Discrete Heart

Discrete Heart is a top-down, 2D pixel game centered on building and managing emotions. You control characters and combine emotions to find an empathy recipe within a limited time index, a value that simulates real time. To finish a run, you must become an “Unintentionaler” and speak with the Guider.

Build emotions

The emotion-building system draws on the Plutchik wheel, with basic and combined emotions. Emotions can raise or lower different abilities. Once you find an empathy recipe, you can use empathy to adjust its combination. You decide which emotions to gain or keep based on the situation, though occasional accidents can disrupt your plans. The Guider only lets people who are “Unintentionaler” complete a run.

Explore and interact

You interact with NPCs and encounter plot-related puzzles. Stories may connect, but they do not always have to. There are few system-level restrictions: you are not required to play a particular protagonist or follow a prescribed path to save the world, and you can choose to take on a specific role.

Combat and survival

Combat uses a simplified action RPG system with several cold weapons and no elaborate skills or magic. The game also has a tailored roguelike structure: each run begins on a map with limited vision, then leads to randomly generated sub-maps. These sub-maps have different terrain and varying chances of containing specific unit types. You can receive random attribute-point rewards, encounter randomly generated units and choose from possible plots.

All units, including your character, can pick up items, have independent archives and die permanently. Units have no factions, and any of them can initiate a battle. They are randomly generated and grow alongside the character you control.

Trade and crafting

You can trade with most NPCs, using currency to buy items they hold. Items can also be synthesized once you have their recipes. You can decide whether any NPC lives or dies, and the game does not restrict battles based on the plot.

After you become familiar with the game, a run can take as little as 30 minutes.