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Heart of the Machine
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.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “choice-driven strategy systems” (62 of 103 reviews) and “branching thoughtful AI narrative” (48); the most common complaint is “shallow visual-novel gameplay” (16). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-29 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-13.
What reviewers agree on
62 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“This game has honestly been a pretty wild ride for me. It took somewhere over a dozen hours to make it out of what felt like 'the tutorial', but the writing, the setup, the preparation... The game presents itself with…”
“Arcen Games is an interesting company, they almost seem averse to making games in the same genre, they love to make new games in different genres with new mechanics, this doesn't always work out amazingly well, but this…”
“This is such a good game. It's hard to describe except it is strategy RPG, with a deep branching story that is very unique, it plays in turns, and has units and building and vehicles (also inventory items and research).…”
48 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“My journey into Heart of the Machine turned out to be a deeply troubled one. I adored the game's demo version. I walked away without coming close to sampling everything it had to offer, thinking it'd be best to save…”
“In the absurd world of 2026 where we're promised 'AI is going to take over our jobs', comes into existence a generational work of fiction right up there with Neuromancer and Blade Runner. The narrative and worldbuilding…”
“This game has honestly been a pretty wild ride for me. It took somewhere over a dozen hours to make it out of what felt like 'the tutorial', but the writing, the setup, the preparation... The game presents itself with…”
15 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Enjoyable, There's very few other games like this. I found it interesting enough to keep me hooked through achieving all the endings currently possible. It does however get repetitive fairly quickly. You need to start…”
“Imagine playing SKYNET operating in 5 dimensions. Game mixed genre of 4x strategy, visual novella, RPG and city sim. Addictive af, replayability is not an option - it is core gameplay. Every run is unique because you…”
“HotM does everything well enough that even it's weakest points are decent, but the way it handles storytelling is top notch. More than anything else, this is a storyteller, and for those of us who play every branch of…”
10 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Finally getting around to a review before 1.0... When I initially played this at release, it was a great game that I was deeply curious to see where it would go. I played the tutorial, explored some on my own, caused…”
“Oh god, this game is amazing! I keep looking away from the clock and losing hours to it. Very fun, nice level of strategy without it being too complex. There are a lot of choices you can make to steer your AI in…”
“Not that many games out there allow you to play as a suitably inhuman character. Not for everyone but I liked it. Also the bug I reported got swiftly fixed!”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Overall: "Never writes a review, but felt compelled to let people know this is gold"/10 Details: Thoroughly impressed. I love the post apocalyptic theme, and the building mechanisms. Whenever I think I am getting a good…”
“I don't know that I love this game, but every time I play it hours disappear. At the time of writing this I've opened the game 3 times and have played for 21 hours. Most of those hours have just vanished and I have no…”
“Simply Brilliant Game Design What a gem this is, but getting into it requires dedication. If you like the Post-Apocalyptic Blade Runner style feel, and enjoy the sci-fi element of playing an AI in that world, trying to…”
16 of the 103 reviews raise this · 11 of them still recommend the game.
“Man, the concept of this game sounded so good. I would love the idea of slowly taking over and expanding an underground robot empire by stealth. Turns out this is not an option. You're forced into conflict no matter how…”
“I really liked the concept of this game, but the execution fell flat. There is very little of actual gameplay in here. Yes, there are some interesting decisions you can make, but most of the time you are just clicking…”
“For most if its development, this game marketed itself as an AI strategy game. Maybe it was at one point, but I'm guessing it took a hard turn somewhere along the way and ended up becoming the visual novel that it is,…”
10 of the 103 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“You can play as Skynet, you can play as AM, or you can be a mysterious AI benefactor from the shadows. Fun game, a little overwhelming but there are options to simplify most stuff if you can't get it.”
“I want to love this game, but it's just way, way too obtuse. I understand they were trying to make a deep, complex game with lots of interlocking mechanics; but the way it's presented is just exhausting. I'm still…”
“I tried. I really tried. But this game is so scattered that you end up managing more and more things. Each of your bots can do things they're good at, but they drain from a collective pool, and you can redo a mission or…”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“I’d probably rate this as a neutral review, but since Steam doesn’t allow that, so after some thought I’m leaning more toward a negative review. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this game. I’ll likely come…”
“I want to love this game, but it's just way, way too obtuse. I understand they were trying to make a deep, complex game with lots of interlocking mechanics; but the way it's presented is just exhausting. I'm still…”
“I tried. I really tried. But this game is so scattered that you end up managing more and more things. Each of your bots can do things they're good at, but they drain from a collective pool, and you can redo a mission or…”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 91.5% positive rating · as of 2026-05-13
“If you wanted to be pedantic you could call this a well dressed visual novel, but it's not that simple either. --- Right from the start it claims to be a mix of various genre: 4x Strategy, City Builder, Colony Sim and RPG. But, I'll break it down from my perspective: The 4x is…”
— a player, Steam review · 10 hrs played“This game is pretty fun but also not very well described. It's honestly closer to something like Long Live the Queen than Crusader Kings. At its core it's a choose your own adventure with extremely light 4x/city builder/rpg elements. Almost everything not story related can be…”
— a player, Steam review · 25 hrs played“In a word: Masterpiece. Absolute masterpiece. Forget all the other so-called hits in the last several years. Forget Hollow Knight/Silksong. Forget Expedition 33. Forget Palworld. Forget Baldur's Gate 3. This is the pinnacle of innovation. This is the true genius of videogaming.…”
— a player, Steam review · 84 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-10-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-25. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-23). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Update 91: Rotary Spin Control
Lots of updates to the game and to the new DLC based off of player feedback. Enjoy! If you’ve been playing Kinship lately, please take a moment to leave a Steam review for the DLC. I’ve already been r
Major Update 90: Animals, Items, And Foliage
Lots of updates to the game and to the new DLC based off of player feedback. Enjoy! If you’ve been playing Kinship today, please take a moment to leave a Steam review for the DLC. I’ve already been re
Update 89: Worker Continuity
More updates based on player feedback. Second one of the day. Thanks to everyone who has been playing and responding! Enjoy! If you’ve spent time with Heart of the Machine or Kinship and want to leave
Update 88: Kinship DLC Released
This update has a few initial tweaks and fixes based on player feedback. Today saw the long-awaited DLC launch, too! Enjoy! If you’ve spent time with Heart of the Machine or Kinship and want to leave
Heart of the Machine - Kinship is Released
Hello, Machine Intelligences! Heart of the Machine - Kinship is now available with a 10% launch discount! The city has always had problems of its own, but Kinship brings a whole new set of conflicts f
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-13.
| Genres | RPG, Simulation, Strategy |
| Player tags | Strategy · Simulation · Grand Strategy · 4X · Turn-Based Strategy · War · Management · Moddable · Historical · Tactical · Turn-Based · Sandbox (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Steam Trading Cards · Adjustable Text Size · Camera Comfort · Custom Volume Controls · Adjustable Difficulty · Playable without Timed Input |
| Languages | English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil |
| Achievements | 284 |
| Official site | https://www.arcengames.com/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows® 10 (64-bit) Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-760 (quad-core) / AMD® Phenom™ II X4 965 (quad-core) Memory: 6 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 550 Ti (1 GB) / AMD® Radeon™ HD 7770 (1 GB) DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 5 GB available space