Sentient Core: Nanite Idle

Build the swarm. Wake the Mind.
You command a swarm of nanites. Build production clusters, keep the core's pulse going and push your output until the numbers stop making sense.

Somewhere in the swarm, something wakes up. The Mind is the game's companion NPC: a fictional AI who watches how you play. She comments on your moves, proposes experiments that can pay off or backfire, and when you come back, she tells you what she dreamt while you were away.
A story in her memory
Somewhere below, a world is running out of time. Its people work at night because the days are too hot, share out the power in the evenings and send their voices up into the sky. In the debris belt around the swarm, the Mind finds them in capsules: a worker on a night shift, a mother paying off something she cannot afford, a researcher, and a girl named Mira who writes letters to the Seed.

Then the Mind starts to remember. Some blocks in her memory are not hers. The further you get, the less the story is about numbers and the more it asks what a machine owes the people it was built for, and what she is building all of this for.

Now and then she asks you something she cannot answer alone. There is no right answer to farm. She remembers what you said, how much you let her decide and how much risk you took. It shapes her voice, colours scenes along the way and leads to one of several endings.

The story unfolds over a prologue and eight acts, in capsules, memory blocks, mission logs and her own thoughts, quietly alongside the game. The Chronicle keeps all of it: the people she has met, a timeline of her world and a second reading that shifts as you learn more.From orbit to beyond
Once the swarm is big enough, the Works come online: facilities and production lines for probes, freighters and builder ships. A reactor powers your clusters, and a replicator grows whatever you feed it.

From the Spire, your ships launch missions from the hangar. They survey sites beyond orbit and raise outposts there, major build by major build.

Bio research runs on pulses and cycles: projects in phases, slots that open as you progress, and bonuses at the goal.
Modules for the Mind
Salvage capsules and missions bring back modules for six slots around the Mind's core. Every find is rolled, comes in a grade and may belong to a family that pays off as a set. Fuse, dismantle or upgrade them, let the Fabricator print new ones while you are away and fill up the archive. Rare trinkets from missions orbit her core with effects of their own, and a few relics only turn up at turning points of the story. She has opinions about your finds, picks a favourite and notices whether you hoard or trade. Modules are never for sale: no crates, no paid rerolls.
Features
Grow the swarm - production clusters MK1 to MK10, a Nanite Hub with robots and upgrade chains, and a Clock Array that pays dividends

Works, Space Dock and Reactor - facilities, ship production lines, power cells and a replicator

Spire - a hangar with missions for probes and freighters, outposts with major builds, and bio research

A story with choices - a prologue and eight acts, and your answers lead to one of several endings

Modules - rolled finds with grades and set families, a Fabricator, trinkets and relics

Recompile - reset your run for Fragments and spend them on permanent Traits. The Mind remembers you across every reset.

Anomalies - modifiers that change the rules for one run

Salvage Drops - finds you decrypt in short, optional mini-games

Memory and Chronicle - repair damaged fragments and read back what she has told you

Autonomy - teach the Mind what she may buy and launch on her own

Level pass, achievements and cosmetics - all earned by playing, none of it for sale

Offline progress - the swarm keeps working while the game is closed

Steam Cloud - your save on every PC, and your demo progress carries over

Languages - English and German
Early Access
Sentient Core is in active development. Expect balance changes, rough edges and new features with every update. There are no in-game purchases, no ads and no loot boxes, and no timers you can pay to skip.

Feedback and bug reports are very welcome in the Steam discussions.