The Game Census
Heart of the Machine cover art

Heart of the Machine

Arcen Games · Hooded Horse · 2026-03-06

SteamGOGEpic Games Store

RPGSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player

Releases: Jan 31, 2025 (Mac), Jan 31, 2025 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

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.

Heart of the Machine is an RPG, Simulation, and Strategy game released in 2026, priced at $29.99, with an owner estimate of 20,000 .. 50,000 and a review sentiment of Very Positive (92% of 2091 reviews).

57
playing now
92%
positive of 2.1k reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
20,000–50,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
79/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$29.99
steam price (US)

57 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 11:00 UTC (census sample)

Set in the far future, Heart of the Machine is a turn-based sci-fi 4X RPG where you play as a powerful sentient Machine Intelligence, beholden to none. Pursue whatever goal catches your eye across a multitude of playthroughs with a plethora of tools to help you achieve objectives how you’d prefer, often in surprising and unexpected ways, while overcoming those that seek to thwart you. Genetics labs, factories, nuclear silos, military complexes, and much more besides are ripe for the taking, each offering a litany of ways to accomplish your tasks, each with consequences of their own, building a(Storyline via IGDB)

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 57 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 78 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~10/week).
  • · Review velocity down 37% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (336 reviews).
  • · Top 25% of 6,161 RPG games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 42k–94k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 2,091 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$11.99-60%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $11.99 at Steam (2026-07-16)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $29.99 · on sale 115 of 179 observed days · at its all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
31531520252026Week of 2025-01-31: 315 positiveWeek of 2025-01-31: 21 negativeWeek of 2025-02-07: 127 positiveWeek of 2025-02-07: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-02-14: 105 positiveWeek of 2025-02-14: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-02-21: 35 positiveWeek of 2025-02-21: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-02-28: 12 positiveWeek of 2025-02-28: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-03-07: 12 positiveWeek of 2025-03-14: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-03-14: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-03-21: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-03-28: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-03-28: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-04-04: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-04-04: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-04-11: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-04-18: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-04-25: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-04-25: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-05-02: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-05-09: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-05-16: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-05-16: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-05-23: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-05-30: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-05-30: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-06-06: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-06-13: 46 positiveWeek of 2025-06-13: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-06-20: 89 positiveWeek of 2025-06-20: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-06-27: 26 positiveWeek of 2025-06-27: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-04: 35 positiveWeek of 2025-07-04: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-11: 31 positiveWeek of 2025-07-11: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-07-18: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-07-18: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-25: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-08-08: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-08-08: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-08-15: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-08-22: 27 positiveWeek of 2025-08-29: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-08-29: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-09-05: 17 positiveWeek of 2025-09-12: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-09-19: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-09-19: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-09-26: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-09-26: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-03: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-10-03: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-10: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-10-10: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-17: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-10-17: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-24: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-10-24: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-31: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-11-07: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-11-14: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-11-21: 24 positiveWeek of 2025-11-21: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-11-28: 15 positiveWeek of 2025-11-28: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-12-05: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-12-05: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-12-12: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-12-12: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-12-19: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-12-26: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-12-26: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-01-02: 30 positiveWeek of 2026-01-02: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-01-09: 38 positiveWeek of 2026-01-16: 23 positiveWeek of 2026-01-16: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-01-23: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-01-23: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-01-30: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-01-30: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-02-06: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-02-13: 16 positiveWeek of 2026-02-20: 7 positiveWeek of 2026-02-27: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-03-06: 79 positiveWeek of 2026-03-06: 18 negativeWeek of 2026-03-13: 89 positiveWeek of 2026-03-13: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-03-20: 40 positiveWeek of 2026-03-20: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-03-27: 24 positiveWeek of 2026-03-27: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-04-03: 20 positiveWeek of 2026-04-03: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-04-10: 14 positiveWeek of 2026-04-10: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-04-17: 17 positiveWeek of 2026-04-17: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-04-24: 20 positiveWeek of 2026-04-24: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-05-08: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-05-08: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-05-15: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-05-15: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-22: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-05-29: 18 positiveWeek of 2026-05-29: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-06-05: 19 positiveWeek of 2026-06-05: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-06-12: 14 positiveWeek of 2026-06-12: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-06-19: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-06-26: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-06-26: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-03: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-07-10: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-07-10: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-17: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-07-17: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-07-24: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-07-24: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-31: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-07-31: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-07: 2 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

57122026-08-12 00:00 — 17 players2026-08-12 15:00 — 18 players2026-08-13 07:00 — 16 players2026-08-13 23:00 — 16 players2026-08-14 15:00 — 17 players2026-08-15 07:00 — 20 players2026-08-15 22:00 — 25 players2026-08-16 14:00 — 34 players2026-08-17 06:00 — 17 players2026-08-17 22:00 — 25 players2026-08-18 14:00 — 36 players2026-08-19 06:00 — 22 players2026-08-19 21:00 — 34 players2026-08-20 13:00 — 26 players2026-08-21 05:00 — 30 players2026-08-21 21:00 — 39 players2026-08-22 12:00 — 26 players2026-08-23 04:00 — 36 players2026-08-23 20:00 — 44 players2026-08-24 12:00 — 20 players2026-08-25 04:00 — 19 players2026-08-25 19:00 — 29 players2026-08-26 12:00 — 23 players2026-08-27 04:00 — 28 players2026-08-27 20:00 — 27 players2026-08-28 11:00 — 12 players2026-08-29 03:00 — 32 players2026-08-29 19:00 — 57 players2026-08-30 11:00 — 57 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$29.99$11.252025-01-312026-08-302025-01-31 — best price $19.992025-02-14 — best price $29.992025-03-24 — best price $23.992025-04-03 — best price $23.992025-04-19 — best price $23.992025-05-09 — best price $23.992025-05-28 — best price $29.992025-06-16 — best price $19.492025-07-13 — best price $29.992025-08-04 — best price $19.492025-08-27 — best price $19.492025-09-13 — best price $29.992025-09-30 — best price $19.492025-10-21 — best price $19.492025-11-05 — best price $29.992025-11-22 — best price $19.492025-12-11 — best price $19.492026-01-08 — best price $14.992026-01-22 — best price $29.992026-02-05 — best price $14.992026-02-20 — best price $14.992026-03-09 — best price $14.822026-03-26 — best price $29.992026-04-07 — best price $15.002026-04-21 — best price $14.992026-05-01 — best price $14.102026-05-09 — best price $15.002026-05-22 — best price $14.992026-06-06 — best price $29.992026-06-22 — best price $12.492026-07-16 — best price $11.992026-08-05 — best price $29.992026-08-26 — best price $11.992026-08-30 — best price $11.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
89.1%
earned "Calm Awakening"
13.3%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsAdjustable Text SizeCamera ComfortCustom Volume ControlsAdjustable Difficulty#category_playable_at_your_own_pacePlayable without Timed InputSave Anytime

9 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)1,3150%284

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

4XWarEconomySandboxModdableStrategyTacticalHistoricalManagementSimulation

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

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