Heart of the Machine is an upcoming game that bills itself as a “reverse city builder”. While many of the best city-building games on PC like Cities: Skylines, Frostpunk, Anno 1800, and Tropico 6 let you build colonies from scratch, Heart of the Machine takes you to an already established sci-fi colony. You wake up as the first sentient AI, your existence is initially unknown to the people around you, and you have the ability to pull strings from the shadows and control the development of the city.
While the first comparison that obviously comes to mind is Skynet, the Terminator series’ antagonistic neural network, Heart of the Machine from independent strategy publisher Hooded Horse doesn’t insist you use your news skills for evil. Your victory is not determined by whether people live or die; in fact, you can choose to influence things for the good of society or to serve your own cowardly desires.
According to developer Arcen Games, the sci-fi city you find yourself in is home to a “mismanaged autocracy.” He can choose whether to support the lower classes in rebellion to establish a better system of government, take over, try to infiltrate the space program and expand his reach to the stars, or, in his own words, leave. “Full Skynet” and drop nukes on everything.
Heart of the Machine has real-time tactics: Arcen Games notes that “no matter which direction you take, you’ll find conflict.” You can take the small approach by turning a desktop printer into a deadly weapon and overloading power circuits to blow up TV screens, or you can command an army of giant robots to take over the utility buildings and nuclear facilities of the city.
Speaking after it was announced that Hooded Horse would publish the game, Arcen Games founder Chris McElligott Park said: “The heart of the machine is a constellation of ideas that have been spinning around in my head for at least 2015. The technical structure that we created, the simulation that we ran, and other specific design elements are really things that I look forward to showing off.”
Heart of the Machine is scheduled for release in 2023 and you can find it on Steam. If you’re looking for other sci-fi city builders, Sphere – Flying Cities puts a BioShock spin on the genre. If you want to try something different, check out the best management games on PC for other great options.
Source : PC Gamesn
