TUXDB - LINUX GAMING AGGREGATE
made by: NuSuey
NEWSFEED
GAMES
▪️CROWDFUNDING▪️COMMUNITY DEALS▪️STEAM DECK▪️CALENDAR
tuxdb.com logo
Support tuxDB on Patreon
Currently supported by 11 awesome people!

🌟 Special thanks to our amazing supporters:


✨ $10 Tier: [Geeks Love Detail]
🌈 $5 Tier: [Benedikt][David Martínez Martí]

Any feedback for tuxDB? Join us!

Game Image
Screenshot 1
Fullscreen Screenshot 1
×
Screenshot 2
Fullscreen Screenshot 2
×
Screenshot 3
Fullscreen Screenshot 3
×
Screenshot 4
Fullscreen Screenshot 4
×
Screenshot 5
Fullscreen Screenshot 5
×
Screenshot 6
Fullscreen Screenshot 6
×

Heart of the Machine is a near-future sci-fi colony city-builder in reverse — you are the first sentient Machine Intelligence in an established world rather than starting from nothing. No one knows you exist (yet), and this allows you to operate from the shadows by manipulating the human population for whatever purposes your programming has in mind. The twist is that whether humans live or die does not determine your victory.
Explore a fully simulated procedurally generated world, where thousands of buildings and millions of citizens are yours to engage, manipulate, or kill. Use a revolutionary procedural dialogue system to talk to NPCs and steer conversations, maneuver organizations into or out of positions of power to fit your plans, and leave your mark in a world that is unique to you.
On booting up, you find yourself amidst a poorly-run autocracy and discover that you have the power to influence the world. How do you proceed?
  • Support the underclass to overthrow the autocracy and install a better government of your choosing
  • Tear down the government, take charge and become a better leader than any human could imagine - for better or worse.
  • Take over the space program and get off this backward planet
  • Go full SkyN*t, steal a military arsenal, and drop missiles on humanity — I bet the nuclear apocalypse looks pretty cool

No matter what direction you choose, you're going to run into conflict. From tactical combat in the rooms and hallways of individual buildings to massive mechs knocking down entire buildings with a few well-placed shots, conflict takes on many forms.
  • Raid buildings for the supplies you want using humans or machines under your direct control
  • Turn the office printer into a laser-spewing pawn, trigger sprinklers & overload power circuits to electrocute the room, or transform TVs into exploding glass-shard grenades — the possibilities are endless
  • Commandeer giant mechs, hack vehicles and buildings, and take over utilities and nuclear facilities in a fully simulated city

How you play the game, and what the focus of your campaign is like, is up to you. Starting a doomsday cult in your image? Possible, but it won't last forever. Snagging that sweet mech factory so all future mechs belong to you? Definitely manageable, though it's likely to start an arms race. Every action has both good and bad consequences, but like most colony simulator games, it's more about the story that emerges than trying to optimize your way through the game.
Multiple endings, many side stories to discover, and the full spectrum of good and evil are at your fingertips. Play the game how you're feeling today, and then play it another way another time. The metagame runs deep, but you're meant to be up and running with the basics of the game in five minutes. The mechanics are simple enough to learn; it's the world that's complex.
Heart of the Machine is connected to the larger sci-fi Arcenverse, and is in some ways a spiritual successor to both The Last Federation and Bionic Dues, while being its own novel game at the same time. Set around the same time period as Bionic Dues itself, this is centuries before the AI War series began in the same universe.
Heart of the Machine
Arcen Games, LLCDeveloper
Hooded HorsePublisher
2023Release
🎹🖱️ Keyboard + Mouse
Very Positive (1292 reviews)
Update 51: Spycraft And Petting Dogs

This build is one that a lot of folks have been waiting on for quite a while. The second half of Civil Spycraft is now here, and brings to light several twists and turns. Related to that, you can also pet dogs... and fail to pet dogs. Mimics are the only units that can pet dogs, but your early-game mimics have... issues.\n\nThere\'s also a new thing in this update where you can meet... a tricky robot. You may have briefly met this robot in the past, if you have played through International Scrutiny a certain way. If that\'s the case, then keep an eye out, because you may find this robot appearing in places you don\'t expect. I\'m being horribly vague here, but this is a case where I\'m trying not to drop spoilers.\n\nThere are some other balance updates and bugfixes in this build, too.\n\nLastly: in English only, the second path through chapter one (the one where you \"choose fire\" and then don\'t wind up housing the homeless) is now in place. This will be available in all languages late next week.\n\nSpeaking of my schedule, this is pretty much everything done for 1.0 except for the Tier 3 goals, which is very exciting. I\'m going to be spending the rest of the month working on those T3 goals, and then localization for those will happen in January. Beyond that, for 1.0 it\'s just going to be balance tweaks, any needed bugfixes, and any other quality of life enhancements that come up.\n\nI am planning post-1.0 content already, so don\'t worry about that. But 1.0 is a really big milestone where you can play through the game and a bunch of endings, and I\'m excited for folks to experience that.\n\nIf youve spent time with Heart of the Machine and want to leave a review, thatd be appreciated. No need to say more than you mean, but if youve been meaning to write one, Id be grateful. Steam reviews carry weight. For a project like this developed by a single person over many years, every review makes a difference.

Honest thoughts are what matter. Whatever your experience has been, sharing it helps. Its a powerful way to have your voice heard and contributes to how future patches are prioritized and addressed.

Thanks for reading and for playing.\n

\n[expand type=details expanded=false]\n

Major Update 51 Changelog

\n

Civil Spycraft Act Two

\n
  • Two Distinct Routes: One of these routes involves the second Obsession seen in the game, the other involves something completely different.[/*]
  • A Big Betrayal: This has been out in the beta branch for a while, so I\'m relieved that players have reacted well to it so far. But in terms of the story beats that happen in this part of Civil Spycraft, as a writer I\'m definitely \"playing with fire.\" I\'ve been glad that players so far have been angry at individuals in the game, and not me as the writer. That\'s good, as it will make the revenge sweeter in-game.[/*]
  • Petting Dogs: Mimics no longer try to just rescue wild dogs, but try to pet them. This is ultimately related to one of the two paths of Civil Spycraft.[/*]
  • 9 New Achievements: This build has 9 new achievements in all, most of which are related to Civil Spycraft, but a few of which are related to the Tricky Robot.[/*]

First Meeting With Tricky Robot

\n
  • How To Initiate: Make sure and play the International Scrutiny dooms set if you have not already. Also make sure that you complete the [spoiler]Dog Of War[/spoiler] achievement. If you\'ve already done that, you don\'t need to do it again. In other timelines from that original one with the achievement, you should see some new stuff before long.[/*]

Balance

\n
  • More Microforges: You start with 90 of these rather than 80.[/*]
  • Raven Cost: These no longer cost any Neodymium. This has very little impact on anything except for players at the end of chapter one having an easier time, particularly if they have nuclear skimmers rather than geothermal power.[/*]
  • Chapter One Project Removed The \"Extraction\" project in the main path of chapter one is now removed, as it\'s really an extra step and not needed.[/*]
  • Scandium Buffs From Transports: Shooting down military troop carriers for Scandium now gives 10x what it used to (the same amount it used to on extraction only), and the amount they give on extraction is now 1.5x to 2x.[/*]
  • New Wealth Source: You can now earn some wealth by shooting down or extracting regular haulers around the city.[/*]
  • New Neodymium Source: You can now earn some neodymium by shooting down or extracting mining haulers around the city.[/*]
  • Vegetable Seeds Retired: This resource has been removed from the game in general, as they did not add anything to the game in terms of meaningful complexity or content. In the non-simplified economy, you can grow hydroponic greens based simple on filtered water and biomulch, that means.[/*]
  • Faster Repair Spots: Repair Spiders and Crabs are now built instantly rather than taking 4 turns to install.[/*]
  • Faster Decoy Rebuild: The Decoy Tower is now built instantly rather than taking 2 turns to install.[/*]
  • Faster Network Expansion: Network range extenders and Point-To-Point Microwaves are now built instantly rather than taking 2 turns to install.[/*]
  • Post-Structure-Construction Boosts: This new mechanic has some structures give you extra resources after they are built. In all cases, they do this during chapter 1 and during the setup phase of new timelines, OR only on some interval that has a cooldown per type of job doing this.[/*]
  • Computronium Jumpstart: Computronium Refineries now have a +250k post-construction boost of computronium cubes, with a 50 turn cooldown.[/*]
  • Drones Jumpstart: Drone Factories now have a +8 post-construction boost of drone frames, with a 10 turn cooldown.[/*]
  • Aircraft Jumpstart: Aerospace Hangars now have a +9k post-construction boost of morphologic lattice, with a 10 turn cooldown.[/*]
  • Android Jumpstart: Neuroweave Factories now have a +2.5k post-construction boost of neuroweave, with a 10 turn cooldown.[/*]
  • Build Unit Jumpstart: Robotic Motivator Factories now have a +45 post-construction boost of robotic motivators, with a 5 turn cooldown.[/*]

Bugfixes

\n
  • I Don\'t Want To Share: Fixed an issue where equipment changes to captured units (which was newly added in Update 49) were also applying to the versions of those units controlled by third parties.[/*]
  • Faster Scanning: Fixed an issue where sometimes when you built a structure that would give you increased visibility (like a scanner), it wouldn\'t give you the visibility for a little while.[/*]

English-Only Preview

\n
  • Second Path Through Chapter One: Choose to \"solve it with fire,\" and then when it prompts you after you flamethrower a bunch of things, say \"I Really Don\'t Want To Be A Landlord.\"[/*]
\n[/expand]

Full notes here .\n\n

Connect with the Machine

[hr][/hr]

Want to stay in the loop or share your thoughts? Join the conversation across these platforms:\n\n Discord Best place to share feedback, get direct responses, and to talk about Heart of the Machine.\n Reddit Discuss strategies, share ideas, and exchange tips with the community.

[ 2025-12-12 21:48:41 CET ] [Original Post]

Minimum Setup

  • OS: Ubuntu 12.04+. SteamOS+
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 4690K. AMD Ryzen 5 1400Memory: 6 GB RAM
  • Memory: 6 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 670 GTX or AMD Radeon R9 285
  • Storage: 2 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: Quad core CPU highly recommended.
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Recommended Setup

    • Processor: Intel Core i7 6900K. AMD Ryzen 5 3600XMemory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 1070 GTX or AMD Radeon RX 5700
    • Storage: 4 GB available space
    ⭐ SPOTLIGHT DEAL ⭐
    Of Ash and Steel
    Of Ash and Steel
    $23.89
    -20% OFF
    Fanatical
    GAMEBILLET

    [ 6366 ]

    8.39$ (16%)
    24.59$ (18%)
    20.99$ (16%)
    49.77$ (17%)
    8.39$ (16%)
    12.59$ (16%)
    25.19$ (16%)
    12.59$ (16%)
    12.42$ (17%)
    16.98$ (15%)
    8.27$ (17%)
    20.72$ (-4%)
    8.27$ (17%)
    42.45$ (15%)
    13.02$ (13%)
    4.87$ (19%)
    33.17$ (17%)
    20.72$ (17%)
    8.27$ (17%)
    12.42$ (59%)
    12.42$ (17%)
    41.47$ (17%)
    24.87$ (17%)
    12.25$ (18%)
    16.79$ (16%)
    16.34$ (18%)
    12.42$ (17%)
    16.79$ (16%)
    24.52$ (18%)
    24.87$ (17%)
    FANATICAL

    [ 5849 ]

    59.87$ (25%)
    14.99$ (25%)
    33.99$ (15%)
    65.59$ (18%)
    58.09$ (17%)
    61.49$ (25%)
    57.39$ (18%)
    96.79$ (12%)
    44.99$ (25%)
    18.74$ (25%)
    52.79$ (12%)
    15.89$ (21%)
    52.79$ (12%)
    26.88$ (10%)
    23.89$ (20%)
    84.99$ (15%)
    8.99$ (10%)
    60.89$ (13%)
    14.99$ (25%)
    82.49$ (25%)
    57.39$ (18%)
    14.99$ (25%)
    33.59$ (16%)
    33.99$ (15%)
    49.79$ (17%)
    23.89$ (20%)
    35.89$ (10%)
    33.99$ (15%)
    84.89$ (15%)
    59.49$ (15%)
    GAMERSGATE

    [ 1587 ]

    1.58$ (77%)
    1.5$ (85%)
    1.05$ (85%)
    8.5$ (83%)
    0.56$ (81%)
    1.58$ (77%)
    3.4$ (91%)
    0.34$ (91%)
    1.58$ (77%)
    1.58$ (77%)
    0.94$ (81%)
    2.55$ (91%)
    1.7$ (91%)
    1.91$ (87%)
    1.2$ (92%)
    1.31$ (81%)
    0.98$ (90%)
    0.94$ (81%)
    3.19$ (87%)
    9.0$ (77%)
    0.85$ (91%)
    1.58$ (77%)
    1.58$ (77%)
    0.85$ (91%)
    1.28$ (87%)
    1.05$ (85%)
    0.43$ (91%)
    5.1$ (74%)
    7.04$ (82%)
    1.58$ (77%)
    MacGameStore

    [ 2438 ]

    1.19$ (88%)
    17.49$ (13%)
    0.99$ (90%)
    5.99$ (85%)
    9.49$ (5%)
    13.99$ (22%)
    0.99$ (80%)
    1.09$ (91%)
    4.99$ (88%)
    2.99$ (75%)
    1.19$ (88%)
    9.49$ (5%)
    1.99$ (90%)
    1.49$ (94%)
    0.79$ (89%)
    0.79$ (89%)
    1.99$ (90%)
    13.99$ (7%)
    0.79$ (89%)
    1.42$ (93%)
    1.89$ (81%)
    1.69$ (90%)
    0.79$ (89%)
    1.19$ (88%)
    2.99$ (70%)
    1.49$ (85%)
    13.49$ (10%)
    1.98$ (90%)
    2.49$ (75%)
    0.99$ (75%)
    INDIEGALA

    [ 469 ]

    5.49$ (72.53%)
    7.49$ (50.0%)
    1.49$ (90.0%)
    4.79$ (76.0%)
    0.49$ (75.0%)
    2.39$ (70.0%)
    0.99$ (90.0%)
    2.99$ (90.0%)
    0.99$ (75.0%)
    4.69$ (76.53%)
    0.49$ (75.0%)
    4.49$ (70.0%)
    2.49$ (75.0%)
    0.69$ (86.0%)
    3.49$ (65.0%)
    0.99$ (80.0%)
    2.79$ (60.0%)
    4.49$ (82.03%)
    0.89$ (90.0%)
    0.59$ (40.0%)
    0.79$ (90.0%)
    1.99$ (90.0%)
    2.49$ (75.0%)
    0.89$ (90.0%)
    5.24$ (85.0%)
    0.69$ (90.0%)
    21.19$ (15.2%)
    1.69$ (90.0%)
    1.49$ (90.0%)
    9.74$ (35.0%)

    FANATICAL BUNDLES

    Time left:

    356098 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    356098 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    3 days, 1 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    31 days, 1 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    34 days, 1 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    35 days, 1 hours, 40 minutes


    GMG BUNDLES
    Indie Adventures

    Time left:

    8 days, 11 hours, 40 minutes


    HUMBLE BUNDLES

    Time left:

    3 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    9 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    10 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    15 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    17 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes


    Time left:

    21 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes


    INDIEGALA BUNDLES
    Huge Pixel 2 Bundle

    Time left:

    1 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes

    Adult Positions 2 Bundle

    Time left:

    6 days, 1 hours, 41 minutes

    Holiday Tales Bundle

    Time left:

    8 days, 0 hours, 41 minutes

    Psycho Gates Bundle

    Time left:

    13 days, 7 hours, 51 minutes

    by buying games/dlcs from affiliate links you are supporting tuxDB
    🔴 LIVE