Publisher Whitethorn Games and developer Ephemera have announced that Kernel Hearts, co-op action RPG and roguelike hybrid, will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on September 17, 2026. A release date trailer was released.
In Kernel Hearts, up to four players form the M.A.H.O.U. Unit, a squad of android magical girls scaling the Tower of Babel to assassinate a god and save the world. Players choose from units like Fernet, Spica, and Laika, chaining light attacks, heavy strikes, dashes, and unique magic into fluid combos. Every floor caps off with a challenging guardian boss fight. Defeating enemies yields souls that level up your character, unlocking a choice of new spells like a charging familiar or a destructive shockwave. Speed is crucial, and lingering in one area will have the Tower summoning increasingly powerful foes. Fortunately, players can harness the Tower’s energy to break the curse, triggering a temporary, supercharged transformation to clear out crowded rooms.
Dying sends the squad back to a laboratory on the edge of humanity’s last stronghold. Here, players can spend their hard-earned rewards on permanent upgrades, slotting up to 256KB of chips into their unit’s MAHOU.OS to boost vital stats like health and defense. Players can interact with various residents in the Tower, offering gifts to build bonds that can eventually blossom into romance. The game’s demo is currently available on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Alongside the new trailer, the studio rolled out a Fortnite tie-in: Fernet, captain of the game’s M.A.H.O.U. Unit, becomes available as a Fortnite outfit.
Kernel Hearts is the debut title from Ephemera, a fully remote, Argentina-based studio founded in 2022 by software industry veterans. According to director Akira, the project began with just four friends and has been in development for about four years, heavily inspired by the anime culture the team grew up with.
Kernel Hearts is available to wishlist now on Steam.