Why is everything rolling sideways on my desk all of a sudden? What’s this mysterious force, dragging my chair towards the wall? Why are all the cars in the vicinity tumbling and rolling in the direction of *checks press release* …North Carolina, USA? It can only be gravitational disturbance caused by the impending 1.0 release of a massive strategy project. This time it’s Heart of the Machine, a “4X-style”, “dimension-busting” sci-fi game developed by Arcen Games and published by Hooded Horse.
I’m always up for a new Hooded Horse gig, but I am still trying to figure out spacewar in Terra Invictus. And now, ladies and gentlebots, you would have me contend with a game in which I play a super-advanced AI trying to conquer a grim future civilisation from the inside. A game that will last an estimated 90-175 hours. A game that boasts of “a mind-boggling array of goals, story-threads, and opportunities for players to pursue as they seek to find their place amidst a crumbling society in desperate need of saving from itself.”
Still, at least this is the fun kind of AI, the homely 80s action movie breed of AI that simply wishes to weaponise bees, build android armies and hack fortified skyscrapers. Not the actually existing, present-day kind of AI that consists of a billion typewriter monkeys who want to summarise your emails so your boss can make your labour 1.2% more profitable, at least till the world runs out of silicon, water and fossil fuels. I exaggerate! I hope I’m exaggerating. Besides, there probably are typewriter monkeys in Heart of the Machine, which also promises “parkour bears”, velociraptors and cat palaces.
“The 1.0 update will usher in a whole new ending, with four potential variants that involve everything from wormholes to last-minute betrayals, to players winning control over the entire city,” explains the press release. The developer has a longer account of the changes (and post-1.0 plans) on Steam, which is quite interesting. I wasn’t expecting a Fire Emblem: Three Houses comparison. You can also find the game on GOG and Epic Games Store.
