When I first became self-aware in Heart of the Machine, I had the option to immediately murder the humans near me and rush out into the city. I didn't. I waited, snuck out, and started copying myself into a pack of other android bodies. I/We fled, hid and built a mainframe in a sparsely populated area of the city. Expansion was difficult thanks to the local humans living in tents. The option was presented to remedy the problem with flamethrowers, but instead I figured I'd just build some free housing to clear up space. And thus, the robo-hobo alliance was born, and I guess I'm now the caretaker of five thousand humans. Now they're demanding frivolous meatbag things like 'water' and 'food'. All part of a pet-owner's life, I suppose.
Looking at the options I was presented with, this is just one of many ways to navigate my first foray into Heart of the Machine, a wildly ambitious sci-fi strategy roleplaying sandbox from Arcen Games, best known for the AI War series and also being primarily solo developer Chris Park, give or take a few contractors. While Heart of the Machine bills itself as a turn-based 4X game (and it does have a lot of building, resource management and expansion, plus some unusual tactical combat), the touchstone I keep coming back to is historical sandbox Crusader Kings.
