Kernel Hearts Controls Guide

Kernel Hearts is a third-person action game that recommends a gamepad. Steam lists partial controller support, DualShock, DualSense, adjustable difficulty, custom volume, and camera comfort options. Keyboard and mouse work — demo captures show people playing that way — but the animations and camera are built like a fighter you hold, not like a click-to-move ARPG.

This page does not print a fake official key table. Binds can change between demo builds and launch, and the in-game mapper is the source of truth. Use training. Then come back here for what to put on easy buttons.

If you have not booted, read Getting Started. The video above is a first-15-minutes demo capture so you can see the camera and HUD before you install.

Actions you must be able to hit without thinking

Every MAHOU unit needs:

• Move — camera-relative. If the camera fights you, fix sensitivity before you touch chips.
• Light attack — combo glue.
• Heavy attack — punish, not mash.
• Dodge — i-frames. This is the bind people get wrong. Put it on a bumper / mouse side / easily mashed key, not on a finger that also holds sprint if those share a key.
• Guard / block — especially on Fernet. If you rebound it off the pad face because you “never block,” you will eat B-Cho beams.
• Spell 1 / Spell 2 — Koka and Raiquen for Fernet, Sangetsu and Higanbana for Spika, Blades and Blood Pillar for Laika. If spells are in a nested radial you hate, rebind them out.
• Transform — Heavenly Curse spend. Must be reachable in panic, not buried. Transformation.
• Ping — co-op. If you cannot ping a relic, you will type and die. Co-op.

Kernel Hearts Demo: The First 15 Minutes of Gameplay

Gamepad habits

Steam’s DualShock / DualSense mention means a PlayStation pad is a first-class idea, not a hack. Xbox-layout pads are the usual PC default.

Recommended mental map (not a legal bind list):

• Face buttons: light / heavy / confirm.
• Shoulders: dodge and guard, or dodge and spell.
• Triggers: the other spell and heavy if you came from other character-action games.
• Click-in stick: only if you never accidentally click it while dodging.

If your pad supports adaptive triggers, treat them as flavor until you confirm they do something useful. Comfort options exist — use them if motion sickness shows up in Folktale Fields’ wide camera.

Keyboard and mouse habits

Typical PC movement is WASD plus mouse camera. Put dodge on space or a thumb mouse button. Put a spell on a mouse side button so Fernet can recast Koka without leaving WASD. Do not bind transform to a key you hit while chatting in Discord.

Toggle vs hold for guard: pick one in training. Mixed settings across a four-stack do not matter. Mixed settings in your own muscle memory do.

Camera and comfort

Steam lists camera comfort and custom volume. If the demo’s first meadow makes you sick, drop camera shake, invert Y if that is your life, and widen the FOV if the menu offers it. A pretty trailer camera that you cannot track Pixips with is a lost run.

Co-op-specific binds

Ping, emote, and revive (if mapped separately) need to be as fast as dodge. Four people who can only ping through a pause menu are not a unit. Host should say “rebind ping” before the door, the same way they say “fast Fields or greedy Fields.”

After you bind, go fight

Controls that look good in the lab and fail in a caster pack are not finished. Do one Folktale Fields clear, then change one bind, not six. Read combat so you know which verb you actually missed.

Launch may add gyro, steam-input templates, or a different default. Check the in-game list on September 17. This page is the priority list, not a screenshot of one demo’s mapper.