Expedition: Into Darkness vs Kernel Hearts

• Multiplayer: 1-4 Player Online Co-Op
• Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic), Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2
• Game Engine: Unreal Engine 5
• Release Date: September 17, 2026
• Storage Footprint: 15 GB Available Space

• Trained Camp Warhound: Alerts solo adventurers to hidden ceiling ambushes, growls when enemies flank in the dark, and carries secondary torch supplies.
  Canine (Mastiff)
• Scouting Familiar Raven: Flies through iron barred gates and small dungeon fissures to reveal enemy positions in adjacent rooms before opening doors.
  Arcane Corvid

• Antediluvian Stone Tablets: Found locked inside trapped subterranean reliquaries; deciphered in camp to unlock advanced forge blueprints.
• Eldritch Void Crystals: Mined from pulsating purple geode clusters in abyssal chambers; used as catalyst currency for dark god pacts.
• Knightly Heraldic Seals: Looted from the remains of fallen noble expeditions; unlocks custom shield emblems and armor livery patterns.

• Magical Girl
• Action Roguelike
• Cyberpunk
• Anime
• Hack and Slash
• Co-Op
• Dark Fantasy
• Boss Rush

• Modular Bastard Sword: Two-Handed / One-Handed Hybrid Blade
  A versatile steel blade customizable with various crossguards and pommels, delivering balanced slashing arcs and armor-piercing thrusts.
• Heavy Flanged Mace: One-Handed Bludgeon
  Cast-iron blunt impact weapon designed to crack heavy plate armor, stagger leaping monstrosities, and shatter bonekin skeletons.
• Silver-Edged Halberd: Polearm
  Long-reach pole weapon forged with consecrated silver along its axe blade and spike, permanently preventing undead resurrection.
• Recurve Yew Bow: Ranged Archery
  Flexible yew wood bow paired with hand-crafted bodkin arrows, allowing silent precision eliminations from shadows.
• Occult Handgonne: Black Powder Firearm
  Rudimentary iron hand-cannon firing lead shot and burning sulfur, devastating close-range clustered monsters with explosive shrapnel.

• Starlight Greatsword: Two-Handed Blade
  Fernet's primary weapon delivering crushing kinetic slashes and armor-shattering cleaves.
• Radiant Dual Pistols: Dual Firearms
  Dolce's rapid-firing handguns designed for high-speed hit streaks and aerial juggling.
• Celestial Scythe: Polearm
  Sweeping energy scythe that harvests enemy soul essence to fuel overdrive meters.
• Prism Lance: Thrusting Polearm
  High-velocity piercing spear capable of closing distances instantly with thrust dashes.

• Custom Quilted Gambeson: Impact Absorption +25%, Stamina Recovery +15%; flexible layered linen padding customizable with heraldic color dyes.
• Riveted Chainmail Hauberk: Slashing Deflection +55%, Piercing Resistance +35%, Movement Speed -5%; interlocking steel rings offering balanced dungeon defense.
• Forged Gothic Plate Cuirass: Blunt Deflection +70%, Slashing Immunity +80%, Stamina Drain +20%; heavy tempered steel plate providing impenetrable frontal protection.
• Reinforced Heater Shield: Block Stability +65%, Directional Parry Window +0.2s; heavy wooden shield bound in steel, featuring custom painted heraldry.

• M.A.H.O.U. Standard Plating: Defense: +150; grants 15% damage reduction against celestial energy attacks.
• Seraphic Aegis Weave: Defense: +300; increases dodge invulnerability frames and dash distance by 20%.

• Scavenger's Oilcloth Cowl: Waxed weather-resistant hood and face wrap protecting against noxious spores, tintable with charcoal or forest green dyes.
• Mercenary's Padded Vambraces: Tough boiled leather forearm guards with adjustable brass buckle straps and personalized crest embossing.
• Expeditionary Wool Cloak: Heavy woven travel mantle featuring custom clan embroidery, worn over armor to reduce cold penalties in deep flooded vaults.

Operates on a classless, organic skill progression system where proficiencies level up naturally through action and survival. Core skill disciplines include: Martial Prowess (enhances stamina management, weapon swing recovery, and four-directional parry windows), Marksmanship & Archery (governs draw speed, bow steadiness, and manual arrow fletching efficiency), Survivalism & Scavenging (improves mineral mining yield, lockpicking success, and toxic gas resistance), and Occult Pacts (allows players to cast aside religious piety to make pacts with dark gods beyond the Empyrean, trading sanity or health for forbidden sorceries).

Features procedurally assembled, multi-tiered dungeon complexes branching beneath a central surface sanctuary. Key subterranean zones include: The Forsaken Crypts (tight limestone corridors lined with burial sarcophagi, tripwire dart traps, and wandering bonekin), The Drowned Catacombs (partially submerged cisterns and flooded vaults inhabited by predatory leaping crabs and aquatic monstrosities), The Fleshmaker's Chambers (chambers dominated by horrific pulsating biological growths and fleshkin incubators), and The Eldritch Sanctum (abyssal sanctums illuminated by eerie purple void flames where powerful occult sorcerers channel dark gods).

• Sanctuary Minecart Hoist: Underground Winch Transport
  Heavy-duty mechanical wooden lift utilized at base camp extraction points to haul heavy treasure chests up from the subterranean depths.
• Expedition Supply Wagon: Overland Transport
  Reinforced horse-drawn cart stationed at the surface camp serving as the primary hub for organizing equipment and gear before raids.

• Fleshkin Stalker: Aberrant Abomination
  Skinless, mutated quadrupeds that ambush expeditions from shadowed ceilings, highly vulnerable to lacerating edge damage.
• Bonekin Vanguard: Reanimated Undead
  Ancient skeletal legionnaires wielding rusted armaments that endlessly rebuild their shattered frames unless struck down with silver.
• Armored Cave Goblin: Subterranean Scavenger
  Cunning tunnel raiders wearing makeshift iron plates and shields, requiring piercing arrows or heavy blunt trauma to defeat.
• Giant Cave Leaper: Subterranean Crustacean
  Heavily chitonous ambush predator lurking in flooded cisterns that pounces onto explorers with bone-crushing pincer claws.
• Abyssal Brood Spider: Giant Arachnid
  Venomous subterranean spider that coats narrow corridors in flammable web traps and spits paralytic neurotoxins.

• The Camp Quartermaster: Merchant & Logistics Overseer
  Grizzled former expedition captain who buys salvage, sells base supplies, and manages player storage chests in the surface camp.
• The Blind Alchemist: Crafting & Concoctions Master
  Sightless scholar who brews medical unguents, anti-venom tonics, and illuminating oil draughts from dungeon specimens.
• The Occult Heretic: Forbidden Knowledge Broker
  Exiled monk who trades forbidden antediluvian lore, unlocks occult skill trees, and brokers contracts with entity patrons.
• The Corrupted Hierophant: Abyssal Boss
  A twisted high priest consumed by dark god pacts, commanding legions of bonekin from an unholy throne of desecrated relics.

• Fernet: Protagonist / M.A.H.O.U. Operative
  A battle-tested android magical girl equipped with high-yield blade systems.
• Dolce: Protagonist / M.A.H.O.U. Operative
  An agile gunslinger operative excelling in rapid evasive maneuvers and aerial suppression.
• Archangel Michael: Antagonist / Celestial Guardian
  Radiant multi-winged commander of heaven guarding the gateway to the upper spire.

• Descent into the Black Vaults: Introductory Scavenging Expedition
  Enter the upper crypts, collect 50 units of iron scrap from sarcophagi, and safely reach an extraction rope before light sources fail.
• The Silver Cleansing: High-Threat Dungeon Raid
  Venture into the Bonekin Sepulcher with silver-imbued weapons, destroy three reanimation shrines, and eliminate the Bonekin Patriarch.
• Communion Beyond the Stars: Occult Boss Milestone
  Navigate toxic gas chasms to discover the altar of the Void Father, offer an ancient relic, and survive an onslaught of eldritch horrors to extract.

• Floor 1-10: Ashen Incursion: Tower Ascent Sector
  Ascend the lower tower levels and eliminate initial angelic vanguard waves.
• Floor 25: Trial of the Seraphim: Sector Boss Battle
  Defeat guardian Archangel Michael in a multi-stage aerial boss arena.
• Apex Summit: The Divine Deicide: Final Campaign Confrontation
  Reach the throne room at the top of the tower and dethrone God.

Supports cooperative PvE gameplay for 1 to 5 players per expedition. Groups can venture into the catacombs together, sharing light sources, coordinating ambushes, covering flanks, and reviving downed allies before their bleeding timer expires. Matchmaking allows private password-protected lobbies for friends or public squad matching. While extraction is strictly PvE-focused, friendly fire and environmental traps demand constant team communication.

Expedition: Into Darkness launches in Q4 2026 for PC on Steam for $29.99 USD, following extensive public playtesting and a demo release on August 6, 2026. A Deluxe Supporter Edition is planned at $39.99 USD, featuring the digital soundtrack by FMOD spatial sound artists, a high-resolution concept art book, and exclusive cosmetic dyes, coat-of-arms heraldry, and weapon skin engravings that carry over between permadeath character runs.

Antediluvian Interactive has detailed an early-access to 1.0 roadmap focusing on regular content drops. Planned post-launch expansions include new dungeon biomes such as the Sunken Foundry and Cursed Ossuary, expanded crafting modularity (dual-wielding weapon grips and heavy crossbow winches), additional eldritch patron gods with unique pact abilities, and roaming world bosses that wander between procedural chambers.

• Q: What is Expedition: Into Darkness?
  A: Expedition: Into Darkness is a hardcore, third-person medieval dungeon crawler and extraction looter featuring procedural dungeon layouts, tactical directional melee combat, and permadeath mechanics.
• Q: Who is developing Expedition: Into Darkness?
  A: The game is being developed and published by Antediluvian Interactive, an independent game development studio based in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Q: What engine powers Expedition: Into Darkness?
  A: Expedition: Into Darkness is built on the Unity Engine, utilizing UnityBurst and IL2CPP SDKs along with the FMOD Audio Engine for spatial sound.
• Q: Does the game feature permadeath?
  A: Yes. When your character dies during an expedition, that character and all inventory carried on their person are permanently lost. However, banked resources and upgrades in your base camp remain safe.
• Q: How many players can play together in co-op?
  A: The game supports 1 to 5 players in online cooperative multiplayer, allowing you to venture into the dungeons solo or team up with up to four friends.

• Q: What is Kernel Hearts?
  A: A co-op roguelike action RPG about android magical girls climbing the Tower of Babel to slay God.
• Q: Does Kernel Hearts support online co-op?
  A: Yes, it supports full 4-player online cooperative multiplayer with cross-platform matchmaking.
• Q: Is Kernel Hearts playable on Steam Deck?
  A: Yes, Kernel Hearts is Steam Deck Verified with native 16:10 resolution and gamepad support.

Built in Unity Engine with high-definition scriptable rendering pipelines. Highlights include advanced volumetric fog, realistic torch and lantern light attenuation, dynamic directional shadow-casting from moving player lanterns, procedural blood splatters, and meticulous dark-fantasy armor texturing exhibiting surface scratches, dirt accumulation, and rust over time.

Powered by the FMOD Audio Engine and Resonance Audio spatialization SDKs. The soundscape emphasizes harrowing psychological horror, featuring echoing dripping water, distant scratching claws inside stone walls, creaking leather armor, and bone-snapping combat impacts. The musical score blends dark ambient drones, medieval hurdy-gurdy droning, and eerie choral chants that crescendo dynamically when horrors breach the player's lantern radius.

Employs an immersive, minimalist diegetic HUD designed to heighten claustrophobia and tension. Health, stamina, and sanity are represented through subtle bodily audio-visual cues and compact meters. Inventory management features an interactive grid system where items have distinct weight and volume, alongside a modular workbench interface that allows players to inspect 3D weapon cross-sections, switch hilts, blades, and customize leather wraps and metal dyes in real-time.

Provides a comprehensive suite of accessibility options: full controller support with native DualSense and DualShock controller mappings, adjustable text and UI scaling, stereo and surround sound channel mixing, customizable volume toggles (ambient, effects, voice, master), colorblind palette adjustments for status effects, toggleable camera bob, and custom field-of-view (FOV) sliders.

• Built on the Unity Engine utilizing Unity Burst compiler, IL2CPP runtime, and FMOD spatialized audio SDKs. The game relies heavily on dynamic point-light rendering, volumetric darkness, and ragdoll physics simulations across procedural dungeon levels.
• Laptop Performance Note: Dynamic real-time lantern illumination, shadow-casting torches, and horde encounters can tax mobile GPUs. Gaming laptops should target at least 75W TGP and operate in high-performance cooling modes to prevent thermal downclocking during extended dungeon runs.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: A mobile GPU running at 75W-100W+ TGP is recommended to maintain stable 60 FPS in dense subterranean chambers with overlapping light sources.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The Unity multi-threaded job system creates sustained load across multiple CPU cores; utilizing a cooling pad or elevated rear stand is advised.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Avoid battery-saver profiles; lock CPU wattage to ensure four-directional combat physics and enemy AI pathfinding remain responsive.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Bypass integrated graphics via discrete MUX switch to eliminate micro-stuttering during multi-enemy ambush sequences.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports AMD FSR and dynamic resolution scaling to boost frame rates in dark, particle-heavy catacombs.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Shadow Quality, Volumetric Fog, and Ambient Occlusion exert the largest impact on rendering frame rates in unlit caverns.
• Game Name: Expedition: Into Darkness

• Requires 64-bit OS and processor. DirectX 12 supported. Steam Deck Verified.
• Laptop Performance Note: Unreal Engine 5 scales cleanly; 60W+ mobile TGP ensures steady 60 FPS in arenas.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: 45W TGP for 1080p 60 FPS; 85W+ for 120+ FPS displays.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Clear vents maintain CPU below 80C under load.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Sustained 35W CPU power prevents stutter during 4-player co-op.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: MUX switch bypasses iGPU for lower input latency.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: Supports NVIDIA DLSS 3.7, AMD FSR 3.1, and Intel XeSS.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Volumetric Fog and Particle Density have the largest impact.
• Game Name: Kernel Hearts

• Upscaling Tech: Supports AMD FSR and dynamic resolution scaling to boost frame rates in dark, particle-heavy catacombs.
• Key Settings Impact: Shadow Quality, Volumetric Fog, and Ambient Occlusion exert the largest impact on rendering frame rates in unlit caverns.

• G P U T G P: A mobile GPU running at 75W-100W+ TGP is recommended to maintain stable 60 FPS in dense subterranean chambers with overlapping light sources.
• Cooling Thermals: The Unity multi-threaded job system creates sustained load across multiple CPU cores; utilizing a cooling pad or elevated rear stand is advised.
• C P U Power Limits: Avoid battery-saver profiles; lock CPU wattage to ensure four-directional combat physics and enemy AI pathfinding remain responsive.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Bypass integrated graphics via discrete MUX switch to eliminate micro-stuttering during multi-enemy ambush sequences.

• G P U T G P: 45W TGP for 1080p 60 FPS; 85W+ for 120+ FPS displays.
• Cooling Thermals: Clear vents maintain CPU below 80C under load.
• C P U Power Limits: Sustained 35W CPU power prevents stutter during 4-player co-op.
• M U X Switch Optimus: MUX switch bypasses iGPU for lower input latency.