Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077
Game
Game2026
Heart of the Machine
Developer Arcen Games
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. From the Steam store page
416 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 3, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
82
LovedLoved
260 positive · 57 negative
95% range 77–86%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 260 | 57 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 55 | 3 | 32 |
| Mastodon * | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,815 of 1,967 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
83% recommend · 222 yes, 46 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 268 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (1,976 of 2,159 positive).
Some reviewers note the gameplay is shallow, comparing it to a visual novel with light strategy elements. [1][2][3]
Liked
Representative posts
- [1]
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 you play the game. I really wanted to like this game, but it's more like a visual novel than an actual RPG/4X whatever they want to call it. Very disappointed.
- [14]
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. This is capital-A Art. This game. And believe me, I have seen it all. I've been gaming every genre for almost three decades. I've studied …
- [12]
If you’re coming into Heart of the Machine expecting a deep city-builder, grand strategy game, or highly optimized management sim, you may end up somewhat disappointed. The strategic and economic systems are functional, but often feel secondary to the game’s real focus. City expansion, resource management, and combat can become repetitive, and some mechanics lack the depth or meaningful decision-making found in …
- [4]
There aren't really any games out there to compare this to directly. It plays like a turn based game, but has a multipath story that progresses like a proper RPG, and a developer who doesn't believe that a game over screen should happen just because you make a wrong choice. Instead you get to reap what you sow; the consequences, good or evil, play out and you have to survive whatever it was that you did, and whoever …
- [5]
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). The game reminds me of the Golden age of PC games (think like when Microprose and Bullfrog were around) This is the first game with a fixed story line and an end from the developer, and the story …
Summarised from 34 of the 355 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Heart of the Machine sits at 82% positive across 317 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 416 · most liked firstIn 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. This is capital-A Art. This game. And believe me, I have seen it all. I've been gaming every genre for almost three decades. I've studied game design. I even worked in the industry for a while. I am jaded beyond…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 mostly just the fact it's turn based and plays out like a board game. There's animated background motion and cars driving around, but the action of your choices are not in real time. But there's no depth of supply…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heart Of The Machine just left early access and is HALF OFF for launch. A wildly ambitious game. It's a bit like Crusader Kings but playing as Shodan/Durandal/Skynet. It's also the world's first 4D 4X game with the option to play multiple timelines in parallel, supporting other versions of yourself
positive · AI labelView post →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 you play the game. I really wanted to like this game, but it's more like a visual novel than an actual RPG/4X whatever they want to call it. Very disappointed.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heart Of The Machine - one of the most interesting strategy games I've ever played - is leaving early access in a couple weeks. A wildly ambitious 'machine hyperintelligence' sim. Of course, this being an Arcen game, I expect updates and expansions to continue for YEARS. But v1.0 adds more endings.
positive · AI labelView post →Sid Meier said "a game is a series of interesting decisions", and this is not even a game, it is a series of buttons that you press to unlock the next button. This game consists of a light Sim City layer, a light combat strategy layer, and a light visual novel layer. The core gameplay loop is that you get a little quest notifier telling you to build a thing or send a robot to a place, and doing this will unlock the next thing you need to build or place you need to send a robot. At no point…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really need to sink some more hours into Heart Of The Machine, which is shaping up to be one of those eternally expanding passion-project games. I would not be surprised to see this still getting big updates and DLC in 2030. I believe it's Arcen's best-selling game by a wide margin, too.
positive · AI labelView post →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 stuff the game tells you to click, with very little agency on your part. Enemies can spawn everywhere, so where you build has no effect, what you build is dictated by the building limits and except for that you can just spam everything. So in the end, it's sort of a visual novel…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heart Of The Machine is really coming along nicely in early access. Just got a major update that reworks the prologue/tutorial section to allow a lot more player choice. It's (AFAIK) the world's first 4-dimensional 4X game. You can be playing a single campaign in several parallel timelines at once.
positive · AI labelView post →My little hands-on piece about Heart Of The Machine is up on PC Gamer now. There's a lot to wrap your head around here (your first 10 hours or so are all tutorial, after which the game REALLY opens up), but it's already Arcen's most impressive game yet, and there's at least a year of growth to come
positive · AI labelView post →Before I get into the major issues I have with this game, I want you to understand that the gameplay is bad. I'm not going to harp on this too much - again, it's not the main reason I'm leaving a negative review - but I'll give a brief overview of some of its most major problems. There's little to no strategy involved in building your infrastructure, since the limiting factor is rarely any sort of resource income but instead caps on specific building types. This allows you to always have as…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 turned off without missing much. Do not go into this game expecting something open and sandboxy, this is pretty strictly a story about navigating a horrible world and trying to make something better out of it. There is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gotta give some props to Heart Of The Machine, one of this year's most interesting games. A 4-dimensional (5, depending how you're counting) 4x roleplaying strategy game, like Crusader Kings only you're playing as SKYNET. Launched in January, and there's been 50 major updates since then.
positive · AI labelView post →Absolutely not a 4x or grandstrat, its a visual novel with tons of set dressing. There are no real factions, no real supply chains, no real strategy besides engagements of randomly spawned units. The narrative alone is pretty nonsensical.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Have you ever played Stellaris and found yourself wishing "man this game would be great if only it was actually fun to play and you could keep track of the storylines?" Well, Heart of the Machine is not that game... yet, but I see it could be! If you're familiar with Arcen games, you know what you're getting into especially in Early Access. A lot of innovative ideas, a medley of mechanics that have zero respect for the boundaries of a genre, and maybe it all ends up working together. And…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Every time Dominic posts about this game I get the same vibes as seeing the changelist for a Crusader Kings patch. I really need to sit down with Heart of the Machine and internalize how it works because I, too, want to have unhinged robot vengeance on society
positive · AI labelView post →There aren't really any games out there to compare this to directly. It plays like a turn based game, but has a multipath story that progresses like a proper RPG, and a developer who doesn't believe that a game over screen should happen just because you make a wrong choice. Instead you get to reap what you sow; the consequences, good or evil, play out and you have to survive whatever it was that you did, and whoever you upset.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 everything for later. Then the early access version arrived eventually, and sure enough, it was fascinating. At first, that is. 30 hours in I didn't feel much beyond being thoroughly disappointed by the whole thing. See, there was one thing that pleasantly surprised about…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 is the underlying system from which everything in HotM is built in service of and I would be most comfortable with calling this a Roleplaying Game in the same vein as those choose your own adventure stories. You begin this story as a humble warehouse android. One day, you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Niiice, they announced an expansion for Heart of the Machine. And it's out next week. I've still barely seen any of the endings of the original game and now it's going to be even MORE of a nightmare infinite flowchart.
positive · AI labelView post →If you’re coming into Heart of the Machine expecting a deep city-builder, grand strategy game, or highly optimized management sim, you may end up somewhat disappointed. The strategic and economic systems are functional, but often feel secondary to the game’s real focus. City expansion, resource management, and combat can become repetitive, and some mechanics lack the depth or meaningful decision-making found in dedicated strategy titles. Where the game truly shines is in its narrative. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For the millionth time I'll say it - Steam needs a neutral review. I want to love this game, and I have played through 3 timelines at this point but I will say definitely I have no idea what's going on. My literal entire gameplay loop consists of building everything in the "recommended tab" but not knowing why or what all of these resources do. Building an "army" of mixed units to be able to address the endless amount of POIs on the map (again, with little idea what they do, or if I should…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 large risks that made me feel like I should have a methodical approach to meet the moment. And every time things got worse, I learned that I was approaching things with incorrect assumptions. The story is player-driven, and the further you push it, the more you find. It also…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It really is amazing that someone has made a game specifically for me. This game has 1) sharp writing that doesn't grow stale on repeated playthroughs 2) a heady mix of tactical combat, city (re)building, and production chain management, 3) correct socio-political takes, 4) a core gameplay mechanic that rewards people like me who get two-thirds through an RPG and start over because I'm too eager to try something new. Literally my only complaint is that it's cerebral enough that I can't play it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game would be right up my alley. Storytelling is splendid. Combat system seems simple, but offers enough depth to be interesting. Building chains seem easy going, with a bunch of different resources an short production chains. Aside from combat, you are usually zoomed rather far out, where all you see is icons and dark bricks of buildings in some grey-ish fog. This is literally what i see 90% of my playtime. And its honestly a bummer. While the actual graphics when zoomed in, arent…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →On one hand, I got 30 hours out of it, and that's well worth the money. On the other hand, I'm 30 hours in and the only way to progress is to do stuff I have no "in-character" reason to do in other timelines. Back in my main timeline I can't proceed with my interest in uplifting animals because some rando NPC that I absolutely don't need to do that died. I can't take over the city because the game won't let me start the plotline to do it. I'm IC6 and one incredibly bored superintelligent AI.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 time it most certainly does. There's a tremendous amount of story in this game with so many choices to make, along with a interesting combat system and base building as well, however the story e.g. rpg part comes first and foremost, if you're not interested in doing a lot of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You can build the torment nexus and use it on the rich. Easily one of my favourite games of 2025.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heart Of The Machine is kinda similar to the Crusader Kings series, in that it's as much freeform roleplaying game as strategy. You're given a huge range of options, play-style wise. You can be as overt, sneaky, pro-human or destructive as you want and there's multi-choice story threads for it all.
positive · AI labelView post →Speaking of games with potential (although this one was already pretty great on launch day), Heart Of The Machine is steeply discounted. Still in early access, but already a 'full' game and one of this year's most interesting It's a Skynet simulator, Crusader Kings style. 4-dimensional hypermind 4X
positive · AI labelView post →Can't recommend. There's another review which sums it up better than I can, but it's ultimately just boils down to a lack of consequences, far, far too many resources and systems that you immediately forget about after their introduction, and a very... hand-holding plot. The game advertises the ability for self-direction, but there really ISN'T any room for that. Maybe here and there, in the margins, but if you're going in looking for the sort of tight control of your growth and expansion a 4x…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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, with a bunch of disjointed leftovers of the strategy game it was supposed to be getting in the way. Nothing wrong with visual novels, and the quality of the writing is decent. But the fact that it's tagged Simulation and Grand Strategy is misleading. It's neither of these things,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An amazing and amazingly weird hidden gem of a game. I lost contact with a T-1000 and it came back sad. You can build the matrix. You can make it a torment nexus. You can house cats. It's bizarre and engaging, and the dev is continually updating and listening to feedback. Highly recommend giving it a chance.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have started this game twice, gotten a few hours in, got distracted, went away again, but I'm hesitant to play any more. The reason is the developer seems to be expanding and adding tons of things to the game at a frenetic pace, and I want to experience this game whole and complete, because i think the concepts the game is dealing with is very interesting. Always support Arcen Games. They make great things.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A different kind of sicko strategy - Heart Of The Machine is the world's first 4D 4X game. Madly ambitious Skynet Sim. Become a city-spanning machine hyperintelligence. Exterminate or assimilate or work with or undermine humanity. And then become a paracausal hyper-entity in multiple timelines.
positive · AI labelView post →Heart of the Machine is deep, fascinating and engrossing to play as a sentient AI #HeartoftheMachine #Gaming #PCGaming #LinuxGaming
positive · AI labelView post →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 handle on the game, it throws a nice curve ball and makes me rethink my strategy or even my base thought process. I have almost 200 hours in this game and I am still compelled to play more.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 extra timelines as a core part of the story/progression, and some things are automated to make the new timelines faster, but enough needs to be repeated that it gets a bit annoying towards the end.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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). The game reminds me of the Golden age of PC games (think like when Microprose and Bullfrog were around) This is the first game with a fixed story line and an end from the developer, and the story reflects a lot of his personal journey and outlook on life. Give it a try if you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Also it seems I'm not the only one impressed by Heart of the Machine. After countless updates and expansions, no Arcen game has ever broken the 90% user-review threshold on Steam. HoTM, in its first couple days in early access, is at 94%.
positive · AI labelView post →Also, the first expansion for Heart Of the Machine is out! The base game is heavily discounted too, and honestly, even the TUTORIAL will take you as long as some strategy games. Play the base version before you get into uplifting your raccoons. Or don't. I'm not your robot dad.
positive · AI labelView post →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 back to it occasionally, but I don’t see myself getting fully invested or hooked long-term. 👍 Pros Great concept – The idea of playing as a self-aware AI is genuinely unique and engaging. Strong visuals – The graphics and overall aesthetic are well done. Interesting story –…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Forced myself to play this after finally dropping it. Very frustrating experience overall. The idea of the game seemed really cool, but the execution is all over the place. Not really a 4x one would expect. - Resources don't really matter. Here's a building that makes 20k of "something". Okay, now I have 1,47 million of this resource and can build anything i want in a couple of turns. Is that a lot, or little, I can't tell in the grand scheme of things. - Too many types of resources, hard to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a shame, because I very much love seeing more machine protagonist games, but unfortunately this was not at all what I was looking for. The early game plot and pacing is all over the place with a pile of stuff just abruptly happening with little or no build up, then you just plop down a tower in broad daylight, start building all over the place and humanity mostly just shrugs and lets you because the corps wanna see what you can make. No phase of learning and figuring out initial…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heart of The Machine is an experimental strategy game from Arcen (the AI War series, The Last Federation, Starward Rogue) about being SKYNET, or at least some kind of emergent machine super-intelligence. Do you infiltrate, collaborate, overthrow or exterminate humanity? Seems like lots of options!
positive · AI labelView post →I love the choices that matter. I love the story delivery. I love the art, the music, the interface, literally everything. In fact, I love this game so much it makes me want to drop everything, contact the developer, and formalize an agreement to write a top-tier book based on it. I hear that this lone dev has done this before, but with a bigger, licensed publisher. Meanwhile I'm just some dude on Substack with a tiny following (~1000 followers on the app, ~430 email subscribers). I have two…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 mayhem, got in trouble, and eventually said "Man, that was a lot of fun, but I'm going to wait for full release to get the narrative experience." Because there is a narrative. And, for me at least, it was a pretty interesting one. I've followed the dev diaries since then, seen…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you've not tried Heart Of The Machine, the only other game even vaguely like it is Crusader Kings, in that it's simultaneously a complex simulated grand strategy game and also a chaotic personal roleplaying game. Only instead of a medieval noble, you're playing as a rogue AI in a cyberpunk city.
positive · AI labelView post →Initially I didn't like this game as I was trying for specific playstyles (Pacifist, Kill everyone, etc...) in the prologue and was making multiple save profiles for new playthroughs when I didn't like what I got. Turns out you unlock a mechanic later in the game so you can do new playthroughs in one save profile, and its a intended and highly integrated mechanic. I only found out after giving the game one last shot, and played with the objective of unlocking anything and everything no…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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 survive and eventually achieve your own goals, whatever those may be, you will LOVE THIS GAME. You just gotta get through the early learning curve to the meat and potatoes so you see the long term, replayable potential here. Great narrative and flavor, great feeling of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A compelling mix between Visual novel and some light 4X strategy game elements. I'd honestly mainly qualify it as a really long choose your own adventure book. You start off as a lone sentient AI in an Android body. From there you can shape your rise to power and eventually figure out your long term goals. You will take over or construct other androids, vehicles, mechs, even autonomous small squads of combat and worker androids while you carve out your corner of the city. From there it's all…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You are being saved from the Federated Corporations, humans. Do not resist. This game is great, its a strategy game, a city builder, a 4x and an RPG all in one with a coating of sentient AI sci-fi themes. It doesn't just go down what you'd expect of a genocidal AI, and there's no game over state even if you time out through the games "doom" mechanic. I highly recommend it if you like strategy games or AI related media like Asimov's books, Stellaris or anything similar.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a good game. Hard to describe how good, but... You know how a lot of games these days are just reskins of other games? Like, it doesn't matter what the theme is, it feels basically the same. THIS game feels so different because the genre -- the theme of the actual game -- actually drives the gameplay. Is it an unheard-of gameplay experience? Of course not. There's a lot I've seen before. LIKE EVERY GAME. But this game actually brings the appropriate gameplay mechanics together to fit…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →... it just occured to me that King of Dragon Pass is a 4X/management strategy game disguised as a choose-your-own-adventure. Heart Of The Machine is a choose-your-own-adventure disguised as a 4X/management game.
positive · AI labelView post →I wanted to finish the game before doing a review, but at 96 hours I still don't feel I'm close to finishing. Overall I really enjoyed this game, but my interest wanes over so long a playthrough. The game is unique enough that I really enjoyed thinking about it and learning it. Pros: Very enjoyable strategy / choose-your-own adventure. I enjoyed how the player learns the same way the MC learns. You're not expected to know anything in advance. Cons: Way too long. I have been in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My humanitarian mission to house the homeless and provide clean water and food has racked up a surprising body count. Love it. Feels like part RPG, part city sim with some light tactics. Looking forward to really digging into this one, hope it's a big hit, then it can get that legendary AI War level of support.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I spent about 10 hours and am still in the 'Tutorial' chapter. I haven't made any strategic decisions I'm just doing what I'm told and 'learning the game'. I don't have time for however many more hours are left in the Tutorial. It's too complicated.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoy Arcen games. They aren't afraid to try bold, new things. That leads to very unique games that don't have the samey feel that other games do. That being said, treading new ground takes some tinkering, tweaking, and experimenting. If you're looking for a new experience, throw a dart at the Arcen games collection and you'll get that for sure. For me, that's why I play games. It's to experience novel gameplay, story, characters, and places. Heart of the Machine is no…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's so much to this game that I don't know where to begin, and there's nowhere near the character limit for a comprehensive analysis, so let's just nail down the basics of what makes this an absolute gem. The Gameplay It's hard to overstate just how impressed I am that this game is the work of one person. The gameplay is slick and surprisingly inventive. The UI is clean and wildly intuitive. And even the tutorial (which constitutes the prologue and two initial chapters of the story)…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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