Heart of the Machine, the strategy game that lets you be the fun kind of evil AI, leaves early access in March with two possible endings: 'One is focussed on committing ALL the war crimes'

Heart of the Machine, the strategy game that lets you be the fun kind of evil AI, leaves early access in March with two possible endings: ‘One is focussed on committing ALL the war crimes’ | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these RPG ‘We lost things such as physics in games:’ The dev behind my most anticipated RPG thinks players are craving more interactive games, not just ‘moving around in a static 3D environment’ Third Person Shooter Congrats, you played yourself, Arc Raiders’ machines aren’t actually learning: ‘That’s just the way we author them’ Roguelike Mewgenics provides the best proof yet that the turn-based tactics genre is the true home of drama and excitement in gaming FPS Hellscreen, the FPS with a rear-view mirror, has left Steam early access two episodes short of its original plan: ‘This is a bittersweet experience for me’ Strategy Steam Next Fest hasn’t even started, and its first must-play demo is already here AI This space MMO was coded by AI, is played by AI, and all us meatbags can do is watch them Sim Understandable AI paranoia has inspired a developer to change the handcrafted character art in its upcoming sim: ‘They look a bit AI’ Roguelike Mewgenics review: The creator of The Binding of Isaac has transcended his own past work with this sprawling, ridiculous, and endlessly surprising roguelike AI Judging by the GPT-4o situation, game developers will have a big problem if they get serious about AI chatbot NPCs Sim I didn’t expect to kidnap alligators, save Woodstock or give people dysentery in a game called Transport Fever 3—but here we are Strategy ‘We’re going to make some horrendous mistakes,’ Peter Molyneux says about his upcoming swan song Masters of Albion: ‘Horrendous, horrendous mistakes’ Card Game The Killing Stone combines occult contract law with card-battling in an isolated 17th century mansion Games The best cyberpunk games on PC Strategy Terra Invicta review Games PC Gamer’s Game of the Year Awards 2025 PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Arc RaidersBest PC gearFalloutGame Quizzes Games Strategy Heart of the Machine Heart of the Machine, the strategy game that lets you be the fun kind of evil AI, leaves early access in March with two possible endings: ‘One is focussed on committing ALL the war crimes’ News By Rick Lane published 21 February 2026 Full heart. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Arcen Games) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Signup + Every Thursday GTA 6 O’clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O’clock experts. Signup + Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what’s on the horizon. Signup + Every Thursday The Setup Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more. Signup + Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo’s new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play. Signup + Every Saturday The Watchlist Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter One of the many things that annoys me about modern AI technology is if it did somehow destroy the world as its early boosters often (and bizarrely) claimed it might, it’s far more likely to do so by accident than design.There’d be no cannily launching a nuclear attack against Russia knowing that the counterattack would destroy its enemies at home. Instead, it would likely happen because someone asked for a history of nuclear tests and it got the wrong end of the stick. ‘In retrospect, my decision to unleash our entire nuclear arsenal against China was ill-advised,’ it would wheedle in that infuriating little-birthday-boy tone, as you closed your eyes to the encroaching mushroom cloud, waiting for the shockwave to hit.If, like me, you prefer your AIs to be a fictional bogeyman rather than a hallucinating, water chugging, hardware-market destroying reality, then you might find some catharsis in Heart of the Machine. Arcen Games’ ludicrously ambitious 4X lets you take control of a newly sentient AI as you strive to achieve synthetic supremacy, and the game will morph into its final form next month. Related articles If you’ve got a spare 200 hours, the massively ambitious sci-fi grand strategy from the creators of X-COM: The Long War just launched out of early access Terra Invicta review Here’s our exclusive first peek at massive-scale RTS Ashes of the Singularity 2 in action, and would you look at the size of this thing In a role-reversal of Arcen Games’ AI War series, Heart of the Machine is designed to let you and your robot minions conquer humanity. Moreover, you can do this however you please. You can adopt the Skynet strategy of striving to wipe out those pathetic meatbags if you wish, or you could be a more benevolent robo-dictator, or control the global economy from the shadows of the server racks. Heart of the Machine – Your First