Kernel Hearts from Whitethorn Games and Ephemera Games is an action RPG with roguelike elements in which you’ll magical girl your way to victory. Learn more in our Kernel Hearts review!
Kernel Hearts from Whitethorn Games and Ephemera Games is an action RPG with roguelike elements in which you’ll magical girl your way to victory. Your task is simple: eliminate Angels so that you can slay God. You’re part of the M.A.H.O.U Unit, and you will need to give it your all as you climb through the Tower of Babel, destroying the many angelic creatures foolish enough to try and put a stop to your mission. With the world now covered in ashes, you will meet The Creator, the one who has created the model unit that you will inhabit. It’s thanks to this that you’ll be able to try to save the world over and over again, until you manage to destroy God, once and for all.
Given the game’s roguelike nature, you won’t be able to take down God during your first try. The good news is that after each run, you’ll be able to travel back to the last memory backup in a laboratory on the outskirts of humanity’s last remaining holdout. It’s there that you’ll be able to spend the rewards you’ve managed to collect in order to unlock and equip up to 256KB of chips onto your character, so that you can customize your loadout – more on this in a bit.
Kernel Hearts can be played on your own on your Nintendo Switch 2 console, or you can take advantage of the online multiplayer co-op experience for up to four players. Do remember that in order to be able to take the fight online, you’ll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription – either an individual one or as part of a Nintendo Switch Online Family Membership.
Once the animated intro cutscene is over and you’re ready to go, you’ll get to select the difficulty setting you’ll use for your adventure. Your options for this will be Story, Normal, and Sinner. As the name suggests, the Story difficulty setting offers a relaxed mode that dials back the challenge, allowing you to focus on exploring the world of Kernel Hearts and connecting with its characters. The Normal difficulty setting offers the standard experience, balanced to test your skills as you progress further and further. As for the Sinner difficulty setting, it will throw you into battle with enemies who are stronger and more aggressive, testing your expertise in full. The good news? You can switch between them to find the right one for you.
Who are the characters in the game? Unit-001 is Argentinian Fernet, who excels at using one-handed swords. Unit-002 is Laika, born and raised in the USSR, and she likes to use her greatsword, which she has called Damocles. Unit-003 is Spika, a child of post-war Japan who was born missing an eye. And we then have Unit-004, an Italian who shines with her beauty and brawn. At first, only Fernet will be available, so you’ll need to work on unlocking the other 3 by defeating bosses.
When the action starts, you’ll be taking control of your character by using the left analog stick, while the right analog stick will move the camera around. You can jump and double jump by pressing the B button and dash around by pressing the R button. Lock onto enemies by using the L button so that you can more easily land your attacks. Light attacks will be mapped to the Y button, while heavy attacks will be mapped to the X button.
You can interact with objects and other characters as needed by using the A button. Consumable items can be set to the D-Pad. Your primary spell will be set to the ZL button, and your secondary spell will be set to the ZR button. To communicate with your fellow companions, you can press the – button to open up the emotes wheel and then pick the right one for your current scenario.
You will need to collect the blue Lost Wishes to purify coffins, which are the resting place of prior Magical Girls who fell in battle. Defeat all nagels that are attracted by the purification process and complete it, so that you can be rewarded with a Memento. Mementos are powerful skills that were mastered by their previous owners, which means they’ll make a difference in your journey.
Some examples of Mementos are Airys Revenge, which will summon a fairy familiar that will follow your attacks with a ranged spell that acts on a cooldown. One more Memento is Nakshatra’s Lust, which will have your combo finisher apply Divine Searing over a small area. Or you could get the Sol Wings, which will make your heavy aerial strikes launch a flying blade wave that will cut through nearby enemies.
Collecting Stray Souls is how you’ll be able to level up your character. This is done by activating a Moon Shrine, so that you can then spend the pink Stray Souls to grow stronger. Defeat enemies, collect Stray Souls, and level up so that you can gain new spells. One example would be the spell for Koka, whom you can summon to fight by your side. Another spell summons Airy, who will fire a beam at a target.
You can collect special coins during each run to acquire and equip the special chips that can boost your character, thus improving your chances of reaching further into the Tower of Babel. Some examples of special chips include Var.Health, which will increase your max HP by a bit; Var.Defense, which will boost defense by a small amount; and Var.Attack, which will – you guessed it – increase the damage you deal with melee attacks. You can also unlock the EssencePurifier, which will slightly increase the amount of souls given by Stray Souls you collect.
You should also locate and interact with the inhabitants while exploring the Town of Babel. It’s by interacting with them and sharing some gifts that you’ll be able to deepen your bond with them, so that they can aid you on your mission to save everyone from the perpetual ash that covers it, in hopes that a new world can be born.
Kernel Hearts is an action RPG with roguelike elements in which you’ll magical girl your way to victory. Your task is simple: eliminate Angels so that you can slay God. You’re part of the M.A.H.O.U Unit, and you will need to give it your all as you climb through the Tower of Babel, destroying the many angelic creatures foolish enough to try and put a stop to your mission. With the world now covered in ashes, you will meet The Creator, the one who has created the model unit that you will inhabit. It’s thanks to this that you’ll be able to try to save the world over and over again, until you manage to destroy God, once and for all.
The game offers several customization options for its graphics. You can mix and match the settings to find the right one for you, with some of them having an effect on the overall frame rate as well. You can change the draw distance, post-processing quality, anti-aliasing quality, texture quality, and shadow quality, as well as enable or disable bloom and motion blur. You can go as low as, well, the Low option, or go up to 11 and take the settings to Epic. Kernel Hearts is out on Nintendo Switch 2 with a $19.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Kernel Hearts review is based on a Nintendo Switch 2 copy provided by Whitethorn Games.
