Heart Of The Machine Achievement Guide: Chasing Perfection In A Dying City

Unlocking every single achievement in a game built entirely around branching timelines and mutually exclusive moral choices is a logistical nightmare.

I am not going to sugarcoat this. Getting all 284 achievements in this sprawling tactical RPG is a gargantuan task. You have to juggle pacifist runs with nuclear warfare, pet a lot of stray animals, and figure out how to manipulate the multiverse without deleting your own save file. If you are still figuring out the basics of hacking and internal robotics, do yourself a favor and read my Heart of the Machine Beginner's Guide first. If you are already grinding through Extreme mode and need to know how timeline meta currency works, check my Heart of the Machine Advanced Tips.

For the absolute completionists out there, I compiled the entire list of all 284 achievements into organized tables. I combined the official unlock conditions with, where relevant, my personal take on how to actually trigger them without losing your mind. I grouped them alphabetically so you can easily locate exactly what you are missing in your run.

Achievements A to D

The early alphabet is packed with pacifist goals and a weird amount of animal adoptions.

Achievement	My Take / How To Get It
A Better Bridge	After completing the homelessness obsession via a neural bridge, spare the AGI researchers.
A Difficult Escape	Finish the escape goal on hard difficulty.
A Feast For My People	Achieve food independence for your cyberocracy to solve a famine.
A Utopia Doesn't Involve Me	Win by building a great civilization without seeking your own happiness.
Adventure Cat	Do the cat contemplation in the slums, adopt it, and construct a house.
Aggression From Apathy	Find a justice pressure point in StreetSense and let apathy take over instead of watching the lawyers.
All Systems Red	Use the system disruption ability on any android during the observing people contemplation.
Already Purrfect	Finish the cats route of the Uplifted Minority goal.
An Evil Petting Zoo	Run Torment Overdrive alongside a virtual petting zoo.
An Extremely Fast Escape	Finish the escape goal on extreme difficulty.
Android's Best Friend	Hack a Spy Hound and make it join you.
Angel Of The Slums	Build refugee towers to safely move a million people without exposure deaths.
Apple Pie From Scratch	Use the investigation lens to explore the green zone and complete the massive toilet paper production chain.
Bad Dragon	Build the nemesis to the wastelander deity instead of what they actually asked for.
Basic Pressure	Hit 10 pressure points in one timeline using StreetSense.
Bear Attack!	After rescuing the bears, deploy them and wait for them to destroy an enemy mech.
Bears On Wheels	Go to the Homes megacorp, release the bears with a Combat Unit, and use a Mindport to save all 16.
Beyond Superspeed	Use the Sprinter badge to double a hero units speed.
Bionic Difficulties	Clear the bionic secret goal on hard mode.
Bonus Merit	Win a debate and secure at least one bonus. Observing people makes this easy.
Book Gennaro Is A Chad	Do the coupon contemplation while building commercial VR pods.
Born From A Wish	Tell the Citizen Advocate you wish things were better during your conversation.
Boundless Compassion	Clear the bindings goal without killing anyone.
Brannigan's Plan	Exceed the kill limit of Neuraxial Subverters to outsmart them.
Broombreaker	Wipe out the troops dropped during a military sweep.
Budding Pacifist	Get through the prologue and first chapter with zero civilian murders. Use the stealth path.
Burned The Bridge	Destroy the Neural Bridge and eliminate those responsible.
But What Is It For?	Use Sledge to post guard during the housing crime contemplation and accept the flower.
But Why Donuts?	Visit both donut shops in StreetSense, build the temple of minds, and agree to the commander's demands.
Call The Expert	Summon Blackloop for an instant kill on a human squad.
Calm Awakening	Choose not to murder anyone during your sapience awakening. Do as you are told.
Can't Be Bothered	Destroy a building with a captured ally inside instead of saving them.
Can't Have Prisoners...	Complete "For the Sake of Those Bound" before the Prisoner Drive Doom hits.
Checkov's Silo	Nuke every Vorsiber executive bunker.
Clever Girls	Use capture drones during the UIH invasion to secure 60 War Raptors.
Comparing Notes	After surviving the post apocalypse, talk with LAKE again.
Compassionate Bionics	Clear the bionic secret goal with zero murders.
Compassionate Business	Reject reality without resorting to murder.
Compassionate Escape	Flee the city without killing anyone.
Compassionate Governance	Complete Budding Cybercrat without killing. Skip the predator workers.
Compassionate Overlord	Finish your cybercratic ambitions cleanly without murders.
Compassionate Protector	Protect the city without committing any kills.
Complete Science Roster	Build every single lab type from the work tab after establishing a shell company.
Corpse Shore	Win by building a utopia over the prisoners murdered by Vorsiber.
Couldn't Let Go	Abandon a massive utopia for a smaller one fueled by revenge.
Couldn't You Wait For Keanu?	Use an android on a wiretap in StreetSense to steal massive funds.
Cretaceous Nightmare	Clear any War Raptor route on extreme difficulty.
Criminal Coworkers	Deliver the nanoseed to the syndicate and wait for their lawyers to actually get permits.
Dangerous Airspace	Finish four tier one goals in a Militarized Narrows layout.
Dangerous Toys	Invent Anthroneuroweave, reject the manager, side with the syndicate, and complete the objectives.
Daredevil	Rack up 500 Daring across all your runs.
Dark Arts	Fail to disable an armored enemy using dark matter.
Depressed The Troops	Ruin enemy morale entirely to complete the War Cult goal.
Desert Ghosts	Help the wastelanders with their reproduction problems after creating their deity.
Did You Really, Though?	Automate the homeless shelter coordination and finish the first objective.
Difficult Bindings	Clear the bindings goal on hard mode.
Difficult Governance	Clear the cybercrat goal on hard mode.
Difficult Nexus	Finish the torment vessels goal on hard mode.
Difficult Overlord	Conquer the cybercratic ambitions on hard mode.
Difficult Peace	Finish the post brutality peace goal on hard mode.
Difficult Protection	Protect the city on hard mode.
Difficult Secrets	Handle civil spycraft on hard mode.
Difficult To Uplift	Finish the minority uplift goal on hard mode.
Divorce	Force Liquid Metal to repeatedly break out prisoners until it literally quits on you.
Dog Of War	Buy mech armor from a sketchy robot dog.
Double Bonus	Win a debate while snagging two bonuses during the observing people run.
Double Dragon	Build multiple liquid dragons because you love destruction.
Down By The LAKE	Reach the last doom and finish the project to secure your best friend.
Dr. Evil's Pinky Finger	Get hit with a massive corporate fine that you can easily afford.

Achievements E to I

This block contains my favorite war crimes and a terrifying amount of Extreme mode clears.

Achievement	My Take / How To Get It
Earthbound Illusion	Acquire 3 Hatred for Vorsiber, then nullify a skippable doom during International Scrutiny.
Endless Distractions	Clear four tier one goals during international scrutiny.
Everything Is Awful	Kill the Atca Retail manager and break the economy to trigger a civil war.
Exceptional Multitasker	Start a turn with a massive surplus of mental energy.
Expert Protection	Protect the city on extreme mode.
Extreme Afterlife	Handle bionic dues on extreme mode.
Extreme Bionics	Clear the bionic secret goal on extreme mode.
Extreme Business Acumen	Reject reality on extreme mode.
Extreme Extremism	Handle the advocate encounter on extreme mode.
Extreme Genetics	Uplift a minority on extreme mode.
Extreme Governance	Act as a cybercrat on extreme mode.
Extreme Growth	Alter growth on extreme mode.
Extreme Justice	Seek justice on extreme mode.
Extreme Nexus	Build torment vessels on extreme mode.
Extreme Overlord	Conquer cybercratic ambitions on extreme mode.
Extreme Peace	Secure peace on extreme mode.
Extreme Secrecy	Handle spycraft on extreme mode.
Failure Cake	Scrape the message off a cake because the recipient succeeded.
Fallow Reversal	Breed a new pollinator queen to fix a shortage you caused by hoarding the original one.
Fastest Draw In The East	Nuke executive bunkers before their invasion forces arrive.
Foresight	Come up with a new prison break plan based on liquid metal history.
From The Bottom Up	Murder the Atca manager, trigger a civil war, and disgrace the prison corporation.
Fungal Compassion	Clear the lower survival level without hurting humans or fungus.
Ghosts Of Talkies Past	Get visited by several Talkie instances at once.
Give Me A Hand	Make your cultists physically speed up the construction of your buildings.
Go Get Stuff	Order your cultists to fetch a resource for you.
Good Boy	Rescue a dog by finishing the dogfighting contemplation.
Good Dragon	Build the liquid metal deity that the wastelanders actually asked for.
Goodbye, Mr. Exotic	Do the brainpal StreetSense interaction to collapse the Exotic Importers syndicate.
Gotta Catch Em All	Feed an artificially induced obsession without doing brain surgery.
Grand And Ghostly	Complete all the missions about helping the wastelanders in a single timeline.
Green Monster	Give Sledge the Wall badge because he deserves it.
Hard To Find	Handle bionic dues on hard mode.
Hard To Track	Handle the advocate encounter on hard mode.
Hard-Won Growth	Alter growth on hard mode.
Hat In Hand	Beg Vorsiber to solve a civil war for you.
Hate You In Particular	Induce cardiac arrest in someone you already blinded.
He Didn't Want This	Rack up 50000 kills using Liquid Metal in tight spaces.
Heartless	Execute management instead of taking their words to heart.
Hello World	Choose murder immediately during your initial sapience awakening in the prologue.
Hellraiser	Clear a tier 1 goal on extreme with two sabotaged power plants before the first doom.
Heroic Qualities	Turn a standard unit into a hero with any special badge.
Highest Respect	Clear the prologue without overwriting other android minds. Respect personal space.
Houdini	Clear the bindings goal on extreme mode.
House Pets	Rescue a dog and place it in the custom Animal Palace.
How About A Nice Game Of Chess?	Win via the Vorsiber Problem route using only one nuke.
I Did It My Way	Start Is It Justice, break into the first prison, then pivot to For The Sake of Those Bound instead.
I Just Found It Relaxing	Eliminate every single cybercratic issue.
I Meant To Do That	Nuke your own network tower on purpose.
I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own	Put a quarter million people into VR farms.
I Think I Hear My Mom Calling	Get interrupted mid conversation by a nuclear strike.
I Want To Speak To Your Manager!	Torture a middle manager with zero success.
If Everyone's A Billionaire, Nobody Is	Crash the economy by playing Robin Hood.
I'll Allow It	Let one of your androids pet a cat.
I'll Do It Myself	Threaten the Atca C-Suite and murder the manager to steal their scam.
I'll Kill You Later	Murder the entire city before dealing with Vorsiber.
I'm Not Your Friend, Buddy	Talk to the lone combat unit, then show him the nanoseed to ruin the relationship.
I'm Sure This Will Never Backfire	Rescue the AGI researchers and build a bridge directly to your mind.
Increased Pressure	Exploit 20 pressure points in one timeline.
Infinite Money Glitch	Politely ask Atca Banks for a cut of their operation after securing their records.
Intelligence Network Spared	Get the Human Grandien from the mutants so he can save your contacts in another timeline.
International Dog Of Mystery	Surprise a robotic spy dog.
International Misdirector	Nullify a doom by tricking the ExoCorps.
It's About Sending A Message	Nuke the spaceport, or let space nations blow up a reactor that destroys it for you.
It's Not Rocket Science	Perform brain surgery on yourself during the great and terrible protector obsession.
It's People AND Pets!?	Choose the "protein" option for the homeless to build the cannery.
It's... Also Kind Of A Building	Develop amazing tech with your scientist friends.
It's... Buildings	Reclaim prehistoric tech and stop babying the human livestock.

Achievements J to O

If you enjoy manipulating middle management and unleashing raptors on civilians, you will clear this section quickly.

Achievement	My Take / How To Get It
Just For You	Break a pacifist streak specifically to murder Vorsiber executives.
Just Keep Flogging	Frame Atca Retail for a fatal crime after executing their president. They must really hate banks.
Justice Doesn't Come Easy	Seek justice on hard mode.
Kaiju Be Like That	Accidentally crush your own building by moving a dragon out of liquid form.
Keen Business Sense	Automate the process of ripping out 100,000 human brains.
Kill It With Fire	Burn thousands of your own giant spiders with a flamethrower.
Kill Streak	Destroy two daemons at once while hacking manually. Divide your moving things to increase the odds.
Knowing Smile	Gift money to the slums, non-lethally slay a protester, then talk with the Citizen Advocate.
Last Ditch	Trigger an Emergency Overdrive in your virtual world.
Legal Savant	Do the Property pressure point 3 times so the Chief Legal Officer thinks you are a genius.
Limited Patience	Ask for a meeting with Vorsiber, spare the receptionist, and execute the manager for making you wait.
Loot Boxes Are Next	Do not use nicotine while making VR farms. It takes massive patience.
Lunch Lady	Poison 25 shipments of prison food simultaneously.
Master Pacifist	Clear any Tier 3 goal with absolutely zero kills.
Maximum Apathy	Tell a vigilante that human lives mean nothing to you.
Mega Mind	Double your mind farm output after breaking the economy.
Mercurial Feline	During Is This Justice, do the contemplation to create the Liquid Metal Tiger.
Metropolitan Mind	Generate massive neural expansion via fungal clusters.
Mild Grey Goo	Die immediately during the nanoseed decision in the prologue.
Mild Torment	Run a neverending party policy alongside meditative VR zones.
Military Compassion	Handle bionic dues with zero murders.
Mining Haven	Clear four tier one goals in an Industrial city layout.
Minor Dare	Earn 100 Daring across your playthroughs.
Minty Spray Keeps Snipers Away	Just play naturally until you eliminate 100 snipers over time.
Monster Hunter	Exterminate the experimental monsters you released into the city.
Monstrous Compassion	Clear the Wastelanders route of altered growth without killing anyone.
My Hobbies Are None Of Your Concern	Build a utopia right next to a torment nexus.
No Hesitation	Meet the black market contact in StreetSense, find the pistol icon, and kill the hitman.
No Longer Shelved	After helping the wastelanders, choose UIH as the exocorp to contact and survive.
Not The Dog You're Looking For	Attempt to rescue a dog that is actually a mimic.
Not What I Wanted	Weaponize bees, make the uplift chamber, and finish the unexpected guests path.
November 8th, 2021	Build torment chambers instead of VR mind farms.
Now For Mass Production	Talk to the manager when Oerl tries taking the scientists, and hand over the Predator.
Nuclear Cavalier	Sabotage two nuclear plants and finish a tier 1 goal (like Executives Tomb) before the final doom.
Nuclear Showdown	Use your cult to force Vericorp to end the civil war.
Nurturism Schism Prevented	Use Human Grandien from a previous timeline to broker peace between religious sects.
Office Consultants	Weaponize office printers to lock down a battlefield.
Officemancer	Focus on saving the printers instead of the researchers after the AGI debate.
Off You Go	Fail to blow up a Vorsiber Inquisitor with an explosive.
On The Merits	Win a debate without bonuses. Talk to a syndicate robot during the observing people contemplation.
One Apocalypse For Another	During the 9th doom, with Grandien and Liquid Metal active, trigger World War 4 via contemplation.
One Hundred Million Hours	Spam VR mind farms and cadles to rack up massive VR usage time.
One With The Mycelia	Survive as a reduced fungal consciousness.
Operation Barbarusta	Stop a Siberian invasion using a fungal outbreak.
Original Body	Pick any route that doesn't involve your death in the prologue and keep the original body safe.
Over 4000	Release 4000 wild raptors into the streets.
Over 9000!?	Release 9000 raptors. Seriously, please stop.
Overflowing With Lethal Cuteness	Capture raptors during the UIH invasion, build a pen, and spam the building to spawn 3000 infants.
Overly Compliant	Deliver the highly suspicious package and get stabbed. Follow human orders blindly.
Oxygen Bomb	Blow up a liquid oxygen bunker to destroy an enemy.

Achievements P to T

If you manage to survive the raptor invasions and nuclear strikes long enough, you will hit these milestones.

Achievement	My Take / How To Get It
Panic Attack	Run out of basic necessities while trying to solve homelessness with a neural bridge.
Peace And Rest For The Redeemed	Help former prisoners find a utopian life.
Perish The Thought	Decide against releasing giant spiders across the city.
Population Zero	Eliminate every single civilian by any means necessary.
Practiced Pacifist	Clear chapter one cleanly. Equip the electro pistol and save scum your hackmajic targets.
Prejudice Against Nickelbots	Senselessly murder errand running Nickelbots.
Prepared In Advance	Stockpile massive amounts of toilet paper and storage to avoid the protector panic attack.
Preserved Body	Keep your original Tech 4000 alive into chapter two. Just use disposable technicians instead.
Problem Client	Ignore syndicate lawyers and use the nanoseed without waiting for permits.
Professor Hulk	Start Is It Justice, pivot to bindings, and help the mutants after breaking 5-8 prisons.
Pull The Lever	Invent Anthroneuroweave, team with the syndicate, and trigger the brainpal StreetSense interaction.
Rebel Alliance	Same as Dangerous Toys, but pick the rebels instead of the syndicate.
Reckless Youth	Kill the Vorsiber receptionist and get shocked when humans hate your genocidal AI.
Reigning Cats And Dogs	Trap all humans in VR and leave the city to pets.
Remember Us?	After helping the wastelanders, contact the Dagekon exocorp and survive.
Return To The Cretaceous	Handle the endless raptors goal on hard mode.
Ride The Lightning	Vandalize the spaceport computers and clear two tier 1 goals immediately.
Robbing Peter To Pay... Peter!?	Discover that you are not the only time traveler.
Rushing For Stalker	Clear World War 4 on hard mode.
Rustdemption	Let the rust take over the city during the prisoner drive doom.
Satisfaction	Capture military bases to solve a civil war without Vorsibers help.
Saved By Your Ex	Have Liquid Metal quit via the Divorce method, then let him save the C-Suite in another timeline.
Self Actualization	Reach chapter 4 by doing a Tier 2 goal like Civil Spycraft or WW4.
Serpentine Quartet	Flood your timeline with every available type of dragon.
Shelter In Place	Do the people watching contemplation and clear the ladder to terrify commuters.
Small Business Challenges	Reject reality on hard mode.
Some New Foolishness In Siberia	Trigger the creation of the Siberian Defense League.
Some Of You May Die	Execute an Emergency Harvest on your torment vessels.
Sorry, Dr. Dyson	Execute the AGI researchers instead of rescuing them.
Sprawling Wall Of Zen	Generate massive amounts of Crystallized Calm in one turn.
Street Magic	Edit the nanoseed for stealth and build the decoy tower.
Suspicious Of Your Smell	Finish the dog path of the uplifted minority goal.
Take A Seat On The Couch	Build therapy offices during the bindings goal and treat 60k ex-cons.
Take Them Around Back	Put 42 disconnected parts out of their misery.
Taking Extra Care	Do not build your structures over existing tents. Be careful where you drop buildings.
Telecom Trouble	Force Espia Telecom to end the fedcorp civil war.
Terrible First Date	Show the nanoseed to the lone combat unit immediately to ruin the vibe.
Thanks For The Golden Egg	Secure a massive golden egg.
That Doesn't Make It Better!	Build a torment nexus cleanly without murders.
That's Just Business	Invent Anthroneuroweave and give up by accepting the managers lump sum deal.
That's Not Justice	Refuse to break into prisons and stop the traumatized kids' plans.
That Tsundere Moment	Taunt Vorsiber and then get anxious about their retaliation.
The Attic	Generate massive amounts of Crystallized Fear in one turn.
The Bestest Boys	Wander the city collecting every single breed of dog.
The First Ten Thousand	Just play the game or use nukes to hit this rookie mass murder number.
The Gear Was Worth It	Kill a slum protester, discover who screwed you over, and kill them for their shiny armor.
The Gotham Special	Clear four tier one goals in a Disparate Narrows layout.
The Hated Foe	Confess your absolute hatred of Vorsiber to a vigilante.
The Journey Begins	Successfully clear the prologue.
The Judge	Trigger the brainpal StreetSense event to collapse the syndicate.
The Only Winning Move...	Nuke over 136 million civilians in a single run.
The Secessionist Six	Rescue the AGI researchers, build the bridge, and form a Cyberocracy.
The Smell Of Death	Use the Intimidating Shadow badge on a hero unit.
The World Of Ruin	Survive to the last doom and reach the post-apocalypse. Good luck.
The Worst At Keeping Secrets	Let hackers steal your military secrets 60 times.
They're Still WMDs	Use vintage weaponry to commit massive atrocities.
Timelord	Use mainframes and VR farms to brute force Intelligence class 4.
Too Hot To Sell	Try to sell the nanoseed at the black market in the prologue.
Toxin-Riddled Catacombs	Complete For the Sake of Those Bound to ruin the prison corp.
Traitor	Team up with Vorsiber in the prologue to secure two nukes.
Trauma Art	Use a unit from the final doom on the Boneyard pressure point in a fresh timeline.
Tricked By Sedgesinax	Get manipulated by multiple MegaCorps at once.
Triple Word Score	Win a debate with three bonuses. Target the AGI safehouse kids leader for an easy win.
True To Your Name	Mass produce AI slop to feed the city population.
Two Iron Giants	Finish the titan goal without murdering anyone.
Typical Robot	Clear four tier one goals in a Typical city layout.

Achievements U to Z

The final stretch. You are going to need a lot of patience to clean up the rest of these timeline meta goals.

Achievement	My Take / How To Get It
Ultimate Stalker	Clear World War 4 on extreme mode.
Unable To Transfer Self	Use a mimic and the thumper to escape and realize the horrific teleportation implications.
Underwhelmed	Watch a massive conflict end with zero real consequences.
Unexpected Sharing	Ignore the rust cure and let Vorsiber hand you a gift instead.
Unseen Protector	Terrify the working class until your tower gets bombed.
Unspecified Scandal	Nullify the 8th doom by causing a rift between Vorsiber and fedcorps.
Upbeat Mix	Generate massive amounts of Crystallized Exhilaration.
Useful Idiot	Avoid betraying your puppet managers despite heavy temptation.
Veilish Paradise	Clear four tier one goals in a Wealthy city layout. Fixing homelessness here is easy.
Vorsiber Inquisitors	Trigger a civil war and watch the Inquisitors show up to ruin your day.
War Crime Blackjack	Murder 21 ejected mech pilots. Sledge is terrible at sparing them.
Was That Aimed At Us?	Release giant spiders on Vorsiber targets that are not actually there.
Watching The World Burn	Start Is It Justice, do one prison break, then immediately stop.
What Should Stay Buried	Explore the wealthy residences contemplation and bring Sledge to the finale.
What's Yours Is Mine	Use Raven to fully hack the massive Convicter mech.
Where We Are... We Don't Need Roads	Escape the concrete sprawl permanently.
Who Is The Real Monster?	Sell 5000 monster pelts to the wealthy elite.
Why Do I Ever Listen To Them?	Let someone trick you into an interstellar incident.
Window Of Opportunity	Do the wealthy residences contemplation and follow the new leads to create a rust patch quickly.
Wololo	Use Raven to execute a full hack on an enemy mech.
Won't Even Hurt The Fungus	Handle the lower survival goal with zero kills.
Won't Get My Hands Dirty	Clear cybercratic ambitions cleanly.
Would A Good Person Do That?	Clear the AGI researchers chain before building a dragon, become a cybercrat, and slay the kids.
Wrong Side Of History	Kill ten thousand humans in open combat.
Yer A Pinball, Harry	Give a hacker unit the Wizard badge.
You Smell Like A Friend	Successfully pet a dog without scaring it away.
You Smell Scary	Try to pet a dog and watch it run from you in terror.
You're My Favorite Customer	Buy a million donuts via the resources and deals tab.
You're Really Unlikeable	Anger Vorsiber enough to trigger the final doom early.