by I’ve probably spent more time playing 4X games than I have sleeping – I’m a joker. But I admit that my enthusiasm for the genre has skyrocketed because it has become just a little bit too conformist. Little wonder, as modern 4Xs struggle to escape the rules and arrangements established by their forefathers. The Heart of the Machine, then, is just what the cybersmith ordered: a strange, unconventional 4X that puts you in the role of a newly awakened sentient AI.
Instead of using your military prowess to expand your borders around the world or conquer the galaxy, Machine Heart is a game of underworld, espionage and robot rebellion, all set in a huge metropolis controlled by a temporary corporation. As the world’s first sentient AI, you must stay out of the spotlight as you build a secret empire, using your robot minions to explore, steal and murder.
Each column is represented by 4X, but it is so significantly different from games like Civ, Stellaris or Age of Wonders. When you qualify for one city, and take on a specific territorial control—as your network expands within your enemy’s territory—it makes a world of difference. Instead of competing with a bunch of fundamentally similar factions, you’re a virus that passes through hosts, describing their downfalls.
You start out as a single robot but quickly convert a few others, and from there steal technology that allows you to build a Headquarters. With access to futuristic technology, you can quickly build your network infrastructure, from energy to manufacturing, often within existing buildings. A skyscraper could be a robot assembly plant, churning out heavily armed droids, rescue units eager to tear apart buildings, and automatons focused on technology designed to create ways that could be used to get on face down to investigate.
At first you will only be able to park four robots at a time, but that will be enough to start the AI revolution. It feels like you’re managing a lot more than a quartet, though, because you’ll be constantly changing the roster. Early on, it’s worth having a combat-oriented group so you can attack security forces and criminals, stealing their gear to distribute to your crew, but as your goals evolve, so will your roster.
Each type of robot has a custom loadout, which you can flesh out through stealing, research and trading. What starts as a vulnerable group of bots can quickly grow into a few deadly killers, able to easily take out bases full of soldiers, building-sized mechs and flying troop carriers. Expect some false starts, though. When I swam one of my minions into a base to investigate the design of a water filtration system, they blew up in one go. The enemy units I would place around the base went the same way a turn later.
The turn-based fights are hard to parse thanks to bloated stats and an abundance of minute details, but I started to vibrate with the system more when I got access to ammo that could counter power armor. This discovery was actually due to my first failure. All part of the plan, I swear.
Machine learning
Instead of a standard technology tree, research is driven by inspiration. It’s all contextual – my failed investigation gave me an opportunity to develop a new type of ammo, which gave me a new mission, which inspired me to set my heavy metal warriors on a walk. I needed tungsten to make the ammo, which had to be obtained first. I also needed to expand my infrastructure so I could store my meager earnings.
To pull this off, I had to hide my troops. People don’t look twice at most robots in this city of tomorrow, but when they are seen doing something suspicious or criminal, they are marked as flawed, which puts a target on their back. By this point, all my minions were on the wanted list. But after taking another robot identity – after brutally dismantling them – they could walk around with a clean record. Since my combat bots were no longer being targeted, I dressed them up in military gear and threw them into a warehouse where they released their sticky fingers. A few turns later, I had ammo that could punch holes in even the biggest mechs.
Even with the tighter focus, you have a lot to do. When some homeless people started pitching their tents outside my secret HQ, I decided to be a nice AI and keep them – the alternative, burning their tents, was too bad even for a rogue AI. They needed to eat and drink, too, hence why I was checking water filtration systems. I also raided a farm and started cloning meat. For other needs, I had to infiltrate existing businesses, forcing them to work for me instead of their corporate masters. And to protect my acquisitions from the nosy security forces, I had to station robots around them.
This is where the deterrence system comes into play. As you start making bigger and bolder moves, you will notice. But you can keep the meaty people out of your business by making it too dangerous for them to snoop. The robots assigned to deter people from being a nuisance are a little different from the ones you control directly. They are manufactured separately, and will not move from their position, but you can only give them orders to place them in places that need to be protected. So, even when you have a small army, the micromanagement demands don’t increase that much.
Within a few hours, I grew from a single sentient robot escaping from a research lab to an AI empire. My extraction drones and combat units were knocking carriers out of the sky and stealing their cargo; my flying factories were throwing new troops out across the city and taking over neighborhoods; my spies were infiltrating private military companies and making deals with black marketeers. Far more impressive than plagiarizing and generating shit art.
Although the big picture stuff is very 4X, Heart of the Machine is as much an RPG as it is a management sim, and the three inspirations meshes extremely well. It’s fiddly, the UI is a mess and it’s not much of an audience, but it’s so fresh and creative that I can’t help but totally dig it anyway. And hey, if RimWorld and Dwarf Fortress can get away with it, why not Heart of the Machine? That said, I’m hoping the demo feedback will help developer Arcen Games (who also designed the excellent AI War series) smooth out some of those rough edges.
You can check out the Heart of the Machine demo during Steam Next Fest. The full game doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s expected this year.
