Kernel Hearts - October Update - 1.0.15v

Hey everyone!

Akira, Kernel Hearts director here.

It's been almost a month since the game came out, and today we're happy to release our first content patch!

We dug into your feedback to identify some of the most requested features and improvements. We still have work to do, but I'm happy we could get this out ahead of our original estimate of late October.

This means that almost everything on the October Roadmap is now out, except for the English voiceover!

Here are some of the changes:

Training Mode

We've added a training mode that's accessible right after finishing the tutorial.

Here, you'll be able to experiment with any Mementos, Relics, and enemies you've come across during your expeditions. There's also a very fun vertical movement challenge. What a thrill.

Reworked Tutorial

Originally, we wanted the tutorial to be brief, but we found that some folks left the initial level with more questions than answers. We've expanded the tutorial to cover almost all of the game's mechanics, including some secrets. The tutorial can now also be replayed from the Main Menu.

We're trying something new here, so all feedback is welcome, especially from folks who struggled with the original version.

Save Slots

You can now have up to 3 save slots! You'll also be able to check your progress for each save on the save slot screen from the Main Menu.

Chipsets

You can now have up to four preset chipsets, so you can easily switch between them before an expedition.

Spell Re-Rolls

You'll now get the chance to re-roll the spell offered on the Level Up screen. Gone are the days of yearning for Links of Blood.

Keybinds

We've taken your feedback and greatly expanded the keybinding options, alongside lots of bug fixes and improved support for different types of controllers. You can also select the button icons that best match your controller.

Here are some more of the general changes:

Improvements

• Frame rate is no longer capped at the monitor's refresh rate.
• Added a setting on PC to choose which controller's button icons are shown.
• Added a resolution quality setting.
• Display setting changes must now be confirmed after they're applied.
• Mahou Transformation can now be rebound on keyboard.
• Movement keys (WASD) can now be rebound.
• The Toggle HUD key can now be rebound.
• The Emote Wheel can now be rebound.
• The Chip Menu now highlights newly discovered chips and shows them all before giving control to the player.
• Chips available to acquire now display their memory cost.
• Chips you can currently afford to acquire have a shining lock icon.
• The Continue button is now the first option in the Main Menu and is hidden when there's no game to continue.

Balance

Fernet

• Increased the base Heavy Attack string's damage against shields.
• Decreased Jawbreaker's damage against shields.
• Reduced Heavy Attack 2's recovery from 24 to 16 frames.
• Heavy Attack 2 now causes hitstop on its first hit.
• Reduced hitbox sizes throughout the Heavy Attack string.

Laika

• Increased Moon Lander's recovery from 18 to 20 frames.
• Reduced Moon Lander's hitbox size.
• Increased Fist-Mode Heavy Attack 3's damage from 27 to 42.
• Fist-Mode Running Light Attack can now be cancelled into a dash.
• Combo enders in Fist-Mode now allow you to restart their strings sooner.

Spika

• Removed Full Moon's startup invincibility frames.
• Redistributed Full Moon's hitboxes around Spika.
• Full Moon now only staggers the enemy in front of Spika.
• Reduced Full Moon's damage from 11 to 7 for hits around Spika.
• Increased Full Moon's damage from 22 to 24 for the hit in front of Spika.
• Increased Full Moon's number of hits from 5 to 9.
• Slightly reduced Overhead's hitbox size.
• Decreased mana recovery from airborne attacks.
• Increased mana recovery from Heavy Attacks.
• Increased mana recovery from Chasing the Beatle.
• Increased the pushback distance of Higanbana's final slash.

Dolce

• Fixed an issue that caused air attacks to deal the same damage regardless of distance to enemies.
• Fixed inconsistencies when trying to continue a combo string after casting Copia.
• Shortened Redemption's cancel window.
• Increased Redemption's damage per loop from 19 to 30.
• Increased Heavy Attack 1's damage from 96 to 144 at its farthest hitbox.
• Increased Light Attack damage at mid and long range. Damage at the farthest hitbox is now:
• Light Attack 1: 35 → 40
• Light Attack 2: 36 → 44
• Light Attack 3: 36 → 42
• Light Attack 4: 43 → 48

Universal Changes

• Dash animations can now be cancelled into jumps.
• Slightly increased Soul rewards from Coffin Purification in all levels.
• Slightly increased the time required for the Sin Meter to reach 100% in all levels.
• Slightly reduced Soul rewards from enemies and Stray Souls in Skybound Citadel, Twisted Halls, and Judecca.

Enemies

• Moderately reduced Heavencrawl's effectiveness on bosses.
• Slightly reduced the number of enemies that spawn per door in Judecca.
• Reduced the hitbox size of Kadmiel's bite attack.
• Reduced the hitbox size of the third hit in Cursed Ronin's 3-hit combo.
• Reduced the starting enemy level in Skybound Citadel by 1.
• Moderately reduced Warden Angel's shield points.
• Slightly increased Warden Angel's health.
• Slightly reduced Envoy Elite's health.
• Slightly reduced Bomber Elite's health.
• Slightly reduced Juggernaut's health.
• Moderately reduced Ground Master's shield points.
• Slightly increased Ground Master's health.
• Slightly reduced Cursed Ronin's shield points.
• Slightly increased Cursed Ronin's health.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Armorial Angel from receiving bonus damage from Heavy Attacks.

Bug Fixes

Achievements

• The "Hoarder" achievement can now be unlocked. Players who already qualify will get it the next time they start the game.
• The "Stocked" achievement now requires every chip. It no longer unlocks a few chips early.

Gameplay

• Dolce's air attacks now deal more damage at longer range, as intended.
• Fixed an animation glitch when cancelling out of Dolce's Copia.
• Fixed Dolce's whip appearing during her Burst animation.
• Fixed Aether Strike affecting the player who used it and causing slowdown.
• Ichigo's Trick now slows down the enemy it triggers on.
• Kira's Wrath executions now trigger from Dolce's long-range whip hits.
• Heartstopper now respects its cooldown.
• Heartstopper now releases enemies when the player moves away from them.
• Heartstopper's mark is now visible when the same enemy is marked again.
• Fixed Soulbloom taking too long to die.

Levels

• Fixed players being able to get out of bounds in the tutorial, including with Fernet's Yo-Yo.
• Fixed players being able to get out of bounds in Ash Desert.
• Fixed players being able to get past the collapsed hallway debris after Nura's Fire Exit bond.
• Fixed a shiny floor surface in Twisted Halls that caused visual glitches.

Menus

• Fixed chip buttons in the Chip Menu sometimes staying tinted or invisible.
• The Memento and Level Up menus now display correctly on ultrawide and other screen sizes.
• Fixed the Promise menu's accept button being out of place.

Controls

• Fixed D-pad presses registering twice on PlayStation and Switch Pro controllers.
• Fixed an issue where only the first gamepad was registered for input.

Multiplayer

• Fixed lag in multiplayer caused by the Sin Meter.
• Fixed player deaths sometimes not registering for everyone in multiplayer.

Graphics

• Fixed screen flickering when motion blur is turned off.