A 2025 hidden gem, 4X strategy sandbox Heart of the Machine adds a new mode for the "truly sadistic" among you

In all genres of gaming, you'll find those that are gluttons for punishment. You might initially think of players completing Elden Ring without leveling up, or trying to beat Silksong's single-life Steel Soul mode, but the best strategy games are also home to some serious sadists. This led to an interesting situation for Heart of the Machine developer Arcen Games when it recently delivered a substantial update that made some of its more frustrating endgame elements a bit less brutal, only to receive requests for a way to turn the difficulty back up. The result? 'Misery mode.'

Heart of the Machine launched into early access in January 2025, and ended up being among my favorite hidden gems of the year. It's a difficult thing to describe; it's a city-building sandbox game that combines elements of 4X planning, RPG-like narrative systems, and tactical combat with strong hints of XCOM. As the first sentient AI to awaken in a bustling cyberpunk city, you're able to gradually figure out ways to play the various factions of the world against one another to turn their attention away from you as you build an unstoppable force of disposable soldiers. It's unlike anything else I've played, impossible to cleanly categorize, and endlessly fascinating.

"There's a tradition in Arcen titles that we've had a high-ranking difficulty level known as Misery," the developer writes. "It's not in all our titles, but most of them. If you asked me a month ago if this game would have a Misery mode, I probably would have said no. The thing is, in today's earlier build, I relaxed a few things in the late game that were punishingly difficult. That made most people very happy, but it made a few people a bit sad.

"They were very polite about it," the developer explains, "but they liked that… 'this is agonizing and takes forever, and you have to min-max like crazy, and you wonder if it's even mathematically possible' sort of challenge. To me that sounds absolutely miserable, and that's probably true of most people reading this. So: we now have Misery mode." The new inclusion doesn't have any specific achievements tied to it, and never will (although you can still earn the regular ones).

"It's not part of being a completionist - it is actively un-fun unless you're the sort of person who inherently hears its siren call," Arcen continues. "For most of you, you can just be glad that the truly sadistic balance falls into this alone." If you don't count yourself in that category, then the aforementioned update will come as a welcome change. Among the major adjustments, it makes some key routes towards success "substantially easier for people to find" on your first timeline (yes, should you run into too much trouble to overcome, you're able to leap into alternate timelines to carry over the knowledge you've accumulated).

As for what's still to come in the road to 1.0, Arcen says its main focus is on the last of its tier-three goals, Cybercratic Ambitions, and "making sure that the actual 1.0 is polished, fun, hits all the right notes, etc." The planned 'Stars Beyond Reach' route will need a bit more time, so it's been moved to a post-launch spot on the roadmap. "It does feel more like post-game content, anyway," the developer admits, saying it "will likely be in a 1.1 update, or something along those lines."

If you're reading this within 24 hours of the story going live, you can even get in cheaply. Heart of the Machine is currently 50% off in the Steam Winter Sale, so expect to pay just $14.99 / £12.49. Even if you miss out on that, I'd certainly recommend giving it a look - I don't think it's for everyone, but if it clicks for you there's really nothing else I've found that's quite like it, and the 92%-positive recommendations from players reflects that.