Full ReleaseXbox · Switch · PC · PlayStation

Kernel Hearts

Ephemera Games · ARPG, RPG, Action, Indie

Overview

Gather your allies. Eliminate Angels. Transform into a Magical Girl. Slay god. Kernel Hearts is a Multiplayer Co-Op Roguelike Action RPG about four magical girls and their attempt to save a world that's drowning in ashes

Kernel Hearts is a unique blend of action RPG and roguelike elements with multiplayer co-op. As part of the M.A.H.O.U Unit, you are tasked with climbing the Tower of Babel, eliminating the angelic creatures in your path as you dethrone God and save a world drowning in ashes.

ONE MORE GOD REJECTED

Mix and match your attacks, spells, and movement with unique powers during each run to unleash devastating combos on the enemies you encounter.

Punch biblical monsters in the face with up to four friends. Each level culminates in an intense boss fight against the domain's guardian

EQUIP & CUSTOMIZE YOUR UNITS

After each expedition, you will return to the last memory backup in a laboratory located on the outskirts of humanity's last holdout.

Spend the rewards from each run to unlock and equip up to 256KB of chips onto your Unit MAHOU.OS, and customize them as you see fit.

TRANSFORM INTO A MAGICAL GIRL

Harness the strength of the tower to dispel the Heavenly Curse from yourself, unleashing a devastating attack on nearby foes and attaining your true form for a short period.

BOND WITH YOUR ALLIES

Interact with the tower's unique inhabitants and give them gifts to deepen your bond.

From the game's Steam store page.

THE GAMEQ VERDICT157 reviews analyzed

What players are actually saying

1. Summary

Kernel Hearts is a co-op (up to four players) action roguelite from a small debut studio: android magical girls climb the Tower of Babel through large, open floors in the style of Risk of Rain 2, racing a "Sin meter" that ends in a deadly angel, with NieR- and Devil May Cry-flavored combo combat, four distinct playable girls, NPC bond stories and a chip-based meta progression. Reviewers praise the presentation, including a good number of those voting it down. The Pretty Patterns soundtrack (featuring Emi Evans) is the most praised thing in the reviews, with the characters close behind, then the story and the 2D art and UI. Positive reviewers call it a heartfelt passion project and good value at its roughly $20 price, and some say it clicks once you unlock the second character and learn its unexplained systems.

The complaints are about the core gameplay loop. Enemies are damage sponges, upgrades are tiny percentage bumps, meta currency trickles in, the dodge feels inconsistent, hitboxes and telegraphs are unclear, and the Sin meter leaves no time to explore the big maps the game builds. Several negative reviews call it an Early Access game sold as 1.0, and a few playtest and demo veterans say little changed. Reviewers disagree on whether the charm, and the loop once it clicks, outweigh the jank at this price.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

A standout soundtrackHigh

The music is praised more often than anything else: about a third of all reviews mention it, and several negative reviews list it among the positives. Players single out Pretty Patterns' score, Emi Evans' vocals and tracks like "Cataract"; several call it the highlight of the game, and one begs for the whole OST to be posted. The only caveat, raised once, is that it is hard to hear audio cues for attacks in crowded fights.

Story, characters and bond scenesHigh

Players love the four playable girls and the hub NPCs, the humor that offsets a dark post-apocalyptic world, the fully voiced opening cutscene, and an ending one reviewer calls "well worth getting to." Another points out that failure is "also part of the story," since each death sends you back to the hub with the materials you gathered. NieR is the inspiration reviewers name most often, followed by Persona and Metaphor; Madoka-style magical girls and Evangelion come up once or twice. Dissent exists: a few found the main plot generic, disjointed or too thin on explanation, some wanted more story and were let down when it "just stopped" after the first clear, and one player wanted a way to skip story scenes when hunting unlocks. A couple of players say the materials for bond gifts are too hard to come by to see the character arcs.

Art direction, character design and UIHigh

The 2D art, character designs, dialogue portraits, tutorial doodles and a Metaphor-like UI draw consistent praise, and one reviewer says the presentation is "punching way, way above its weight for the price." This praise is specifically about the 2D work: the 3D side gets a separate, much harsher verdict (see frustrations).

A heartfelt passion project worth the priceMedium

Some positive reviews frame the game as a small team's labor of love and grade it accordingly: "only $20", "worth every penny", and a reminder that not every game needs "a triple A price tag." Some explicitly forgive the jank because of the price, while a few negative reviews argue the opposite: too expensive for how unfinished it plays, wait for a steep sale, or acceptable only at a regional discount.

Four genuinely different playable girlsMedium

Players who unlocked more of the roster say each girl changes how fights play: Spika's fast aerial combos, Dolce's clones, Laika's sword-and-fist MP juggling. A few reviewers call the starter, Fernet, the most basic of the four (one blames the "low hour reviews complaining combat feels clunky" on her) and suggest playing Story difficulty to unlock the others quickly. That same gap feeds the balance complaints below.

Memorable bossesLow

Bosses, especially the third-floor boss that unlocks the transformation, are called hype, well designed and fun to learn. A minority see them as HP sponges instead, and one player found the second-to-last boss underwhelming.

Fluid movement and platformingLow

A handful of players praise fast, responsive movement, double jumps, stomping off enemies' heads and aerial combat. Others report the opposite (delayed jumps, little air control, sliding off ledges), so this is a minority positive.

Where players are split

Whether the combat is clunky or clicks with practiceHigh

This is the main divide. Critics, many of them within their first few hours, describe the combat as stiff, janky and weightless: stop-motion animations, placeholder-looking VFX (the flaming sword is "basically just a huge orange glowing stick"), combo inputs that come out wrong, animation locks, and mashing light attacks as the best strategy. Defenders, who have mostly played longer, say it is a learning curve: the combo and cancel system rewards skill, perfect dodges trigger a Bayonetta-style slowdown, and characters beyond Fernet open up the depth. Some positive reviews concede the jank while saying it was fun anyway.

Released too early?High

9 of the 38 negative reviews, and 2 positive ones, say the game feels like Early Access sold as 1.0, and a few playtest and demo veterans say the release is nearly identical to what they gave feedback on. The counterargument is that it is a debut indie at a low price with an active developer: players cite quick hotfixes (after the 22 September patch, one group found co-op playable again) and an October roadmap that includes rerolls, multiple save slots and an English voice-over. Several negative reviews promise to change their verdict after patches.

Co-op: the best way to play, and the buggiestMedium

A good number of positive reviews say the game shines with friends, some believe it is balanced for groups, and one found crossplay smooth. Against that: guests don't progress their own bonds or story, the lobby is barebones with no codes and an unreliable Friends Only setting, nothing stops one player from stalling a run during shared cutscenes, players report desyncs and black maps, only the host can see the transformation gauge, and one player outside North America struggled to find anyone to play with. One group ran a full four-person party and still struggled.

Difficulty and roguelite depthMedium

Players disagree on whether the game is too hard or too shallow. Some find even Normal punishing and advise starting on Story; others say that once built up the game is a cakewalk, runs feel much the same, and one says it plays better as an arcade hack-and-slash than a challenging roguelite. One detailed review liked that skill and narrative unlocks matter more than lucky builds; others missed the build-defining items of Risk of Rain 2.

Figuring things out on your ownMedium

A good number of players say the game explains too little: how to reach the boss (talk to a teleporter NPC), how to earn materials, what the level system does, that consumables heal, and what chips actually change. One reviewer who watched others start blind says most "had no idea what to do to progress." One player likes that the game "trusts the player" to work things out, and some say it makes sense after a few runs, but it drives early confusion.

What frustrates players

Weak upgrades and slow progressionHigh

A frequent complaint, raised by short- and long-playtime players alike. In-run relics, mementos and level-ups are tiny (+2% crit, a small chance for a status effect), levels and chips cost too much, coins barely trickle in, and early runs can end with nothing to spend. Players want bigger, build-changing items, cheaper level-ups, better early coin gain and rerolls. A minority disagree, pointing to the end-of-stage damage counter or saying it clicks after unlocking chips through bonds.

Enemies that are damage spongesHigh

Basic enemies and elites take too long to kill, scale sharply as the meter rises (some with super armor), and swarm the player while rewarding very little, which ties into the progression complaint. Some think it is tuned for co-op; defenders say it gets much more manageable with chips and better characters, and that difficulty can be lowered at any time.

Inconsistent dodge, hitboxes and telegraphsHigh

Players on both sides want the dodge made consistent: one fan writes "unify dodging timer," and a negative review pleads "Unify it, make it all the same type of timing or telegraph." Complaints include eaten inputs, being unable to dodge out of your own attack strings, perfect-dodge windows that seem to differ per enemy, hits landing before the impact frame, poor attack telegraphs (especially statues and bosses), undodgeable bombs and projectiles, and flying enemies drifting out of reach. A few players find the dodge spammable and forgiving instead.

A Sin meter that leaves no room to exploreMedium

Reviewers on both sides dislike the timer. Unlike Risk of Rain's rising difficulty, the angel at 100% is effectively a run ender, so players feel they can only collect souls and sprint for the exit, never exploring the big maps or their secrets. A couple of players defend it as the point of the design and well balanced around it.

Bugs and soft-locksMedium

Most reports are fixable rather than fatal: a hub bug where talking to a new character freezes dialogue and hides the HUD, characters unable to attack after transforming, loss of normal attacks, black or untextured levels, getting stuck in floors, crashes in co-op, and achievements that had to be fixed. A couple of players say the first hotfix already fixed some of these.

Oversized maps and hard-to-find exitsMedium

Players find the floors big and barren for solo play, with catapults and jump pads as band-aids. The third floor's jump-pad layout is singled out as slow and misleading, and the exit marker only appearing at 80 to 90% of the meter (with a portal that blends into the background) comes up more than once, including from a playtest veteran who reported it earlier.

Rough 3D models, effects and visual clarityMedium

In contrast to the 2D art, the 3D character models, animations and some textures are called muddy, PS2-era or unfinished, and some enemy projectiles look like untextured orbs. In fights, smoke and particle effects (including other players' in co-op), a screen-fogging world event and a crowded camera make enemies hard to read, and one player asks for settings to turn the effects down.

Character and build balanceLow

A few reviewers call Fernet, the starter, the weakest and most basic character, which shapes first impressions. At the other end, one player finished the game spamming Spika's jump combo and an invulnerability spell, and another calls Dolce's clones a cheat character. One notes an obvious relic meta that limits build variety.

The magical girl transformation arrives late and ends fastLow

The headline feature is locked behind the third boss (or beating the game, by one account), charges slowly and lasts only around 15 to 20 seconds. Players who bought it for the magical girls want it sooner and more often.

Controls and input setupLow

Reports include keybinds that could not be rebound, a confusing controller scheme, controller inputs not configured on Steam Deck, and the mouse being unusable for dialogue and level-up choices. Mouse and keyboard play was praised by others.

Missing English voice-over and thin contentLow

A few players felt shortchanged that English dialogue shown in the trailer was not in the launch build (it is on the roadmap). Separately, some who finished the game in five to twenty hours found it short, with limited level randomization, skills and relics, and wished for outfits.

3. The player conversation

The tone is warm even in many of the negative reviews: plenty of them praise the music, art, characters or story before turning to the gameplay, say they want the game to succeed, and promise to revisit after patches. The dispute is over whether the combat and progression loop is ready. The most-upvoted negative reviews make much the same case: beautiful, but the gameplay is undercooked. Many negative reviews come from players in their first hour or two, and they dwell on clunky combat, sponge-like enemies and unexplained systems. Several fans with more hours grant the individual complaints but say the game rewards pushing through, that Story difficulty and the second character help, and that the jank is forgivable at the price.

Sentiment improved slightly after launch week: 73% of reviews written in launch week recommended the game, rising to 80% in week two after launch. Over the same stretch the first hotfixes landed, and a few reviews cite the developer's October plans (rerolls, save slots, English voice-over) as a reason for optimism. Some caution that the demo and playtests had flagged many of the same issues.

4. What the developers could do

Make upgrades matter and speed up early progression. A frequent complaint is that relics and level-ups are tiny percentage bumps while levels, chips and coins are priced so high that early runs yield almost nothing, and players asked for bigger items, cheaper levels and the promised rerolls.
Retune enemy health and scaling, especially for solo. Sponge-like fodder and elites that balloon as the meter rises, while dropping little, were blamed for making fights tedious rather than challenging, and some suspect the tuning assumes a full co-op party.
Tighten the dodge, hitboxes and attack telegraphs. Players across both camps asked to unify perfect-dodge timing, allow dodge-cancelling out of attack strings, and fix hits that land before the impact frame and attacks with no clear tell.
Loosen the Sin meter and show the exit earlier. The run-ending angel and an exit marker that only appears at 80 to 90% leave players sprinting instead of exploring, and some ask for more time to explore each level.
Keep fixing bugs and fill in co-op basics. Hub dialogue and HUD freezes, black maps and co-op soft-locks were reported, and co-op players want guest bond and story progress, lobby codes, a working Friends Only setting and protection against one player stalling shared cutscenes.
Explain the core systems in-game. New players did not know how to reach the boss, earn materials or heal, and players asked for a way to see their stats, clearer chip and memento values and a record of relics picked up during a run.
Add visual clarity options and polish the 3D effects. A setting to turn down particle effects (including teammates'), a gentler fog event, and less placeholder-looking VFX and animation would address what players describe.
Fix input setup and deliver the promised English voice-over. Rebinding, controller and Steam Deck configuration, and mouse support in menus were reported broken or missing, and English dialogue shown in the trailer was expected at launch.