Cronos: The New Dawn

Bloober Team has an interesting track record over the years with their releases. Since 2016, their focus has been on delivering compelling, narrative-driven horror games that are visually stunning and creatively outstanding. They have nailed much of the visual flair and creativity, but other factors have held them back. Personally, I loved Observer, and its remake of the 2001 classic Silent Hill 2, which showed that they had the chops to bring about massive production values, intense horror gameplay featuring gritty combat, and deliver on the scares. And now with Cronos: The New Dawn, I can firmly say that Bloober Team is still proving very worthy of our praise and respect, amounting to, quite frankly, their best game overall in my opinion.


What the hell is Cronos: The New Dawn?

Cronos: The New Dawn is another venture into survival horror for Bloober Team. It’s a departure from many of their previous titles, incorporating the elements they first developed and implemented in Silent Hill 2, such as resource management and brutal combat.

Set in the distant future, we play as The Traveller, a heavily armoured humanoid time traveller who's been sent out into the field to carry on the work of their predecessor. The world is no more after a deadly outbreak wiped out humanity long ago. There is nothing more than a barren wasteland of decay, that holds only the fragmented remnants of humanity and is now home to a terrifying body horror entity haunting you on every step of your venture.

The goal is to find Dive Points across the once great city of Warsaw, these being tears that link past and present, and it’s in the past the Traveller needs to go to find answers. The Traveller must locate and find people of interest tied to the cause of the end of days, and it is up to the Traveller to extract the information needed by any means necessary. Usually in the most gruesome way possible.

The Traveller herself is in a dangerous place, be it past or present, as sickly, fleshy creatures known as Orphans roam the wasteland. The way forward will be paved in blood, bullets, resource management, key hunting, problem-solving, setting things on fire, and, of course, save rooms with soothing music. Cronos: The New Dawn is a bleak, Godless, and brutal survival horror that truly captivated me despite having seen the formula over and over as a veteran survival horror fan.


A fractured past, an uncertain future

When it comes to narratives for Bloober Team games, they usually hit environmental storytelling and particular beats beautifully, but never seem to hit other narrative elements, to be honest. The closest they got to great storytelling was with Observer and Silent Hill 2, and while the latter was a remake, they managed to add in some nice additions to elevate the 20-year-old original. As for Cronos, there is absolutely a compelling mystery right here, and one that kept me invested throughout the campaign. Everything with the outbreak, the Traveller, who she works for, and the time travel stuff has a lot of potential for greatness for a narrative platform. I feel it’s fair to say that while the story avoids many of the trappings Bloober have fallen for in their previous titles, it is ultimately a very safe story experience, and considering this story focuses on time travel, there was quite a lot that could be done with that.

To avoid spoilers as much as possible, I will say that before completing the story, I found myself calling out what I thought would be the end/reasoning behind the key narrative beats. And I guessed most of it, while what I didn’t guess, I found a little “typical”. Like with certain other elements, such as the creatures, it felt all too familiar.

It's not bad at all; it’s just a little underwhelming towards the end, despite the best attempt at wrapping up a good mystery with a satisfying yet predictable end.

I personally like the Traveller as a protagonist, even with her blunt, soulless delivery, which later in the game regains some humanity, and even though she felt very machine-like, I still had some attachment, weirdly, like I had watched Terminator 2. But the supporting cast doesn’t fare better, aside from another Traveller who has a nice moment or two in the story. The other characters are quite forgettable and are mere devices to push the narrative forward, nothing more.

However, I did love the intimate mystery of the world that has long died, the outbreak, and going back in time to see a version of the 1980s going through its own Covid outbreak, and the lockdowns. The world-building elements, seeing the past and present, and having the Traveller piece everything together were the best parts, and I genuinely wanted to see where it would all go. Something like 12 Monkeys (which Cronos was clearly inspired by) took a very dark turn at the end, but one which was profound and meaningful. Crono sadly doesn’t match the level of profoundness, and the last hour or so does lose focus, but I could sense some interesting ideas and questions, which, if explored further, might have brought about something vastly more memorable.

Some of what Cronos offers is fantastic; in fact, the environmental storytelling is just amazing at times, particularly with the “Essences” you collect and hearing them from time to time, along with small story details that truly add up to a bleak, horrifying picture. And the New Game plus addition is a neat touch overall (no spoilers). But I can’t help but feel there is also a sense of safety, since other games from Bloboer may not have fared well in their themes or subject matter. Still, Cronos does a good enough job, and there is a lot here to keep you invested until the end.

That is also helped, but quite frankly, some spectacular gameplay mechanics and level design.


Such a beautiful horror

But before I delve into that, I must note that Cronos is a visually breathtaking game, both for its art direction and graphical representation. Not only have Bloober Team perfected their visual flair, but they have also shown repeatedly that they are masters of style, world-building, and crafting metaphorical visual design that even the Traveller’s helmet begs a lot of questions! And while many elements from the enemies, the gore, and visualisation of Poland are things we’ve seen before, there’s something so gratifying and beautifully haunting about them still that only Bloober Team knew how to do. I love the diesel punk aesthetics, the beautifully clunky and over-cumbersome design of the Travellers and their gear, and the overly fleshy, gloopy, and icky-ness of the monsters, and their “merging” nature.

As for performance, Cronos ran incredibly well for me, with no crashes, slowdowns, or stutters on my base PS5. Everything held up incredibly well, but I will bring up some of the enemy AI at times were a little dodgy, or just plain stupid. And there was a thing where when bigger enemies were down, and I caused an explosion near them, ripping/dismembering them, these dismembered parts would gently float away. Not major at all, and hopefully something to be ironed out.


Don’t let them merge!

Where Cronos excels is with the survival horror gameplay, and I’m going to be honest with you guys. But it’s some of the best I’ve played in the last 10 years! Not to say there haven’t been other games to offer excellent survival horror experiences, as Crow Country, Signalis, Hollowbody, Dead Space remake, and RE7 have all done that. But Cronos: The New Dawn just nails every fibre of gameplay from its gruelling resource management, the peak level design, weight of combat, and problem-solving all shine through so bright.

What we get is a linear path through Cronos that does a detour and has looping level design to provide backtracking and deeper exploration, but the golden path never deviates or crosses the threshold too greatly. You will push forward, grind enemies into bloody chunks, find a key, find a tool, loop around, find a secret, and push forward again until the chapter end. It’s a solid gameplay/level design loop that incorporates a lot of subsystems that push tension and lateral thinking to the max.

Many of the staples are here from low resources, crafting vital resources, a claustrophobic sense of gravity, impactful decision making, and overwhelming dread. Also, we have a pair of bolt cutters, of course! What I admire the most from Cronos was just how much I was deciding on important decisions, such as whether to create first aid or craft 4 handgun bullets that might get me through the next encounter. Every step was provoking a sense of terror, every shot I missed I screamed at, and making sure I could burn everybody in sight left me a paranoid mess that ultimately extended my game time. And it was all bloody brilliant.

The Traveller can do the basics, and as a walking tank, they’re not likely to pull off any ballerina of death moves here. Instead, you hulk across the decaying wasteland, through old hospitals, steel works, and apartment buildings, doing your best to survive. You have access to several firearms, a device that allows you to burn bodies, and another to manipulate the fabric of time and space to alter the landscape, acting as environmental puzzles.

The latter is a little disappointing, as most of the environmental puzzles are incredibly simple, being a one or two-beat task to complete. You do get another device that links up electrical currents from the power source to the fuse box, and this fares better, but again, it is often too simple. And there aren’t many “Puzzle, Puzzles” like the ones we find in Resident Evil or Silent Hill titles. But the couple here are pretty good, but I wish there were more of a riddle/brain teaser variety.  

Burn 'em, before they merge!

Burning bodies and enemies become a vital skill as enemies have a way of merging, and aside from not being a pretty sight, it also means that your odds of surviving an ambush when these f***ers merge and become stronger, shrink quite considerably. I will admit, Cronos is a pretty ballsy game, that can be one tough mudda. It’s often a gruelling marathon that requires your all to just get through. It’s gripping, nasty, and I love that it messes around. Pure joy. I loved pushing forward to new areas and seeing bodies scattered about, fearing which ones would come back to life, the merging, my ammo count, and finding that next safe room or stash to replenish my stock. It’s constantly tense, dread-inducing, but a highly enriching experience that rewards creativity, exploration, and quick thinking. In recent years, not many games have kept me invested and in a state of joy/panic past the second act, but Cronos is just built like a beast that grips you until the end.

As for the weapons and combat, it’s punchy, weighty, and very, very intense. There’s little room for error, and stocking up, exploring, and being focused on preservation in multiple areas are what get you through. There can be quite an explosion from creepy, close encounters to full-out war with multiple enemies, where you must line them up next to a convenient explosive barrel and light them up to live another day. But the action is solid, and I always felt I had just barely enough to scrape by, even when things got a little too hot for my liking. There is a good selection of tools and weapons, which can all be upgraded, adding another layer of tension and decision-making on whether you want to buy resources or upgrade your shotgun.

What adds another layer to the survival strategy component are “Essences”, which I briefly mentioned before. These are essentially the “spirits” of important figures from the past, and carrying them brings about important buffs and, dare I say “curses” with them. You can hold three of them, and there are about a dozen to find and use to benefit you. One essence might grant extra headshot damage, while another will allow you to find increased energy, Cronos’ version of currency. And there’s a neat bit of environmental storytelling with these essences, which I won’t spoil, but it’s genuinely very clever what Bloober did here with this mechanic.

Enemies are generally fine, but the line of enemies that explore, spit acid, big enemies with big arms, and wall b*****ds that could f*** right off are just quite boring now since Dead Space perfected these enemy types back in 2008. There was nothing that truly stood out as wholeheartedly original or fresh. The enemy designs generally didn't have the same impact on me as, say, 2008's Dead Space, aside from one boss featuring many hands, which was pretty cool. And I did love the gooey nature of the biomasses you often see. These were pretty sickening to observe. While the originality is not huge here, the important thing is that they’re fun to fight and always present a great sense of challenge.

What I will praise the most from Cronos is just how satisfying and engaging it was through my first and second runs on New Game Plus.  What Bloober have mastered is brought over from the Silent Hill 2 remake, with great looping level design, fantastic additional paths featuring heavy risk and reward factors, and nice moments that reward your investment, from saving cats who give you extra resources, to checking out what’s behind that locked door off the beaten path.

Bloober have nailed the “30 seconds of fun” rule here with Cronos, from its tight, brutally fun combat, unnerving atmosphere and impeccable world design, to the enriching sense of exploration bringing forth a mix of terror and joy.


Overall?

There have been plenty of survival horror games over the last few years, and many of them failed in delivering thought-provoking and ruthless experiences that scratch that survival itch. I did do a fair bit of comparison between Cronos and The Callisto Protocol, but I was always saying, “This is what the Callisto Protocol should have been”. It could have been so easy for Bloober to misstep after Silent Hill 2, but instead, they took their strengths, found that 30-second fun zone, and just made an incredible

While there are a couple of missteps, I do believe that Cronos: The New Dawn is one of the best horror games of the generation, thanks to its excellent level design, brutal combat, and exceptional survival horror gameplay. Mixing in a blend of RE4, Dead Space, and that brilliant Bloober flare that gives Cronos: The New Dawn a unique edge above many other games. Cronos is a must-have for any horror fan.

Bloober Team have come a long way since Layers of Fear, and Cronos proves they are a legendary studio in the making, capable of making not only great games, but timeless classics that will be fondly remembered and loved, long after many of us are gone.

+++ Fantastic survival horror gameplay
++ Visually striking with a rich atmosphere
++ Brilliant combat and exploration gameplay
++ Excellent world-building and environmental storytelling
+ Pet cats

- The plot could've been a little more interesting
- Enemy concepts aren't original or riveting
- Lateral elements could have been expanded upon

A PS5 review key of Cronos: The New Dawn was kindly provided by Bloober Team