Chris InglisMachine Mind is a promising mix of action, survival, and RTS elements developed by Chudo-Yudo Games and published by Targem Games. The game launched on Steam on March 6, 2026, and drops you headfirst into the same post-apocalyptic world as Crossout. After crash landing on the planet, your consciousness is preserved in an experimental mind module, and you are forced to pilot machines to interact with a broken world.
The isometric view and atmosphere of the industrial deserts and abandoned factories is supported by a soundtrack that perfectly captures the scrapheap and machine-run aesthetic. Driving your first rover to discover question marks on the map offers an intriguing sense of discovery and wonder as you come across raiders on foot and vehicles that want the resources for themselves. The proceeding transition from a lone vehicle to a growing base of operations provides a satisfying sense of progression.
While the initial tutorials do a decent job of getting you mobile and explaining the core combat and crafting loops, they are tucked away in a journal accessed by hitting J and can easily be ignored. It wasn’t made clear about the limitations of the various modifications you can add to your vehicle, and later to bot vehicles. You have two bots sitting idle in the first base you come across. One is equipped with a construction module and the other with a scrap bucket to scoop up resources. Initially it was fun to swap out modules to your primary vehicle. The construction module allows you to place building blueprints, but they need resources. Swap out the constructor for the scoop bucket and off we go scavenging. Back to base and swap out the bucket for the constructor, add resources and then realise you are short some. Swap back to the scoop, find resources, comeback, swap over, and so on.
It wasn’t until a play session or two later that I finally learned you must research each bot’s automation role in the tech tree. Without specifically unlocking the ore collector or defender software roles, your machines are just expensive paperweights that take damage when a lightning storm crosses right over the base. It’s a frustrating hurdle that the game doesn’t explicitly flag early enough. The game does auto save, but only on the transition of day to night. You cannot manual save, so progression can be lost if you get outnumbered or venture too far into unknown territory. Knowing how I did and given the setback timing, I was able to use my time to better prepare, but lost progress is still a reality that bites.
Another aspect that is not well explained is that some module parts require certain parameters on each vehicle. For example, the scoop bucket can only be placed on the base level. In terms of weapon modules, placing one behind the other will render the rear weapon useless as it cannot shoot through the front one. Adding the second weapon a level above the first sounds like the solution, but depending on the weapon type, the extra height may affect the firing arc and range of the weapon. These are all excellent systems that add to the strategy of building your combat vehicles, they are just not explained well. It is one thing to leave the learning to the player, as other games hand hold far too much, but a little more instruction in the tutorial tips would be beneficial.
For the most part, I do love the isometric view for driving around, exploring ruins and taking on enemy combat units. However, the view can become an annoyance when you are tinkering with your base. You can zoom the view out but the default view zooms into your vehicle, so you are constantly having to parallel park near the buildings you want to interact with. Then zooming the camera out just enough to grab a module or work on the next building or having to go back to driving view and move just that little bit over to work on the next buildings or walls.
Overall, Machine Mind is a gritty isometric survival and base building experience that rewards players who are patient and have a tinkerers mindset. The world is well detailed enough with a couple of different biomes, and the modular building system offers more depth than your average survival game. If the developers can iron out the tutorial gaps and better communicate the requirements for automation, this could be a standout indie gem.
This review utilised a key provided by Targem Games and Machine Mind is out now on Steam.
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Daniel Agius