How to Unlock Kernel Hearts Units

Search demand for “unlock Spika” and “Kernel Hearts locked characters” is louder than the studio’s unlock UI. That is fair. The demo shows four faces in trailers and then greys two of them out. This page is the honest gate list: what the current client tells you, what VODs recorded, and what we will not invent for Laika and Dolce.

Kits live on Fernet, Spika, Laika, and Dolce. Rankings live on the tier list. This article is only how they become selectable. The June 2026 announcement trailer above is the studio putting the whole squad on a poster. A poster is not a select screen.

The squad the marketing promises

Four M.A.H.O.U. units. No secret fifth starter. Closed alpha in 2025 advertised two playable characters plus four-player co-op. The public demo still behaves like that for most players: Fernet immediately, one more if you put in the work (Epic’s hands-on wording), and the rest as grey silhouettes or missing rows.

Your character select screen is the patch notes. If a YouTuber from March has Laika and your August build does not, believe your build.

Kernel Hearts — Official Release Window Announcement

Fernet — UNIT you already have

Fernet is captain, Argentinian, saber, spiritmancer. Default. There is no unlock quest. If she is missing, you are in the wrong menu. Play her for the first Folktale Fields loop. Getting Started.

Spika — defeat Gabriel

Spika is the common demo unlock: katana, Sangetsu, Higanbana, the “this is a fighter” moment. Multiple public captures show select-screen text that amounts to Defeat Gabriel (VODs also type Gabrielle / Gabe). Community chip notes from the demo era add CRT1 after four Gabriel kills. That is a chip gate, not the first unlock.

Do not merge Gabriel with the B-Cho Ringleader until your client uses both names for the same health bar. The bosses page keeps them separate on purpose. If the select screen says Gabriel, hunt the fight that screen named. If it only says clear the First Heaven, clear Folktale Fields and check select again.

Exact floor count beyond “beat that named angel” is unpublished. Trust the current string, not a wiki table that guesses “3 clears.”

Laika — not in the current demo

Laika is in every squad shot: greatsword Damocles, hemokinesis, Crimson Demon energy, a coded UUSR past. Demo captures and community pages agree she is not playable in the current two-floor demo. There is no public “defeat X” line for her in that build. Full-game unlock is unknown. Do not farm a hidden coffin looking for Damocles. Play the units you have. Come back on September 17.

Dolce — Steam header, still a lock

Dolce is the fourth face. Steam’s store has run a VERY IMPORTANT DOLCE ANNOUNCEMENT header, which is the studio insisting she is not flavor. Community kit notes call her a whip user and a last-minute addition. We will not paste a spell list we have not seen in a command menu.

The body of that Steam news post is not something this wiki will paraphrase from a headline. If your demo select still greys her, she is not a secret button. Full-game unlock is unknown. Lab her when the client lets you. Until then she is a poster and a Fortnite-week search term, not a main.

Co-op does not bypass the gate

Joining a host who unlocked Spika does not always grant you Spika on your save. Treat unlocks as per profile until the UI says otherwise. Hosting habits: co-op. Do not kick a Fernet-only friend for “not having the roster.” The demo was built that way.

How to spend the wait

1. Main Fernet until Fields is boring.
2. Beat whatever the select screen named for Spika. Then main Spika until that is boring.
3. Do not reroll accounts looking for Laika.
4. Read Babel and chips so launch night is not your first shop.
5. Watch Updates on September 17 for actual unlock notes.

Kernel Hearts is four people in the trailer and two people in a lot of demo folders. That is a content slice, not a broken roster. Unlock the one the meadow offers. Leave the other two for the seven-Heaven climb.

Related

Players hub for kits. Demo walkthrough for the session that usually surfaces the Spika flag. Pre-order if you are buying before you have finished the demo.