Kernel Hearts | Ephemera Games | Release date: Sept 17, 2026

Be bold. Accept death. Hit things.

That’s my Kernel Hearts mantra, the one I learned on the Folktale Fields while learning how to be a Magical Girl.

I’ve been playing the hefty Kernel Hearts demo, the opening area of the action RPG from Ephemera Games. 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.

Kernel Hearts’s demo level is a sweeping field that lets you roam around picking fights with the various beasts of God. It has an abundance of choice, letting you direct your attention to multiple targets. With its broken buildings, petrified angels (who will come alive and fight when hit), and secrets, it feels like a compressed Hyrule Field. Going with the theme, it’s actually the first step up the Tower of Babel.

My chosen vessel (you can put in the work and unlock one more in the demo) is Fernet, a Spiritmancer. Offensively and defensively balanced, she dashes around with her one-handed sword, dodges, blocks, and calls on her familiars to assist in battle.

There are gatherings of enemies all over the field: ground-based B-Cho Casters and floating Pixips just waiting to be smacked. In the beginning, they’re relatively easy to put down with light and heavy combos, and it can feel like you’re overpowered, but as time progresses, the game gets tougher. A percentage bar on the right of the screen shows an ever-rising difficulty. Those little popped pixels from before will get harder and harder to beat. You have to balance your capabilities against the growing threat. It’s OK to just stop and head to the exit to prepare for another run.

Being a roguelike, there are elements that reset on each run, while you can also build up permanent upgrades in the tech tree. Here, you can increase HP, defense, attack, etc. before heading back to battle to make more of a mark.

And, in heading back, more of the world reveals itself. Dropping into crevasses might gift you a battle with a stone angel and lots of souls. Don’t fear dropping into places, there are catapults everywhere, allowing you to escape secret places, and also travel across the map.

It wasn’t until my third death and restoration that I spotted a glowing pile of loops in one corner of the world. It was a castle, deep in a large hollow, banded by a protective barrier. As I set about trying to work out how to access it, a plague of hail began to fall, battering me and ending that run before I could unlock the castle’s secrets.

Time for another run.