This is another update based on player feedback. This one includes a number of quality of life improvements, a number of balance improvements, and some bugfixes.

If you’ve spent time with Heart of the Machine and want to leave a review, that’d be appreciated. No need to say more than you mean, but if you’ve been meaning to write one, I’d 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. It’s a powerful way to have your voice heard and contributes to how future patches are prioritized and addressed.

Thanks for reading and for playing.

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• Faster StreetSense Updates: After a valid streetsense location is turned into an invalid one (usually because of player interactions in that spot), it recalculates a new valid location much more quickly.
• More Bovine Suggestions: Improved the suggested number of Bovine Replicators during Open Pantry to now be +3 rather than +9, same as was done for the Meats project in a prior update.
• Hardware Screen Filters: On the hardware screen -- both on the unit type overview and unit type analysis screens -- you can now filter to see various kinds of units. There was no real way to see this information in the game prior to now, and people had been asking about this for a while. You can see Support Units, Portdroids, Oxdroids, Dynadroids, Infildroids, Souldroids, Small Mechs, and Large Mechs.
• Faster VR Screen Inspiration: In the VR screen, when you research an item of inspiration, it now immediately pops it open. If you need to close it, it's still available on the side of the screen the same as before. But this saves quite a bit of clicking around.
• Sorted Upgrade Choices: When you get a list of upgrades to choose from, they are now sorted alphabetically rather than being randomly ordered.

• Emergency Network Source Clarity: If your tower gets blown up and you have to build a replacement network source, it now has extra notes about building it near the spot of the old one if you need to get network connectivity back to your existing buildings; or being prepared to accelerate a bunch of network extenders to improve connectivity.
• Targeting Uplink Handbook Entry: A new Targeting Uplink handbook entry has been added to the game, and unlocks when you reach intelligence class 5 and also get the targeting uplink itself. This is a notably confusing mechanic without a specific explanation. This is only in the English version of the game until a future update.
• Research Upgrades Handbook Entry: A new handbook entry called "Upgrades Come From Research And The VR Screen" has been added. This opens once you are in chapter two, and explains how to use research from scientists to get extra upgrades. This is a major part of the meta from chapter two onward, but it wasn't really explicitly mentioned anywhere. This is only in the English version of the game until a future update.

• Debating The Third Magistrate: The debate with the third magistrate now gives you 7 discards rather than 5, and has a target of 1200 rather than 1400. It was just too tough otherwise, and this basically reduces the impact of RNG on players in particular.
• Bomb Upgrades Buff: The "Bomb Explosive Density" upgrade now increases by 50% per upgrade, rather than 20%. And it has a maximum upgrade of 600% rather than 300%.
• Female Mimics Can Support: Female mimics are also now support units, to match the male mimics. Female mimics are still dynadroids in a way that male mimics are not, though.

• Deploying Unit Exception Fix: Fixed another exception that could happen when deploying units into the range of certain types of enemies. If the enemies had armor cracker in particular, then it could cause an issue.
• Number Display Fix: Fixed a number display issue that I introduced in Update 33, when I fixed a different number issue. I was trying to be clever in my code, and instead made a bigger mess. The new fix is the fix I should have done in the first place, as it's simple and reliable.
• Doom Notice Fixes: Fixed an issue where alternative dooms (like WW4) were inheriting the "do not open list of dooms" status from their parent doom, incorrectly. Also fixed an issue where dooms that skip opening the list of dooms still said you could left-click to open the list of dooms. They now just note to left-click to close the notice.
• StreetSense Collection Spot Fix: Fixed an issue with StreetSense assignments where certain kinds of resource gathering (like collecting flowers) was not reacting properly to being hidden by prior thefts at a POI. That was in turn leading to the action hanging around in kind of a half-life of there-and-not-there.
• Bulk Android Death Notice Fixes: Fixed a misconfiguration where bulk androids were being considered "worker units" for purposes of "don't tell me about it in the main log. I'm not sure what I was thinking.
• Ten-Turn Average Fix: Fixed a math error in the detailed trends over the last 10 turns for resources. They were correct immediately after loading a savegame, but then were off by dividing by 9 rather than 10 on turns after loading one.

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Full notes here.

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💬 Discord – Best place to share feedback, get direct responses, and to talk about Heart of the Machine.
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• Added a "Save & Quit" button to the menus to allow you to directly save dungeon progress and quit the game.
  
• Arrow keys/dpad/joystick can now be used select characters in the lobby and during battle.
  
• Added a Bug Report feature in the dungeon menu. When you hit Submit you will be taken to a web form where you can describe the bug, along with an automated report of some game state for debugging purposes.
  
• Some procedural generation changes to fix room size and placement issues. This will mean that the dungeon layout will change for your current seed the next time you enter it.
  
• Numerous bug fixes

Today we rolled out a small update for Borderlands 4 on all platforms, which improves crossplay.

Please note that on PC, you may see a command window briefly pop up as a result of this update. This is an expected behavior and will not impact your game or machine.

Please restart Borderlands 4 if you're currently playing to ensure that this update goes through. You may close the pop-up if it appears. We apologize for the inconvenience!

Changed Keybind for dropping items to CTRL + Left Click, instead of Shift + Left Click. This is to prevent the player from accidentally dropping items while they are sprinting and using their items.

Rounding out all the balls with new effects!

• Cherry: Returns all balls from sunk pocket

• Grapes: +3 points for every unplayed ball left in stash

• Apple: +1 combo level

• Peach: +30 points when scoring in middle pockets

• Pineapple: Scores 1 additional time when sinking

• Baseball: +20 points when scoring at high speed

• Beach ball: Ball weight has been lowered

• Tennis ball: Random bonus points when scored: +0, +0, +15, +30, +40

• Softball: +20 points when scoring at low speed

• Curling rock: Slides around the table

Added three new racks:

• Pizza rack: All changes to combo trigger an additional time (Unlocked by defeating Mary's Little Lamb)

• Memorial flag rack: All balls score when returning (Unlocked by defeating The Weight of Your Sins)

• Coupon rack: +1 restock coupon when entering the shop (Unlocked by defeating Rubberband Man)

Fixed Uranus being able to add frozen to the cue ball

Fixed ball sizes sometimes being incorrect when starting a round

Fixed cue hit trajectory preview showing the large ball preview on a large ball that has been shrunk

Fixed cue hit trajectory preview showing the small ball preview on a small ball that has been enlarged

Fixed flat/2D balls not visually rotating properly

Fixed Blue-crested Whipper Willow being missing from the unlocks menu

Howdy-doody! Two months since Trans Theft Horso came out, and two months and a bit until we get to take the game to a booth at AdventureX in London!

This months' update is a small one, but not in vain:
- Added a duck who says 'quack' to replace the accidentally-findable top-secret testers-only data screen
- If you're having trouble getting through the guinea-pig parade, those intitial guinea-pigs will eventually relent and reduce in number so you can take your fishy further.
- On the subject of fish, the fishes in Elmer Lakey's lakehouse now animate, and if you take a good look at them you get to have a number of short, fish-themed conversations.
- Fun fact which you might already know: 'fish' is both singular and plural, but 'fishes' is used when you're highlighting that it's multiple different kinds. We do the same with words like 'wines', 'meats' and so forth.
- There's now a handy few pointing arrows when you first enter the compound. They don't linger long, but hopefully they give a few initial clues (and encourage you to check out the Info Zone)
- Now there's an arrow to the hardest-to-reach battenberg, a voice declares your battenberg progress
- The capybara in Act 1 now eats some fish and chips. My housemate Ava *absolutely insisted* that a capybara who sits in your way should have some fish and chips to eat, and who am I to disagree. This does not affect the gameplay at all.
- Something else unnecessary.

Changes and Improvements:

• Fixed a critical bug with the AI of factions and monsters: sometimes they could freeze during combat with each other. This issue has now been fully resolved.

• Further optimized the enemy detection system for monsters, significantly reducing CPU load.

• Fixed texture rendering issues on the “Outpost” level when playing on Quest + Meta Link. Who would have thought that the choice of OpenXR runtime could make such a difference 🙂

• Split screen feature, which adds ability to play with up to 4 players on one PC.

• Gamepad support.

• Players can choose control schemes using, mouse, keyboard, or a gamepad.

• Map editor.

• Basic roads support.

• Land plots along roads. Considered to be reworked in the future.

• Land plots can be partially modified.

• Adding tooltips system on UI.

• Saved maps in map editor. Doesn’t work in playmode with UMes yet.

• Save custom constructs on land plots, as blueprints.

• Save are as sqlite.

• Game save, constructs and items UI icons, now have “carousel” thumbnails, when hovering a pointer over a given item. This is a pseudo feature, which allows you to see items in 360 like rotation.

• Floors generation.

• Ramps as an alternative to stairs. Something which has been planned in the future, along with floors.

• Walls can change height and width from UI options.

• LOD (level of details) support for models.

• Some temp furniture. These are placeholders at the moment. But function as mods. When adding new furniture, some model files are auto generated, based on the main file, like LOD (level of details).

• UI design, including split-screen support.

• Preparation for multilingual support. Not yet finalised.

• The main menu was reworked. But this will be changed again in the near future.

• Reworked spawning of constructs blueprints. Player can save their own constructs on landplots setup.

• Terrain generation and baking. This is under consideration of rework.

• Changed old Fog Of War decal based system. For now is a blue type box for FoW, which activates if the player's camera reaches the permitted region. The current system is a placeholder.

• Changed how the fog of war (FoW) works, due to the introduction of split-screen. The current system is a placeholder only, until finding a proper solution.

• Rework of feedback / bug report system.

• Improved game launching loop. But the game restart is not fully functional. So to restart the game, ideally need to close down the whole game app and launch it again.

• General optimisations, especially during loading saves and models.

• Visual optimisations. Changed to the rendering pipeline.

• Fixed tutorial system.

• Basics buildings placeholders.

• Restarting the game loop is not fully functional. Doing so, will cause bugs. Need to close the game application and reopen it again.

• Some UI elements are overflowing. Need scrolling, or smaller UI groups.

• Main menu graphics settings may not trigger changes correctly.

• UI pointer with user controls as helper, is incomplete and may display incorrectly.

• UMes NPCs may have issues to traverse on ramps if slopes, or steps are too big.

• Objects are not always saved. Especially when editing floors structure.

• Editing landplots on which construction is placed, may desynchronise save and construction may be not saved.

• Cut floors (i.e. for ramps / stairs) are not saved for creating custom blueprints.

• Building ramps and switching to different UI modes doesn't reset the state of land plot selection.

• Some tooltips may be missing.

Hi Everyone!

The first of our planned content updates is here!  The 90’s Pack, In it you’ll find a selection of weapons, attachments, and uniform options from real life, games, and movies from the 90’s.  See a full list of new additions, changes to gameplay and missions, and bug fixes below.

You can now choose from ten additional weapons, two new sights, and a new type of grenade! Here's the ones we haven't shown off yet. We added a slight zoom if aim with a weapon that does not have a scope equipped, or if you are wearing NVGs.

Colt 727 - a 5.56mm carbine

Aimpoint 5000 - has a slight zoom to give it a slight advantage now that we've added zooming without scopes.

AK74M - a semi or fully automatic 5,45mm rifle

M1911 - a semi automatic .45 caliber pistol

M950 Calico - a semi or fully automatic 9mm submachine gun, includes 50 and 100 round drums

Hawk MM-1 - a semi automatic 40mm grenade launcher

M136 AT4 - a single use anti tank weapon

We've added a few new patterns for uniforms, helmets, and vests.

The ship and the first five missions have received layout, art, and pacing improvements. We'll be continuing to work on these and the other ten missions for future updates.

Thanks for taking a look and for all of the feedback! Below you'll see the full list of additions, improvements, and bug fixes.

- Dan

September 15, 2025 - V0.6.00 The 90’s Update

• Pancor Jackhammer - a semi or full automatic shotgun.  Uses 10 round drums of buckshot or slugs.

• M950 Calico - a semi or full auto submachine gun.  Uses 50 or 100 round drum magazines.  Supports scopes.

• MM1 - Hawk - a semi auto 40mm grenade launcher.  Holds 12 rounds at a time.  Does not support attachments.

• M1911 - a semi automatic .45 cal hand gun.  Uses the same magazines as the M45a1

• Colt 727 - a semi or full automatic 5.56mm rifle.

• M16A2 - a semi or burst fire 5.56mm rifle.

• Colt SMG - a semi or full automatic 9mm sub machine gun.

• AKS-74U - a semi or full automatic compact assault rifle.

• M136 AT4 - a single use anti tank weapon.

• AK74M - a semi or full automatic assault rifle.

• Aimpoint 5000 - a 1x red dot sight that includes weaver rail extension to allow it to attach to weapons with carry handles.

• C79 - a 3.4x scope that allows adjustments from 200-800m.

• M68 - an impact variant of the M67.  Has a 0.25-0.35 impact fuse and a 5-7 second post impact fuse in case it lands too early.  Has a red stripe around the base of the fuse to distinguish it from the M67.

• Raid BDU – Tiger Stripe Desert

• Raid BDU – Tiger Stripe

• Raid BDU – Woodland Urban

• Raid BDU – M81 Woodland

• Raid BDU – MOUT Urban-T

• Raid BDU – Track Urban

• Raid BDU – Olive Drab

• Raid DBDU – 6-color Desert

• Raid DCU – 3-color Desert

• Raid BDU – All-Over Brush

• Raid BDU – Black

• Raid BDU – Desert Night

• TG Faust Vest – Spray Paint, Desert 

• TG Faust Vest – Spray Paint, Olive 

• TG Faust Vest – ERDL

• TG Faust Vest – Black

• Pro-Tec - Black

• Pro-Tec - Spray Paint, Desert

• Pro-Tec - Spray Paint, Olive

• AI: Reduced AI vision at night to make it more difficult for them to spot players at night.

• AI: AI can now spawn with flash light attachments.  They’ll turn them on when in combat.

• AI: Flashlights now affect AI vision.  If you are illuminated by a flash light you will be easier to see.

• AI: Time of day now affects AI accuracy.  The darker it is the less accurate they are when shooting.

• AI: Added an animation for when they get stunned by a flashbang.

• AI: Added AI callouts for when the player is near bushes, trees, and smoke.

• Gameplay: You can see who killed you in multiplayer by looking at the chat window. 

• Gameplay: Added crosshair zooming.  Adds a slight zoom when you click the scope button without a scope active.  It still slows your movement but you can see a little farther without a scope. This works on mounted weapons and with night vision.

• Gameplay: Added \[REDACTED]. The \[REDACTED] menu can be accessed in the Pause Menu by entering an input sequence found in Poseidon’s Bunk.

• Gameplay: Added ammo information to the magazine interact message

• Gameplay: Recon drone lasers now scale based on distance to improve visibility at far distances. 

• Gameplay: Added the option to choose between white phosphor or green night vision.  The option can be found in the settings menu.

• Gameplay: Your player will now make a grunt and a screen effect will flash when hit.

• Inventory: Backpack now fills out horizontally first instead of vertically when auto slotting items.

• Inventory: Magazine slots on weapons now support multiple rows for individually loaded weapons such as shotguns and grenade launchers.

• Inventory: Weapon icons are now centered in the weapon slots.

• Inventory: Added items weights to the item info window.

• Levels: Improved Missions 1-5.  Added additional enemies, clutter, trees, adjusted terrain, and buildings.

• Levels: The ship’s visuals have been improved.

• Levels: The armory has had a second floor added, weapons are now mounted on the wall, launchers can be found in the boxes along the wall. 

• Levels: Oh Crude: you now ride in on the raft. 

• Weapons: Reduced sway for M21, M24, MP5, MP5SD, and UMP

• Weapons: Increased sway for M240, M249, PKM, and PSG1 

• Weapons: Reduced weapon equip/unequip times for SMGs

• Weapons: Increased weapon equip/unequip times for Sniper Rifles and LMGs

• Weapons: Increased reload speed of the M1014 and masterkey.

• Weapons: Increased M203 round weight.  Was using an incorrect value before.

• Weapons: Updated the M67 with a new mesh and texture.

• Weapons: AK style weapons now support flashlights and the PSO-1 scope.

• Animations: Added new player animations for different movement directions.

• Weapons: RPG now has a spotting rifle attached to enhance target acquisition.

• Weapons: BACK BLAST AREA CLEAR! – RPG, Javelin, SMAW, and AT4 now have back blast that will kill.

• Weapons: Minigun audio replaced and it now visually spins down.

• Weapons: Magazines now say "Heavy" when mostly full.

• UI: Compass now displays the degrees for more precision.

• UI: Players can now disable the compass in settings.

• UI: Players can now disable the crosshair in settings. 

• UI: Updated character customization menus

• UI: Out of date save versioning can now be mission specific.

• AI: Fixed alert priority issue that caused the AI to sometimes run backwards.

• AI: Fixed a movement target error that forced a constant re-pathing, causing them to appear to stand in place while sliding across the ground when close to a player.

• AI: Fixed the friendly gun shot alert not passing along the correct target position in some cases.

• AI: Fixed error with lighting during night missions.  Lights will now apply the correct vision effect on the player.

• AI: Added missing Cartel callout for “By the barrels”

• Drones: Fixed drone battery level not saving

• Gameplay: Fixed items like grenades sometimes showing when the binoculars are active.

• Gameplay: Fixed typo in “Boots on the Ground”

• Gameplay: Fixed friendly fire warning not showing up properly when using scopes at longer ranges.

• Gameplay: You can no longer jump while parachuting.

• Inventory: Fixed icons getting stuck floating on the grid in some odd cases.

• Levels: Fixed floating pole in C1M2

• Levels: Added transparency to the helicopter windows

• Weapons: Fixed scopes turning off when attaching a magazine to individually loaded weapons.

• Weapons: Fixed shotgun pellet distribution

• Weapons: Fixed scale on the M21.  It was smaller than it should have been.

• Weapons: Fixed suppressor positions on multiple weapons.

• Weapons: Projectiles no longer kill the AI that fired them or the player if the player is using speed mult cheats.

• Weapons: Fixed scopes rendering with a lower than normal color accuracy causing banding and other visual artifacts.

• Weapons: Fixed bipods “attached” message remaining on after a weapon is put away.

Hey Little Chefs!

Kokoro Kitchen Demo 2.0 is live now! This little taste of our game will cover 5 in-game days and includes:

🎬 starting cut scene and tutorial

🍳 15 recipes

🛠️ 8 upgrades

✨ 1 very special NPCs

We really hope you enjoy this little slice of what our game has too offer.

Mac and Linux versions are also available! These have not been tested, so if you have any issues please reach out to us in our discord. We would really love to hear from you and it would be really helpful as we finish up the game

We hope you have fun!

Appreciate you!

Axie & Leaf