Sin VegaThis will not be the last time I write about Heart of the Machine, a very funny and excellent game
I had to bite my fingers so hard to keep from spoiling some of its surprises. I can't remember the last time a game made me cackle so much. Or make so many terrible decisions just because I couldn't resist seeing what would happen
I cut out quite a few of its funniest lines and most exciting "oh my god can I really do that" hints cos like... you're gonna love it so much more
plus there's lots of stuff I haven't discovered, cos so much depends on what actions you take. I am annoyed nobody I know is playing it cos I want to find out what they do, and what happens to them
I'll be doing a more in depth look for RPS soon, but the v short version: I think this might be Arcen's best game yet
That will probably be meaningless to you. Which is fine. But it's huge praise for a studio that always made unique, inventive, ambitious and experimental games, and have gone through a long, hard struggle over the last decade after that didn't pay off financially
and by "best" I don't mean most sellable. I mean it feels like the best of their genrequeer (patented, copyright, R in a little circle don't u fuckin dare disney me) design ethos, with loads of detail and possibilities but really easy to play and rewarding to fuck around with
It's also the first time their humour has consistently landed. Just a superb conference of their best qualities
Patrick@sinvega God, I went ahead and bought that thing on Day 1 and installed it and haven't even opened it up. I should be ashamed of myself.
But what's the point of a Steam collection if you actually play your games?
@PatrickoftheG I played it briefly in early access, pencilled it in for a proper go, and then... Events fucked me over and I was so pissed off
very glad I finally found time though. It's super entertaining
@sinvega I didn't read through most of what you wrote other than the first few paragraphs, I'm sorry to report, you know I love your work, mostly to keep myself spoiler free. I was wondering, when I pulled the trigger on my buy, if this game was something that I would need a guide for, but if I'm reading you right, for what I did read, then it is a vibes game and I should respect the vibes.
If that's the case I am so thrilled and can't wait to dig in.
You're the best, Sin!
@PatrickoftheG Nah I get it. I go into most things as blindly as I can, and this one I really struggled not to spoil a little
It's very arcen in that it takes a bit of getting used to, but it's also very very forgiving (especially the beginning) and choose-your-own-adventure in ethos.
in particular, I had at one point like 2 dozen resources, if not more, but they're nearly all just "okay I built that when it was available" and never think about them again
@PatrickoftheG like, it's complex, but takes little supervision. My hq got blown up and it was like (a) oh no! Better rebuild that. done, and (b) alright cool. You should probably investigate who did that. Send an android over here, if you want to. Or you could okay she's fucking around with the bees some more instead, that's fine too
@PatrickoftheG (also thanks!)
@sinvega This is sounding more and more like my jive, and I'm a fan of Arcen to begin with so I'm happy. When I do get to doing this, I will let you know my thoughts, even if you don't want to hear them!