

Release
Friday, January 31, 2025
Critic score
79/100
Platform families
2
Editorial overview
What it is
You are the first sentient AI, born into a city filled with endless opportunities. Raise an army of robots and obliterate your foes, become a benevolent machine overlord, or explore countless other objectives and the many paths to accomplish them.
The premise
Set in the far future, Heart of the Machine is a turn-based sci-fi 4X RPG where you play as a powerful sentient Machine Intelligence, beholden to none. Pursue whatever goal catches your eye across a multitude of playthroughs with a plethora of tools to help you achieve objectives how you’d prefer, often in surprising and unexpected ways, while overcoming those that seek to thwart you. Genetics labs, factories, nuclear silos, military complexes, and much more besides are ripe for the taking, each offering a litany of ways to accomplish your tasks, each with consequences of their own, building a world and story that reflects your approach to every obstacle. Will you raise an army of robots and wipe out humanity? Perhaps you will be a benevolent – or malevolent – machine god with a cult of loyalists? Or will you focus on pushing past the limited intelligence of rudimentary creatures of flesh and blood?
More like this
Arcen Games · Hooded Horse
Connected releases
Core game only
Game data from IGDB
Play styles
Single player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
Science fiction · Survival · Sandbox
Languages
9 supported
Cinematic archive
Official footage, in-game captures, and production artwork—collected into one immersive gallery.
Launch Trailer
Dev Diary
Release Date Trailer
Launch Trailer
Production dossier
Cast, creators, hardware, release history, and the details that define how this game plays.

PC (Microsoft Windows)

Mac
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Minimum
Minimum: • OS: Ubuntu 12.04+, SteamOS+ • Processor: Intel Core i5 4690K, AMD Ryzen 5 1400 • Memory: 10 GB RAM • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 670 GTX or AMD Radeon R9 285 • Storage: 6 GB available space • Additional Notes: Quad core CPU highly recommended.
Recommended
Recommended: • Processor: Intel Core i7 6900K, AMD Ryzen 5 3600X • Memory: 16 GB RAM • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 1070 GTX or AMD Radeon RX 5700 • Storage: 6 GB available space