4X RPG 'Heart of the Machine' from Arcen Games (AI War) releases January 2025

By Liam Dawe - 3 December 2024 at 2:14 pm UTC

Arcen Games creators of AI War, AI War 2, The Last Federation and other games have announced their new sci-fi 4X RPG Heart of the Machine will launch January 31st, 2025. There's also a new demo available that you can try right now.

More about it: "Heart of the Machine sees players take the role of the world’s first sentient AI, born into a city filled with endless opportunities (and despair). Raise an army of robots to rule by force, become a benevolent machine overlord, or explore a constellation of alternative paths – players must strive to find their place amidst a crumbling society in desperate need of saving (from itself). Whether you rally the underclasses to fight against corporate tyranny, create shell companies and engage in corporate espionage, or just experiment on people to further your goals, the possibilities are endless."

Check out the new trailer:

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They're no longer doing Native Linux support though, as they announced back in 2023 since Proton worked better for them.

Do you think this will be one you'll be picking up?

Heart of the Machine

Official links and where to buy from:

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.

Tags: Proton, 4X, Demo, GOG, Indie Game, RPG, Steam, Strategy, Upcoming | Apps: Heart of the Machine

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About the author - Liam Dawe

I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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3 comments

Philadelphus Dec 3, 2024

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It's on my wishlist from hearing about it before, as the idea sounds interesting. I'll give the demo a try and we'll see how it goes.

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Purple Library Guy Dec 3, 2024

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Dunno. I've had mixed feelings about a couple of Arcen's previous games. I seem to have liked them better in theory than in practice. I played The Last Federation for a while, and had some fun, but never finished a game because . . . like, you clearly had an overall objective, and you were like researching technologies and stuff, but I found it hard to tell if I was doing well or badly. It was like, OK, I've done some cool starship fights, and I'm taking in enough money to keep the operation going, but is my tech progress fast enough or is it too slow and I'm going to find myself behind the 8 ball in a while? Dunno. Am I making the kind of progress I need on the diplomatic front? Hard to tell. Are the moves I'm making even the kinds of ones I need to be making to get where I'm supposed to end up? Not sure. So my play sort of petered out.

And AI Wars I started a game and kind of bounced before I really got going. But in theory it seems like totally my kind of game and lots of people like it, so probably I'll try again, maybe after watching a video about it or something.

So their new one . . . maybe. I'll wait and see what people say.

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hell0 Dec 3, 2024

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Dunno. I've had mixed feelings about a couple of Arcen's previous games. I seem to have liked them better in theory than in practice.

Fairly accurate description of my feelings after playing the demo (older version mind you).

Game premise was really interesting, but execution was lacklustre. For example the way to get some resources is to attack and take over the corresponding production building then defend it. It works, but I was expecting something more... intelligent ? Like being able to covertly control the financial system of a big company to buy the land then erase it from their record.

I was hoping for a novel blend of stealth, economy, strategy and story. But got served a pretty average RTS.

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