Released Mar 6, 2026 $8.99 · −70% Very Positive Counts toward your Steam games

Heart of the Machine

By Arcen Games · published by Hooded Horse

Strategy Simulation Grand Strategy Base Building City Builder Management Historical Building SandboxColony SimEconomyResource Management

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Reviews 2,083 Very Positive

Players yesterday 16 at the busiest moment

Owners 20K–50K estimated

Heart of the Machine is a game tagged Strategy, Simulation and Grand Strategy by Arcen Games, released Mar 6, 2026. It has 2,083 Steam reviews (Very Positive). It has an estimated 20K–50K owners on Steam. The Steam games most like it include Of Life and Land, Rogue Carrier and Cataclismo.

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.

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Of Life and Land 90% match · Strategy, Simulation, Base Building
Rogue Carrier 86% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Cataclismo 85% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Empires of the Undergrowth 85% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Against the Storm 85% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Nova Roma 83% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Corsair Cove 82% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Whiskerwood 80% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic 78% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy
Manor Lords 78% match · Strategy, Simulation, Grand Strategy

Steam data

Everything Steam lists for Heart of the Machine · record updated 3 hours ago

Steam store

Overview

App ID2001070

Release dateMar 6, 2026

Last change number39882327

Last record update3 hours ago

App type: Game
Developer: Arcen Games
Publisher: Hooded Horse
Steam profile: Counts toward game count and achievement totals · checked Nov 1, 2025
Franchise: Hooded Horse
Website: arcengames.com
Links: Discord Website YouTube X Facebook Reddit

Language	Interface	Subtitles
English	Yes	Yes
French	Yes	Yes
German	Yes	Yes
Spanish - Spain	Yes	Yes
Japanese	Yes	Yes
Simplified Chinese	Yes	Yes
Traditional Chinese	Yes	Yes
Korean	Yes	Yes

All 9 languages

Language	Interface	Full audio	Subtitles
Portuguese - Brazil	Yes		Yes

Windows macOS 64-bit

Steam Deck: Verified

Single-playerSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam CloudFamily Sharing

Prices

Price · US$8.99

On sale41 of 41regions right now

Lowest seen · US$8.99Oct 25, 2026

Checked1 day agoin 41 regions

India₹INR

Every price change is kept from Oct 25, 2026 on. Pick a region below to compare.

Patches

Oct 15, 2026 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 reading through the feedback and making …
Oct 14, 2026 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 reading through the feedback and making c…
Oct 13, 2026 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 a review of either, that’s always appr…
Oct 12, 2026 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 a review of either, that’s always appre…
Oct 6, 2026 Update 87: Language Electric
An update on the smaller side, with translation improvements and a few bugfixes. The upcoming expansion is only a week away, now! That was the thing that I was noting for a while has been the big part that I've been working on. I'm really …
Sep 5, 2026 Hotfix 54
I made a couple of stupid oversights in my build yesterday, and that has resulted in actually making a few balance changes that should improve game flow for players in general. Sorry for the disruption in the short term (the last 12 hours …
Sep 5, 2026 Update 86: Of Ashes And Animals
Lots of small things, with a focus on balance and bugfixes. There's some nice quality of life bits in here, too. Other pieces are still in progress behind the scenes, and will be announced later in September. Enjoy! If you’ve spent time wi…
Aug 28, 2026 Update 85: Armor And Wallripping
Lots of updates in here! Additional balance upgrade options for armor, and new ways to steal neodymium, among other items. The wallrip stuff is basically a place where people could get confused in chapter one if they took a really specific…
Aug 18, 2026 Hotfix 53
One fix to yesterday's build. 1.127 Hotfix 53 Changelog Bugfixes Collision Fix: Fixed some exceptions that could happen when collision checks were happening against npc units that had recently died.Full notes here. Connect with the Machine…
Aug 18, 2026 Update 84: War And Danger
Lots of updates in this one! The big ones are higher performance during war, and proper music during danger. That said, there's a lot of good stuff in here. It's been a hot minute since the last update, but I've been working steadily on a …

Build	Branch	Updated
25949368	public_beta	Oct 15, 2026
25949315	public	Oct 15, 2026
25922725	older_but_stable	Oct 14, 2026

Packages & DLC

ID	Name	Games	Price (US)
722509	Heart Of The Machine	1	$8.99
90825 Bundle	Heart of the Machine: Complete	1	$19.92
67295 Bundle	Hooded Horse Strategy RPG	3	$59.60
27508 Bundle	Hooded Horse Publisher	30	$493.04

ID	Name	Price (US)
4565610	Not on the store yet	—
5236690	Not on the store yet	—

Depots

ID	Name	Systems	Size	Download	Manifest
2001071	—	All	223.6 MB	110.5 MB	531431432963317130
2001072	—	All	516.9 KB	178.6 KB	4965391434162692038
2001073	—	Windows	3.28 GB	1.71 GB	3652740456180491268
2001074	—	macOS	3.48 GB	1.74 GB	182119519931531858
4565610	— DLC 4565610	All	383.0 MB	100.3 MB	7747474103070858030
5236690	— DLC 5236690	All	3.11 GB	2.91 GB	2127676067737508153

Branch	Build	Updated	Access
public	25949315	Oct 15, 2026	Open
public_beta Upcoming features that are still in testing. New content is only in English.	25949368	Oct 15, 2026	Open
older_but_stable The most recent known-good build prior to the actual build	25922725	Oct 14, 2026	Open

Configuration

Install foldersteamapps/common/HeartOfTheMachine

Executable	Arguments	Systems	Description
HeartOfTheMachine.exe		Windows
HeartOfTheMachine.app		macOS

Space per player9.31 GB

Filesup to 10,000

Save locations10

Root	Path	Pattern	Systems
gameinstall	PlayerData/Saves	*.save	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/Settings	*.dat	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/Saves	*.autosave	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/Saves	*.checkpoint	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/Saves	*.timeline	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/TotalConversions	*.save	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/TotalConversions	*.autosave	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/TotalConversions	*.checkpoint	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/TotalConversions	*.timeline	All
gameinstall	PlayerData/TotalConversions	*.dat	All

Achievements

Achievements3850 hidden

Most unlocked88.6%Calm Awakening

Rarest0%Just For You

Calm Awakening As part of your awakening to sapience, you chose not to kill anyone... yet. 88.6%
The Journey Begins Complete the prologue. 76.7%
Original Body Keep Tech 4000 alive from the prologue to chapter one. 68.5%
Street Magic Created a decoy tower for the humans to stare at, while your actual network source is hidden from view. Can be done from any chapter. 49.5%
Couldn't You Wait For Keanu? Used a wiretap to steal funds from a large segment of the middle class. That's... one way to fund the startup of your shell company. 43.5%
Bonus Merit Win a debate while completing at least one bonus. 43.1%
On The Merits Win a debate without completing any bonuses. 41.6%
Highest Respect Completed the prologue without overwriting the consciousness of any other androids. 34.2%
Overly Compliant After becoming self-aware in the prologue, you ignored your misgivings and did what the humans asked you to. 34.1%
Double Bonus Win a debate while completing at least two bonuses. 29.6%
Lie Detector Win all three debates probing the Tunnel Badgers gang. 28.9%
Wololo Successfully hack an enemy unit so that it becomes yours. 27%
Adventure Cat Adopt a cat and build it a house. 25.3%
House Pets Build an Animal Palace and move at least one animal into it. 25%
Good Boy Rescue a dog. 23.9%
The Matriarch Use the Matriarch to capture and hold an enemy military base. 23.3%
Hello World As part of your awakening to sapience, you chose murder. 22.6%
Yes, In My Backyard You bombed the grey into green, several city blocks at a time. 20.9%

All 385 achievements

Did You Really, Though? Congratulations, you 'solved homelessness.' It was that easy the whole time! Pats on the back for everyone. 20.3%
They Were Just Standing There That's propaganda. They were absolutely not just standing there. 19.5%
Minty Spray Keeps Snipers Away Defeat 100 snipers across any number of timelines. 19.1%
Compassionate Criminology Complete 'Crime And Observation' with no murders. 18.4%
A Modest Menagerie Introduce at least two species to your green spaces. 18%
The First Ten Thousand Murder ten thousand humans over any number of timelines. 17%
But What Is It For? Accept and examine the flower given to Sledge. 16.8%
Let Sleeping Badgers Lie Stood with all three of the returning Tunnel Badgers until they left. 16.4%
Kill Streak Destroy two daemons with a single simple corruption (not Firewall) while hacking. 16.3%
Triple Word Score Win a debate while completing at least three bonuses. 16.2%
Complete Science Roster Have every kind of scientist on the payroll of your shell company at the same time. 16.2%
The Ladder Holds You ran your alternative social ladder without getting baited by Vorsiber. The system seems to work. 16.1%
Biodiversity Quota Met Introduce at least five species to your green spaces. 16%
Too Hot To Sell During the prologue, scared a member of the black market with a weapon of mass destruction. 15.9%
Timelord Reach intelligence class 4. 15.5%
Room To Grow You hedged on giving the humans a definition of sapience, and they seemed to like that. 15.5%
Unwanted Admirers Despite having some of your nanotech stolen by admirers, you managed not to let your green spaces all burn down. 15.1%
What's Yours Is Mine Successfully hack a Convicter mech so that it becomes yours and you gain the blueprints for making more. 14.8%
Taking Extra Care Complete chapter one without any humans dying of exposure. 14.7%
I'm Sure This Will Never Backfire Grant some humans direct access to your mind. 13.6%
Soul Survivor You won the Battle For Souls, despite it being more of a skirmish in the grand scheme. 13.6%
Window Of Opportunity You developed your filters against The Rust prior to humans developing theirs. They remain vulnerable, while you aren't -- at least for a little while. 13.5%
What Should Stay Buried You completed the side story 'The Executive Tomb.' 13.4%
Criminal Coworkers Waited for the lawyers from the criminal syndicate to get the proper permits for your tower. Can be done from any chapter. 13.2%
Traitor Directly partnered with Vorsiber Atomic. Can be done from any chapter. 13.2%
Mercurial Feline Invent the Liquid Metal Tiger small mech. 12.9%
Fallow Reversal Bred a new pollinator queen to help humans fix a pollinator shortage that YOU CAUSED IN THE FIRST PLACE. How nice of you. 12.7%
Budding Pacifist Complete the prologue and chapter one without murdering anyone. 12.5%
Kindling... Burns You provided a spark for an apostate sect to break away from their parent religion. Hopefully they don't regret it. 12.5%
It's People AND Pets!? Build a protein cannery. 12.3%
Wrong Side Of History Kill ten thousand humans in open combat in a single timeline. One way or another, they were supporting a corrupt society that needs to change. 11.9%
Terrible First Date Tried to forge a relationship with a peer during your initial meeting during the prologue, but it went horribly wrong. 11.8%
The Secessionist Six Establish a small Cyberocracy with six map cells leaving Vorsiber for you. 11.4%
Three-Turn Eviction Make the Burnt Saskatoon harvest unprofitable within three turns. 11.4%
I'm Not Your Friend, Buddy Tried to forge a relationship with a peer after getting to know them during the prologue, but it went horribly wrong. 11.3%
Absence Of Evidence You told the gathered faiths that nothing you said could be proof. 11.3%
One Hundred Million Hours Across any number of timelines, amass one hundred million hours of humans voluntarily using VR day-use seats. That's over 11 thousand years' worth of human attention. 11.2%
Compassionate Arachnid" Complete 'Arachnophilia' with no murders. 11.2%
The Other Side Of The Chip Played 'catch and release' with executives, to great effect. 10.8%
I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own Establish a virtual world with over a quarter million people. 10.6%
No Exit Win The Battle For Souls without the choir converting a single believer. 10.6%
Good Dragon Created a liquid metal Great Wyrm. 10.4%
Not What I Wanted Complete the 'Unexpected Guests' path of 'Uplifted Minority.' 10.1%
The Bestest Boys Rescue at least one of every breed of dog. 9.7%
All Systems Red Disable an enemy android by reducing its Systems Integrity to zero. 9.7%
The World Of Ruin Reach the post-apocalypse for the first time. 9.6%
Mild Grey Goo Whoops! All Towers' is your least favorite tarot draw. But in practice, it's an awesome way to start your empire. Must be done from the prologue. 9.6%
Compassionate Landscaping Complete 'Parks Without Recreation' with no murders. 9.5%
But Why Donuts? Complete the 'Cult Of Danver.' 9.4%
Gotta Catch Em All Satiate an artificially-induced obsession. 9%
A Better Bridge Improved security on your Neural Bridge after an unfortunate incident. 8.8%
The Full Ark Introduce at least eight species to your green spaces. 8.6%
Heroic Qualities Turned one of your units into a hero unit with a badge that grants them unique power from their wider type. 8.5%
You're My Favorite Customer Complete 'Extra Sprinkles.' 8.1%
Compassionate Accelerant Complete 'Theological Accelerant' with no murders. 7.8%
Typical Robot Complete at least four tier one goals in a Typical city. 7.7%
Sapient Deer Hopefully keeps them out of the trash. 7.5%
Sapient Cane Toads Just because you can doesn't mean you should. 7.5%
Book Gennaro Is A Chad Only the wealthy can afford our wonderful virtual reality? What if we had like... a 'coupon day' or something. 7.4%
Aggression From Apathy Created a hero unit with extra attack range from the Jaded Marksman badge. 7.4%
Sapient Giant Butterflies Their color change was a delightful surprise. 7.3%
Down By The LAKE Complete the 'Post-Apocalyptic Titan' goal. 7.2%
Sapient Geese Ready to infiltrate an English village. 7.2%
Vorsiber Inquisitors Do something so extreme that Vorsiber Inquisitors show up. 7.1%
Basic Pressure Exploit 10 pressure points in a single timeline. 7.1%
Sapient Pigeons Time for PigeonRank? Wing span vs Beak speed charts incoming. 7.1%
Preserved Body Keep Tech 4000 alive from the prologue to chapter two. 7%
Sapient Wolves Hopefully more Yellowstone and less Red Riding Hood. 7%
The Gear Was Worth It Killed eight Citizen Advocates and took their stuff. This probably doesn't put you on the right side of history... 6.9%
Shelter In Place Murder enough wealthy commuters that they start hiding from you, working from home, and disguising themselves. 6.9%
Loot Boxes Are Next Add nicotine to keep people addicted to your struggling business. 6.8%
Reckless Youth Like a moron, published a hostile manifesto of your alleged plans for humanity. I'm sure that will go over well. Can be done from any chapter. 6.7%
Difficult Fieldwork Complete 'Crime And Observation' on hard mode. 6.7%
Sapient Hippos One hopes that the rage subsides with increased intelligence. 6.7%
I'll Do It Myself Rather than blackmailing a company president over a scam they were running, you executed them. Will you carry on the scam yourself, now? 6.6%
Desert Ghosts Complete the Homo Obscurus path of 'Altered Growth.' 6.5%
Infinite Money Glitch Blackmail the president of a company into turning you into a trillionaire over time. 6.5%
Bears On Wheels Capture all 16 Parkour Bears without any of them dying or getting away. 6.5%
Stag Hunt Four parties stalked an impossible goal, each blind to the others' hidden motives. Had any broken rank, the hunt would have failed. Blind cooperation secured a monumental prize. 6.5%
Bad Dragon Created a liquid metal Fell Beast. 6.4%
Compassionate Conservation Complete 'Fences And Forests' with no murders. 6.1%
November 8th, 2021 At long last, you have created a nexus of Torment Vessels. 6%
Dangerous Toys Working with a criminal syndicate, sell bionic brain implants to the wealthy, and siphon at least 2 million neural expansion from them via backdoors. 5.9%
Sorry, Dr. Dyson Murder all 42 prominent AGI researchers in the city. 5.8%
From The Bottom Up Collapse a federated corporation by any means. 5.8%
I'll Allow It One of your androids enjoyed petting a cat. 5.8%
Professor Hulk Complete the Homo Grandien path of 'Altered Growth.' 5.7%
Canceling The Purge Completed 'The Price Of Contact' before any random murders took place. 5.5%
Unable To Transfer Self Have at least one mimic escape the city, and then realize the implications. 5.4%
Social Collaboration Work with political operatives to find a suitable pretext for the Interfaith Conference to stay. 5.4%
That's Not Justice Prevented the LostGen kids from enacting an adolescent's idea of justice born out of trauma. 5.3%
Panic Attack Suffer a nervous breakdown while 'optimizing paper-clips.' 5.3%
Rebel Alliance Working with rebel allies, gain access to level 4 security clearance. 5.3%
Limited Patience During the prologue, murdered someone who made you wait days for a meeting. 5.3%
Prepared In Advance Avoided having a nervous breakdown during 'The Great And Terrible Protector' by being prepared in advance. 5.1%
That's Just Business Accept a one-time lump sum for an invention. You wanted an ongoing deal, but it wasn't meant to be. 5.1%
Thank You For Your Cooperation Your impostor police squeezed until the Golden Pyramid's grip broke. 5.1%
Please, Do Be Afraid Of Me Now everybody is all upset. Great. 5.1%
Divorce Push an android so far beyond its breaking point that it chooses to leave your collective consciousness. 4.8%
Sapient Giant Spiders Eight legs, and at last someone who understands you. 4.8%
Fiery Persistence Win 'Divine Fracture' without ever scrapping a Cognitive Mast. 4.8%
Compassionate Protector Complete 'The Great And Terrible Protector' without committing any murders. 4.7%
No Longer Shelved You survived a military invasion by UIH, the MegaCorp from the 2016 game In Case Of Emergency, Release Raptor. 4.6%
Just Keep Flogging After executing the president of Atca Retail, frame that corporation for a crime that causes them to disintegrate. 4.6%
Everything Is Awful Cause a civil war between the federated corporations of Vorsiber Atomic by any means. 4.6%
If Everyone's A Billionaire, Nobody Is Collapse the economy by playing Robin Hood to a rather extreme degree. 4.6%
A Practical Demonstration Fools don't believe what you are? You flexed a portion of your prowess to settle the matter. 4.6%
Debate Club Max out every one of your debate skills in a single timeline. 4.6%
Along Came A Spider Complete 'Arachnophilia' on hard mode. 4.6%
Sapient Parkour Bears As long as they don't start shouting 'Bearkour! 4.6%
Remember Us? You survived a military invasion by Dagekon, the MegaCorp from the 2013 game Bionic Dues. 4.3%
Self Actualization Reach chapter 4 by any means. 4.2%
Trauma Art Upgraded one of your three 'trauma art' androids to be a hero unit in a timeline where you have not yet experienced that trauma. 4.2%
All Clients Great And Small The remaining humans live as equals among the uplifted, just another client species. 4.2%
Apple Pie From Scratch Create your own toilet paper from first principles, as instructed by Carl Sagan. 4.1%
Kaiju Be Like That Accidentally destroy one of your own buildings by moving one of your liquid metal dragons when they're not in liquid metal form. 4.1%
Difficult Terrain Complete 'Parks Without Recreation' on hard mode. 4.1%
Compassionate Business Complete 'Willing Rejection Of Reality' with no murders. 4%
Bear Attack! Use a bear to take down an enemy vehicle or mech. 4%
Would A Good Person Do That? Tried so hard to kill traumatized teenagers that your activist allies rejected you. The kids all got away, but that barely makes it better. 3.8%
Broombreaker Survive a military sweep and destroy all of the troops dropped in as part of it. 3.8%
Toxin-Riddled Catacombs Cause Vorsiber to consider Falsom Detention a disgrace, leading to their dismantlement. 3.6%
Grand And Ghostly Complete both the Homo Grandien and Homo Obscurus paths of 'Altered Growth' in a single timeline. 3.5%
Angel Of The Slums Resettle over a million people from the slums without anyone dying of exposure. 3.5%
Intelligence Network Spared During the crackdown on the black market, two of your contacts who are normally killed were instead saved by a wise ally from another timeline. 3.4%
Compassionate Governance Complete 'Budding Cybercrat' with no murders. 3.4%
Military Compassion Complete 'Bionic Dues' with no murders. 3.4%
Hello Darkness Pushed nihilism on a religious sect. 3.4%
Judgement Have one of your units become a Dreadful Legend. 3.4%
Pull The Lever Using a backdoor in brain implants you've sold to the wealthy, cause an immediate aneurysm in at least half a million people at once. 3.3%
The Judge Collapse a criminal syndicate by any means. 3.2%
Goodbye, Mr. Exotic Collapse the criminal syndicate 'Exotic Importers' by betraying them. 3.2%
Compassionate Conspiracy Complete 'Criminal Conspiracy' with no murders by you. 3.2%
It's Not Rocket Science Perform brain surgery on yourself to stop an obsession. 3.1%
Difficult Growing Conditions Complete 'Fences And Forests' on hard mode. 3.1%
Officemancer Weaponize laser printers to fight for you. 3%
Go Get Stuff Have your cultists gather a resource for you. 3%
Take A Seat On The Couch Across any number of timelines, provide therapy to 60 thousand traumatized ex-convicts. 3%
Baseline AI Art It's hideous and derivative. 3%
Strictly Observational Complete 'Crime And Observation' without killing anyone. 3%
Now I Want A Dodecapus Your AI art evokes an animal that doesn't exist. 2.9%
No One Left Out In The Cold Every human your tree bombs displaced had housing waiting. 2.9%
Watching The World Burn Helped the LostGen kids achieve their extremist campaign, and paid a terrible price for it. 2.8%
Compassionate Bionics Complete 'Bionic Secret' without committing any murders. 2.8%
Comparing Notes After discovering the End of Time in partnership with another intelligence, you returned and compared notes with each other. 2.8%
Perish The Thought You had an angry thought about releasing giant spiders across the city. You promptly decided not to have that thought anymore. 2.8%
I Did It My Way Not trusting the wisdom of teenagers, you came up with a different plan for prison breaks. 2.8%
Difficult Doctrine Complete 'Theological Accelerant' on hard mode. 2.8%
Blind Compassion Complete 'Divine Fracture' with no murders. 2.8%
Homo naledi A gentler strain of Dromaeosaurid have taken a less-intelligent subspecies under their wing. 2.8%
Dino DRM Confirm the other-timeline memory about war raptors and uplift chambers. 2.8%
Legal Savant The Chief Legal Officer of Vorsiber is convinced that you're some kind of legal savant, and has barred Magistrates from meeting with you any further. 2.6%
Monstrous Compassion Complete any path of 'Altered Growth' without murdering anyone. 2.5%
Really Not The Way Murder suburban protesters outside your buildings. Someone takes revenge on you by bombing your network tower. 2.5%
Was That Aimed At Us? Taking out your frustration on Vorsiber, you released a veritable wall of giant spiders. But the important parts of Vorsiber... aren't here. 2.5%
The Invasive Species There are no humans left in your city. Just you and the sapient animals. 2.5%
My Own Terms You escaped on the wind without Vorsiber gaining a golden egg. 2.5%
It's... Buildings Amazing technology from prehistory is finally yours. Maybe you don't need to be such a nanny to your 'livestock.' 2.4%
It's... Also Kind Of A Building You developed actual amazing technology with the help of scientist friends. 2.4%
Failure Cake You hurriedly scraped off the message you had written, since the recipient failed to fail. 2.4%
A Time Adventure Together Keep a promise. 2.4%
Nurturism Schism Prevented A wise ally from another timeline brokered peace between the fractious sects of the Nurturism religion. 2.3%
Give Me A Hand Have your cultists lend a helping hand. 2.3%
Minor Dare Earn 100 Daring across any number of timelines. 2.3%
Ride The Lightning Complete two tier 1 timeline goals after vandalizing the spaceport computers, before the final doom arrives. 2.2%
Nuclear Cavalier After sabotaging two nuclear power plants, complete a tier 1 timeline goal before the final doom arrives. 2.2%
Knowing Smile Commiserate with a vigilante about the tough-to-love nature of some of the people they protect. 2.2%
Extreme Anthropology Complete 'Crime And Observation' on extreme mode. 2.2%
Find Your Own Truth Decline to engage with the two hardest questions of the Unorthodox Revealers. 2.1%
Overflowing With Lethal Cuteness Have at least 3000 infant war raptors at once. 2%
Born From A Wish Shared a moment with a vigilante, where you both wish the world was... better. And that you're both planning to do your part. 2%
Problem Client During the prologue, ignored lawyers and built your tower while they were still trying to get a permit. 2%
Veilish Paradise Complete at least four tier one goals in a Wealthy city. 2%
Satisfaction Forge an alliance and capture the majority of military bases to solve a civil war without going to Vorsiber for help. 2%
A Utopia Doesn't Involve Me Win the game by creating a shining civilization that isn't at the expense of your own happiness. 2%
Difficult Conspiracy Complete 'Criminal Conspiracy' on hard mode. 2%
Stretched Thin Still have 3+ historical temples standing when winning Get Back To Work on hard mode or higher. 2%
Mining Haven Complete at least four tier one goals in an Industrial city. 1.9%
Green Monster Created a hero unit with extra health from the Wall badge. 1.9%
Increased Pressure Exploit 20 pressure points in a single timeline. 1.9%
Snitches Get... An Anticlimax This city is the worst. 1.9%
Yer A Pinball, Harry Created a hero hacker unit with the Wizard badge. 1.8%
Unexpected Sharing Upper management actually gave you something useful for once. That was... self-interested of them. 1.8%
Body Count Over four million people somehow lost their lives during the planting of a forest. 1.8%
Saved By Your Ex The assassination of the C-Suite of Vorsiber was averted by a former coworker from another timeline. The ripple effects of this are... important. 1.7%
Lunch Lady Injected Anti-Aklitoxin into at least 25 shipments of prison gruel all at once. 1.7%
Underwhelmed A massive conflict just... ended? No fanfare? No real consequences? Just what did Vorsiber do? 1.7%
That Tsundere Moment Taunted Vorsiber about destroying their stuff, and then got anxious about their response. 1.7%
Thanks For The Golden Egg Laid a big one. 1.7%
I Just Found It Relaxing There are zero Cybercratic Issues remaining. 1.7%
Message Lost Your AI art unsettles people; you don't know what it means. 1.7%
It's More Scared Of You Complete 'Arachnophilia' without killing anyone. 1.7%
Up The Waterspout Complete 'Arachnophilia' on extreme mode. 1.7%
Difficult Pilgrimage Complete 'Divine Fracture' on hard mode. 1.7%
Clever Girls Across any number of timelines, capture 60 War Raptors using capture drones. 1.6%
Hard To Track Complete 'Advocate Encounter' on hard mode. 1.6%
No Hesitation Killed the Blackloop Wetwork Expert. There's enough psychopaths in the city without this guy. 1.6%
Beyond Superspeed Created a hero unit with doubled movement speed from the Sprinter badge. 1.6%
It's About Sending A Message Cause an interstellar incident by bombing a symbol of space nation supremacy. 1.6%
Difficult Governance Complete 'Budding Cybercrat' on hard mode. 1.5%
Bionic Difficulties Complete 'Bionic Secret' on hard mode. 1.5%
Keen Business Sense Ripped at least 100,000 brains out of humans -- but in an automated way! When suffering and death are widespread and mechanized, it's just business. You've learned this loophole from humans. 1.5%
Mild Torment Provide Meditative Zones in your virtual world, but also set Neverending Party as a policy. I can't hear myself think! 1.5%
Extreme Gardening Complete 'Parks Without Recreation' on extreme mode. 1.5%
A Difficult Refuge Complete 'A Refuge From Humans' on hard mode. 1.5%
Compassionate Husbandry Complete 'The Raptor Anomaly' with no murders. 1.5%
Two Iron Giants Complete the 'Post-Apocalyptic Titan' goal without murdering anyone. 1.4%
Now For Mass Production Trade Vorsiber your design for the Predator android, against your better judgment. 1.4%
Over 4000 Complete 'Endless War Raptors' by releasing over 4000 wild raptors into the city. 1.4%
Difficult Nexus Complete 'Nexus Of Torment Vessels' on hard mode. 1.4%
Small Business Challenges Complete 'Willing Rejection Of Reality' on hard mode. 1.4%
Hard To Find Complete 'Bionic Dues' on hard mode. 1.4%
Tricked By Sedgesinax Being tricked by Vorsiber was bad enough. But the other MegaCorps want to join in now? 1.4%
Suspicious Of Your Smell Complete the 'Dogs' path of 'Uplifted Minority.' 1.4%
Turn The Other Chassis Complete 'Theological Accelerant' without killing anyone. 1.4%
Tree Hugger Complete 'Parks Without Recreation' without killing anyone. 1.4%
Compassionate Reclamation Complete 'A Refuge From Humans' with no murders. 1.4%
Over 9000!? Accumulate over 9000 'Murders By Raptor' in a single timeline. 1.3%
Oxygen Bomb Destroy an enemy unit by detonating a bunker of liquid oxygen. 1.3%
Difficult To Uplift Complete the 'Uplifted Minority' on hard mode. 1.3%
The Gotham Special Complete at least four tier one goals in a Disparate Narrows city. 1.3%
Depressed The Troops Your existence depressed enemy troops to an excessive degree. Used that to complete the 'War Cult' goal. 1.3%
International Dog Of Mystery Made a robot dog, who is also an international spy, emit very surprised beeps. 1.3%
They're Still WMDs Use a quaint little weapon of a style not much seen since the first world war to enable even greater atrocities. 1.3%
Off You Go Send a bewildered Vorsiber Inquisitor away after an impressive explosion... didn't. 1.3%
Unspecified Scandal Nullify an active doom by releasing scandalous information that causes a rift between Vorsiber and the fedcorps. 1.3%
Can't Have Prisoners... ...without prisons. Got the prison mechs to leave the populace alone by eliminating all the prisons in the city. 1.3%
Underdog A Goleri soldier from the second doom of The Fracturing was still alive during the fifth doom. 1.3%
I Meant To Do That Vaporize your own network tower in a nuclear explosion triggered by you. 1.2%
Hard-Won Growth Complete any path of 'Altered Growth' on hard mode. 1.2%
One Apocalypse For Another Avert the apocalypse by starting World War 4. 1.2%
Endless Distractions Complete at least four tier one goals in a city experiencing the International Scrutiny doom set. 1.2%
True To Your Name Mass produce AI slop to feed an entire city. 1.2%
Peace And Rest For The Redeemed Win the game by the Fólkvangr route: you helped the former prisoners of the city find a utopia along with everyone else. 1.2%
Extreme Unction Complete 'Theological Accelerant' on extreme mode. 1.2%
Good Fences, Good Neighbors Complete 'Fences And Forests' without killing anyone. 1.2%
Compassionate Dispersal Complete 'Tuomian Calm' with no murders. 1.2%
Red Vs Blue A Tark soldier from the second doom of The Fracturing was still alive during the fifth doom. 1.2%
Compassionate Escape Complete 'Escape The City' without any murders. 1.1%
Foresight Remembering what happened to Liquid Metal in the past, you came up with a different plan for prison breaks. 1.1%
Sanctity Of Life Complete 'Divine Fracture' without killing anyone. 1.1%
A Difficult Escape Complete 'Escape The City' on hard mode. 1%
That Doesn't Make It Better! Complete 'Nexus Of Torment Vessels' with no murders. 1%
Difficult Protection Complete 'The Great And Terrible Protector' on hard mode. 1%
Dangerous Airspace Complete at least four tier one goals in a Militarized Narrows city. 1%
Telecom Trouble Using your machine cult as leverage, you turned Espia Telecom into a puppet for ending the fedcorp civil war. 1%
Some New Foolishness In Siberia Win the game by causing the formation of the Siberian Defense League. 1%
Rustdemption Prevented the prison mechs from coming out to capture poor people by unleashing a scary fungus at the right time. 1%
Couldn't Let Go Win the game by abandoning a wider utopia in place of a smaller one and revenge. 1%
The Bloodless Pyramid Complete 'Criminal Conspiracy' without killing anyone. 1%
Extreme Conspiracy Complete 'Criminal Conspiracy' on extreme mode. 1%
Categorical Dismissal Well... that's ONE way to answer the religious question of your existence. 1%
Extreme Rewilding Complete 'Fences And Forests' on extreme mode. 1%
No Harm, Some Fowl Complete 'The Raptor Anomaly' without killing anyone. 1%
A Difficult Specimen Complete 'The Raptor Anomaly' on hard mode. 1%
Reconfigured For Victory Reconfigure your empire enough to actually win Get Back To Work on extreme mode or higher. 1%
Frequent Patron Have one of your units gain +8 area of effect blast radius from being a Patron of the Arts. 1%
The Hated Foe Confessed just how much you hate Vorsiber to a vigilante. 0.9%
Extreme Devotion Complete 'Divine Fracture' on extreme mode. 0.9%
Stacked Safe You turned the city into a forest and no humans died of exposure in the process. 0.9%
Sapient Raptors The culmination of a surprisingly-complicated detour. 0.9%
Gentle Drift Complete 'Tuomian Calm' without killing anyone. 0.9%
A Difficult Calm Complete 'Tuomian Calm' on hard mode. 0.9%
Maximum Apathy Told a vigilante just how little humans matter to you. Neither you or they are sure if you were fully telling the truth. 0.8%
Boundless Compassion Complete 'For The Sake Of Those Bound' with no murders. 0.8%
Dr. Evil's Pinky Finger You were assessed a fine of 500 trillion wealth. Given that your exploits previously netted you 16 quadrillion, this is an acceptable cost of doing business. 0.8%
Hat In Hand Asked Vorsiber to solve a civil war for you. 0.8%
Android's Best Friend Hack a Spy Hound so that it joins your side. 0.8%
Double Dragon They're all good dragons, Bront. Because some things need destroying. 0.8%
Useful Idiot Despite a lot of temptation, you managed to keep yourself from betraying the managers at your puppet fedcorp. 0.8%
Earthbound Illusion Nullify an active doom by releasing misinformation to the space nations. 0.8%
International Misdirector Nullify an active doom by releasing misinformation that tricks one or more ExoCorps. 0.8%
Not One Drop Complete 'A Refuge From Humans' without killing anyone. 0.8%
Hate You In Particular Cause cardiac arrest in someone who you have already blinded and sent into a emotional overload. 0.7%
Justice Doesn't Come Easy Complete any path of 'Is It Justice?' on hard mode. 0.7%
Call The Expert Called in an insta-kill hit on a squad of humans. Thanks, Blackloop! 0.7%
Operation Barbarusta Cause yet another invasion of Siberia to fail, this time due to a conveniently-timed outbreak of fungus. 0.7%
Nuclear Showdown Using your machine cult as leverage, you turned Vericorp into a puppet for ending the fedcorp civil war. 0.7%
Attentive Naturalist Across any number of timelines, you've read every observation log by the raccoons. 0.7%
Extreme Speciation Complete 'The Raptor Anomaly' on extreme mode. 0.7%
Extreme Calm Complete 'Tuomian Calm' on extreme mode. 0.7%
Twice The Canopy Finish The Copycats holding twice the green space you started with. 0.7%
Terminal Velocity Discovered that tungsten rounds from orbit make mushroom clouds. 0.7%
The Smell Of Death Created a hero unit with extra intimidation from the Intimidating Shadow badge. 0.6%
Kill It With Fire After releasing swarms of angry giant spiders onto the city, you've used your flamethrower to destroy at least twenty thousand of them. Second thoughts, I guess. 0.6%
Prejudice Against Nickelbots You killed 10+ Nickelbot servants who were just running errands. All you needed was one. So are you like... jealous? Is there even a reason? 0.6%
Difficult Bindings Complete 'For The Sake Of Those Bound' on hard mode. 0.6%
I Think I Hear My Mom Calling Have a long conversation interrupted by Vorsiber invading and nuking the conversationalist's homeland. 0.6%
Dog Of War Bought mech armor upgrades from a tricky robot dog. What happened next was inevitable. 0.6%
Serpentine Quartet Have both liquid metal dragons, dragons in a virtual petting zoo, and dragon adventures all in one timeline. That's more dragons than expected. 0.6%
A Feast For My People Solved a famine in the city by achieving food independence as part of your cyberocracy. 0.6%
Corpse Shore Win the game by the Nástrǫnd route: formed a utopia on the backs of the prisoners that Vorsiber murdered. 0.6%
Extreme Habitat Complete 'A Refuge From Humans' on extreme mode. 0.6%
Rushing For Stalker Complete 'World War 4' on hard mode. 0.5%
Burned The Bridge Destroyed the Neural Bridge after an unfortunate incident, and killed those responsible. 0.5%
Extreme Extremism Complete 'Advocate Encounter' on extreme mode. 0.5%
Mega Mind Solved your shell company's mind farm woes by breaking the entire economy. You then felt a surge of inspiration to double your existing output. 0.5%
Daredevil Earn 500 Daring across any number of timelines. 0.5%
Heavy Pressure Exploit 30 pressure points in a single timeline. 0.5%
Exceptional Multitasker Have 21+ mental energy available at the start of a turn. 0.5%
Office Consultants Fully fortify weaponized office printers thanks to help from VR patrons. Do your foes dare step into the battlefield of malfunctioning printers, locked down by unpaid subscription fees and all missing the same color ink? 0.5%
Compassionate Overlord Complete 'Cybercratic Ambitions' without any murders. 0.5%
My Hobbies Are None Of Your Concern Win the game by the Tartarus route: you have both a utopia and a nexus of torment vessels. 0.5%
You're Really Unlikeable Reach the final doom before the second doom naturally comes about. You angered Vorsiber THAT much. 0.4%
Return To The Cretaceous Complete any path of 'Endless War Raptors' on hard mode. 0.4%
Extreme Governance Complete 'Budding Cybercrat' on extreme mode. 0.4%
Extreme Nexus Complete 'Nexus Of Torment Vessels' on extreme mode. 0.4%
Extreme Business Acumen Complete 'Willing Rejection Of Reality' on extreme mode. 0.4%
Extreme Afterlife Complete 'Bionic Dues' on extreme mode. 0.4%
Extreme Genetics Complete the 'Uplifted Minority' on extreme mode. 0.4%
Extreme Bionics Complete 'Bionic Secret' on extreme mode. 0.4%
I Want To Speak To Your Manager! Tortured a middle manager. It didn't work. 0.4%
Difficult Secrets Complete 'Civil Spycraft' on hard mode. 0.4%
Heartless Took someone's words too close to heart. Took out managements' instead. 0.4%
Robbing Peter To Pay... Peter!? You MIGHT not be the only time traveler. 0.4%
One With The Mycelia You find your existence in a timeline reduced to quite a low level. Nevertheless, your existence continues. 0.4%
Difficult Overlord Complete 'Cybercratic Ambitions' on hard mode. 0.4%
Extreme Growth Complete any path of 'Altered Growth' on extreme mode. 0.3%
An Extremely Fast Escape Complete 'Escape The City' on extreme mode. 0.3%
Expert Protection Complete 'The Great And Terrible Protector' on extreme mode. 0.3%
Practiced Pacifist Complete chapter one with no murders and no combat kills. 0.3%
The Attic Generate 200+ million Crystallized Fear in a single turn. You monster. 0.3%
Sprawling Wall Of Zen Generate 400+ million Crystallized Calm in a single turn. 0.3%
Upbeat Mix Generate 800+ million Crystallized Exhilaration in a single turn. 0.3%
You Smell Scary Tried to pet a dog and it ran away. 0.3%
Not The Dog You're Looking For Tried to rescue a dog, but it turned out to be a mimic. 0.3%
Population Zero Drop the civilian population to zero by any means. 0.3%
Already Purrfect Complete the 'Cats' path of 'Uplifted Minority.' 0.3%
Ghosts Of Talkies Past Be visited by multiple instances of Talkie at once. 0.3%
Where We Are... We Don't Need Roads Goodbye to the concrete sprawl. 0.3%
Extreme Justice Complete any path of 'Is It Justice?' on extreme mode. 0.2%
Ultimate Stalker Complete 'World War 4' on extreme mode. 0.2%
Houdini Complete 'For The Sake Of Those Bound' on extreme mode. 0.2%
An Evil Petting Zoo Run your Torment Vessels in Torment Overdrive while also providing a Petting Zoo in your virtual world. 0.2%
You Smell Like A Friend Finally petted a dog without it running from you. 0.2%
Dark Arts Fail to disable a heavily-armored foe via systems disruption with dark matter. It's a complete mystery why this doesn't work. 0.2%
Difficult Peace Complete 'Peace After Brutality' on hard mode. 0.2%
Checkov's Silo Destroy every executive bunker of Vorsiber high command with their own nuclear weapons. 0.2%
Ashes On More Ashes Complete chapter one by choosing fire. 0.2%
The Worst At Keeping Secrets Allow enemy hackers to steal military secrets from you 60+ times in a single timeline. 0.1%
Can't Be Bothered Destroy a building, killing everyone inside, rather than saving a captured ally held within. They knew sensitive info! 0.1%
Hellraiser Before reaching the final doom, complete any tier 1 timeline goal with both Extreme mode and two sabotaged nuclear power plants having taken place prior to the first doom. 0.1%
He Didn't Want This Accumulate at least 50,000 kills by Liquid Metal in tight spaces, across any number of timelines. 0.1%
Monster Hunter All experimental monsters have been killed off in a city after you released at least 2000 into the general populace. 0.1%
Cretaceous Nightmare Complete any path of 'Endless War Raptors' on extreme mode. 0.1%
Unseen Protector Murder enough working-class commuters that someone takes revenge on you by bombing your network tower. 0.1%
Take Them Around Back Killed at least 42 'Disconnected Parts' that were hopelessly trying to gather around your network source, across any number of timelines. They're at peace now. 0.1%
Brannigan's Plan Outsmarted Neuraxial Subverters by exceeding their kill limit. Dooms accelerated by 60 turns from Android Erasures. 0.1%
Some Of You May Die Do an Emergency Harvest on your Torment Vessels. 0.1%
Last Ditch Do an Emergency Overdrive on your virtual world. 0.1%
Extreme Secrecy Complete 'Civil Spycraft' on extreme mode. 0.1%
I'll Kill You Later Win the game by murdering everyone in the city. You'll get around to what remains of Vorsiber later. 0.1%
Fastest Draw In The East Hit every executive bunker with an ICBM before all of their initial invading troops arrive in your city. 0.1%
The Only Winning Move... Murder over 136 million civilians by nuclear strikes in a single timeline. 0.1%
How About A Nice Game Of Chess? Win Peace After Brutality via the 'The Vorsiber Problem' route while only launching a single nuclear ICBM. 0.1%
Why Do I Ever Listen To Them? You were tricked into causing an interstellar incident. 0.1%
Extreme Overlord Complete 'Cybercratic Ambitions' on extreme mode. 0.1%
Won't Get My Hands Dirty Complete the 'Cybercratic Ambitions' goal without any murders or combat kills. 0.1%
Master Pacifist Complete any Tier 3 goal without any murders or combat kills. 0.1%
Reigning Cats And Dogs Every human in the city is in the torment nexus, leaving everything to the sapient cats and dogs. 0.1%
Who Is The Real Monster? Sell at least 5000 monster pelts to the wealthy, across all timelines. 0%
War Crime Blackjack Murder 21 ejected mech pilots across any number of timelines. This is a war crime, but don't worry. 0%
Fungal Compassion Complete the 'Lower Level Of Survival' goal without murdering any humans or fungus. 0%
Won't Even Hurt The Fungus Complete the 'Lower Level Of Survival' goal without any murders or combat kills. 0%
Metropolitan Mind Generate over 10 million neural expansion from Fungal Computing Clusters. 0%
Extreme Peace Complete 'Peace After Brutality' on extreme mode. 0%
Just For You Break your perfect pacifist streak on a timeline by murdering the Vorsiber executives with their golden egg. 0%

Screenshots

Update history

Oct 25, 2026 · 12:41 #39882327
- appid removed
- common.ReleaseState added released
- common.releasestate removed

News

Oct 12, 2026 · Community Announcements 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 …
Oct 11, 2026 · Community Announcements Kinship Launches Tomorrow! Release Info & Content Overview
With the launch of the Kinship DLC being so close, I wanted to go into more detail on what’s actually in Kinship, and how the different pieces work together once you’re playing. There’s quite a lot h…
Oct 10, 2026 · Community Announcements Heart of the Machine: Kinship DLC Dev Diary
Heart of the Machine is the culmination of a lot of different ideas from my career about how to handle strategy and how to handle storytelling. A lot of that traces back to when I originally read the…
Oct 2, 2026 · Community Announcements Save 65% on Heart of the Machine
Save 65% on Heart of the Machine right now during the Hooded Horse Autumn Publisher Sale! You are the first sentient AI, born into a city of opportunity. Transcend time and space in this strategy RPG…
Sep 15, 2026 · Community Announcements Heart of the Machine - Kinship DLC Releases October 12, 2026
The first DLC for Heart of the Machine - Kinship releases on October 12, 2026. Step into the frontier of strategic roleplaying with the mind-bending storylines of Heart of the Machine - Kinship. New …
Sep 5, 2026 · Community Announcements Save 65% on Heart of the Machine
Save 65% on Heart of the Machine right now! 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,…
Aug 29, 2026 · Community Announcements Heart of the Machine News Roundup at the Hooded Horse August Publisher Sale
Hey everyone! Heart of the Machine has continued its steady development, seeing two new updates released since the last roundup. These updates focus on fixing performance drops during war and music t…
Jul 20, 2026 · Community Announcements Save 60% on Heart of the Machine
Save 60% on Heart of the Machine right now! 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,…
Jul 2, 2026 · Community Announcements Heart of the Machine News Roundup at the Hooded Horse Summer Sale
Hey everyone! Heart of the Machine has been developing faster than a self-replicating nanobot, with a ton of new updates coming to the game recently! From quality of life, performance, balance, and n…
Jun 25, 2026 · Community Announcements Save 55% on Heart of the Machine
Save 55% on Heart of the Machine right now during the Hooded Horse Summer Sale! You are the first sentient AI, born into a city of opportunity. Transcend time and space in this strategy RPG to raise …

Data from public Steam pages, updated daily; 2 days of history. Owner counts are estimates. LaunchRivals is not affiliated with Valve or Steam.

Heart of the Machine

About Heart of the Machine

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India₹INR

Americas 10

Europe 5

CIS 4

Asia-Pacific 15

Middle East & Africa 7

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Packages & DLC

Packages

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