Heart of the Machine is a fascinating, timeline-hopping strategy RPG

Heart of the Machine casts you as a newly sentient AGI in a cyberpunk strategy RPG that lets you largely do what you want. Its story unfolds as dozens of small, branching anecdotes—almost like Sunless Sea in structure—and the writing and scenario design consistently stand out.

The core goal is to make yourself smarter by amassing processing power. You can build server farms, but it becomes more efficient to plug thousands of human brains into your own version of the Matrix and tax a percentage of their neural power. That escalation lets you invent virtual afterlives, start cults, build megastructures, or commit atrocities, while the corporation that unleashed you watches to see whether it can profit.

At intelligence class 4 and higher the game adds a run-based mechanic: you gain five-dimensional perception and can travel between alternate, procedurally generated timelines.

strategy rpg, agi, cyberpunk, processing power, server farms, neural power, virtual afterlives, cults, megastructures, alternate timelines