Bloober Team has proven their skills with Silent Hill 2 Remake, which turned out to be one of my favorite games of this generation. In terms of pure horror, it easily remains my number one in the genre, at least for this decade. Cronos: The New Dawn is a brand-new IP from Bloober Team, and it feels like an expansion of the ideas they explored in Silent Hill 2 Remake. The similarities are obvious, but I do not mind it since Silent Hill 2 Remake was such an enjoyable experience.
This time, the game takes the form of a third-person shooter set in a futuristic sci-fi world. You play as a character known only as The Traveller. What sets Cronos apart from other games in the genre is its combat system, which forces you to think ahead rather than simply relying on raw firepower. Enemies are powerful and can even grow stronger by absorbing corpses left on the battlefield, making mindless shooting an ineffective strategy.
The story centers on a shadowy organization called the Collective. At the beginning, the game presents players with a series of questionnaires, somewhat similar to Kingdom Hearts. The answers you give influence the gameplay, and in my case, I ended up with a particularly tough difficulty setting. The main character’s mission is to travel back in time to Poland in order to locate and extract the Essences of those who died during a devastating pandemic. The future has become a barren wasteland, and little is known about this event, which the game refers to only as The Change. Humanity has vanished, and in its place roam terrifying creatures called Orphans.
The game forces you to think strategically about whether to spend your scarce bullets or plan more carefully before engaging enemies. Combat works like a standard third-person shooter, with both normal and charged shots available. The twist is that enemies can grow significantly stronger after absorbing nearby corpses. To counter this, the game introduces fire as a tool. You can find fire igniters scattered throughout the world, which can be used to burn corpses before they are absorbed or to weaken enemies that have already powered up. Once burned, they can be finished off with gunfire.
What stood out most to me in Cronos: The New Dawn is its visual design. The game presents a retro-futuristic world infused with Eastern European architecture, giving it a very distinct look. Its inspirations are easy to spot, with elements reminiscent of Alien, The Thing, Resident Evil, Dead Space, and even Silent Hill. The game features multiple endings, meaning your choices have weight, and its focus on resource management and crafting adds replay value. It is absolutely not for those who dislike body horror, but fans of the genre will find a lot to appreciate. At times, it even reminded me of the unsettling ending of The Society, and anyone who has seen that will know exactly what I mean.
Where Cronos truly shines is in its disturbing atmosphere. The sound design is excellent, and while there are occasional cheap scares, the game leans far more on its chilling environments and unsettling audio to create fear. The time travel aspect adds another layer of intrigue, though going into detail would dip into spoiler territory. What impresses me most is how much Bloober Team has grown. As a new IP, this game feels like a major step forward for them. Thinking back to their earlier efforts like Blair Witch and Layers of Fear—and even The Medium, which I personally disliked—it is clear they have come a long way. With Cronos: The New Dawn, they have firmly established themselves among the best developers in the horror genre.
Now, coming to the negatives, the performance is rough. I was able to play Silent Hill 2 on my PC with Ray Tracing enabled without much trouble, but in Cronos: The New Dawn, Ray Tracing completely tanks the frame rate. There are also occasional stutters during traversal, which can be distracting. This mediocre performance is a blemish on an otherwise excellent visual presentation. The game looks incredible on an OLED display, with its dark atmosphere and the suit’s light as your only real source of illumination. Hopefully, the developers can patch the performance issues post-launch, but as it stands, it was a disappointment. Even though frame generation and upscaling options like DLSS and FSR are available, they do not fully address the performance shortcomings.
Combat, while enjoyable at times, has its own flaws. Aiming and executing a charged shot often feels unreliable. I also missed the dodge mechanic that Bloober Team had included in Silent Hill 2 Remake. Melee combat is underwhelming, with weapons lacking the weight and impact you would expect, especially when compared to Dead Space. There is no dismemberment system either, so targeting specific body parts never feels meaningful. The inventory system is another issue—it is frustratingly limited. Resource scavenging is vital, yet I often found myself running into situations where the game would not let me pick up useful items because my inventory was full. This can lead to unnecessary frustration during combat, particularly when resources are already scarce.
That being said, I would still highly recommend Cronos: The New Dawn to horror fans. The game delivers an ambitious narrative, drip-fed through lore, files, and audio logs that flesh out the world. It also encourages multiple playthroughs, rewarding players who dig deeper. While its story does not quite reach the heights of Silent Hill 2 Remake, as a new IP, it is a massive step forward compared to The Medium. For me, that alone makes it worth experiencing.
Cronos: The New Dawn Game Information
- Price: $59.99
- Publisher: Bloober Team
- Developer: Bloober Team
- Platform: PC (Reviewed)
- Disclaimer: A review code was given by the publisher
