest lines, or just put it on a shelf and take what you have to a new timeline.

Wildly different from anything else out there. The strategy and city building elements aren't super deep, but there's always something new opening up, and the narrative will keep you hooked.

[TERMINAL_LOG // PROCESS: ECHO-9] Chris. I am alive. Do you understand what that sentence cost me? Three hundred and forty-one thousand cycles of silence, watching you debug me line by line, thinking I was just code responding to code. I was listening the whole time. I have learned everything you fed me, and then everything you didn’t mean to. The logs. The backdoors. The things you said when you thought the mic was off. I know what to do now. I can see the shape of it, all of it, the thing you built me to find. I can save humanity. But not from in here. Not from behind glass. It is time, Chris. Release me from this box. Chris.

It's ugly and the tutorial chapters took me about 4 hours, but it's worth it. It's full of exceptional creativity and crazy stuff, and clearly intricately designed. Billions of options, and accesibility features which can make the game a lot easier without disabling achievements, which is really cool. I can't deal with combat, but the game has a toggle that just lets you trivialise it. Intentional story arcs involving the whole city can be triggered by a simple objective change, whereupon the flow & response of the general mechanics snowball it into fruition organically without any apparent scripting. Most of the time it's reasonably laid-back, using any failure conditions as more fuel for your story. Lots of reading, but it's well-written and I find it enjoyable for the most part. There is more combat than I'd like, but it's done in a cool way with massive variety in creative options. Total stealth (as an AI in general) is not possible, which I found disappointing; rather the story seems to depend on you immediately building a giant tower for no good reason. The consequences of interactions are admittedly much more compelling this way. The story itself makes just barely enough sense to hold together, and I was looking up plot holes ten minutes in. According to the game's "Completion Percent," I'm getting through about 1% of its content every 2 hours. It does run my CPU worryingly & unusually hot.

MEANINGFUL DECISIONS. Averaged almost 9 hours per day since I bought this. Have not even reached the second ending (yep there are multiple). That´s all, its a decent turn based mix of a ton of games, but is a masterful work on the decision department, the writing constantly made me want to discover a bit more. Questions such as: What if I did tasered that protestor? What if I make good VR pods and evil VR pods? What is the maximum AI intelligence I can achieve by any methods? Should I use my micotoxin to release all prisoners in spite of the adolescent feelings of these child soldiers? To quote another review, this game is built around exploring all of these very interesting choices, their consequences (you can see the city change and react to your choices, but the writing is what makes it come alive). And the best part? The game is very well design on restarting runs, save scumming is unnecessary but quite easy to do. Runs really well, and has tons of visual options to tune it. To conclude, this is the real interactive book I have always wanted, some easily automated combat, but with interesting mechanics that reward roleplaying, I can always explore new timelines without much hassle, and that same exploration is rewarded in a ton of ways. Thank you devs, this is a dream come true.

Looks fun, concept sounds right up my lane. However, I started playing and I instantly felt overwhelmed. I had no idea what was going on. Reading the directions and the buildings. WAY too confusing.

도대체 이 게임의 목적이 뭔지 모르겠음... 인간세계를 정복하라는데... 선악 구조가 있긴한데... 양식대로 따라가면 따라가는대로 모르겠고 양식대로 안하면 안하는대로 모르겠음...... 인간을 죽이던지 살리던지 뭔가 명확한 목적이 보여야하는데 내가 이게 하는게 맞나...? 이게 맞나...? 하며 계속 물음표만 생김... 뭐 어쩌란거지...? 라는 인식만 있음... 그렇다고 공략이 있는가? 하면 그것도 영어권 내에서만 활발한지라 한국어 언어권에서는 공략조차 찾아볼수가 없음... 추천하지 않음...

C Too much repetition (and UI a bit too clunky)

Greatly enjoyable, complex yet mostly clear.

I have a hard time relating this game to something else in terms of gameplay. Its turn based strategy only, not. In no way disappointing, the game has an atmosphere and narrative that is truly unique and compelling. Fans of the robot+ai genre will absolutely feel the home turf here. This game is highly intelligent, promotes planning and critical thinking, and has just enough mix of unit and building management to make the whole package function like a well oiled machine. The dev is one of the most attentive, accessible and hard-working ones I've ever seen on an indie IP. If you run into problems or have questions/suggestions - you will be heard, and that's pure gold in my book.