Bloober Team is hot off the heels of its 2024 success. Cronos: The New Dawn is a brand-new IP from the makers of the Silent Hill 2 Remake, and it has everything you could want from a survival-horror game: A nervous atmosphere, a constant feeling of trepidation and jeopardy, grotesque monsters, and an inventory so limited you’re wondering if you can stuff a few more ammo clips into your suit.
Cronos: The New Dawn feels safe—and I hate using that word with new games, as it feels like an insult. It feels like a pejorative, but in many cases (this one especially) it’s a compliment. Bloober Team throws out the odd new idea here and there, but the game feels like a well-rounded survival horror title with an interesting story.
The game’s central enemy mechanic revolves around the concept of merging, and it feels like Cronos has dipped its hand into the best pots, aptly creating an amalgamation of tried and tested horror tropes to produce a polished and impactful debut.
Cronos: The New Dawn Review
You are a nameless Traveler: A mysterious figure sent to retrieve items, uncover time rifts to gain a deeper understanding of the planet’s implosion, and explore its fallen remnants in search of The Traveler who came before you. The ‘Change’ brought the world to its knees and executed it in cold-hearted fashion. All that remains is a series of monsters—each more unpleasant than the last—who merge with defeated enemies and become stronger—which is a real problem for you!
I found the first hour of Cronos: The New Dawn to be a bit slow and unengaging, to be honest. You think of Silent Hill 2’s foggy and genuinely haunting opening moments, whereas Dead Space hits you with loud, blaring danger sirens as a Necromorph tries to pierce you in a tense elevator chase sequence. Any lingering doubts quickly evaporated into intrigue as the story and gameplay improved progressively. It crescendoed by the end of my 14 hours in Cronos’ hellscape, and I was truly left wanting more when the credits rolled.
The story feels a bit ambiguous and ambitious for its scope at times, but the final payoff is satisfying. It probably requires a second playthrough to fully grasp the intricacies of the narrative’s details, which are revealed through cutscenes and typical world-building notes and tapes scattered throughout the game’s various vile and decrepit biomes.
Don’t Fix What Isn’t broken
If you’ve played any survival-horror game before, Cronos swiftly becomes second-nature. You need to be accurate, and learning the game’s charge-up mechanic is crucial to make shots stronger and optimize ammo management. The upgrade system is a slow-burner (don’t expect to upgrade even half your gear by the time your first playthrough is done), and the pacing ducks and dives between combat-heavy encounters and exploration.
The game genuinely improves as it unfolds, allowing you to acquire more weapons and tools. I would’ve liked more variety in the weaponry, but your flame Tool and explosive bombs you get somewhat compensate. Cronos’ level designs range from snowy exteriors to dank, dilapidated residential buildings with monsters scuttling around every surface. You risk eternal dizziness as you need to have your head on a swivel, lest you get pounced on by an unsuspecting enemy.
My favorite portion of Cronos was a hospital section midway through the game—no prizes for where the inspiration came from here. Puzzles aren’t really at the forefront of Cronos’ design, but this area requires multiple keys, and special items are necessary for doors and hidden areas. The tension was palpable throughout, too. My anxiety and nervousness were through the roof as I ventured into unknown corridors and rooms, and there wasn’t enough absorption in the world to mop up my terror sweats.
Cronos has jump scares aplenty, and its addictive 80s synth music offsets any built-up paranoia you’re likely to experience. As much as you won’t want to, searching the vicinity is a must. Despite being advertised as a hard game, I comfortably finished Cronos with under 10 deaths—but I am well-versed in the genre. Seek out Energy, look for Cores, and your cat-like curiosity will be rewarded—there are literally cat collectibles.
If you’re worried there’s not enough of a challenge, a Hard Mode is unlocked at the end, along with a New Game+ setting.
Room For One More, Please?
I’ll flat-out say Cronos’ inventory system is frustrating beyond belief. It’s probably the most oppressive balancing act since Resident Evil 0. If you don’t focus your Core upgrades on increasing your inventory slots ASAP, you’re going to suffer. Each ammo slot doesn’t hold much, and you can never truly have a consistent balance of ammunition, weapons, and health.
If you find a health item out in the open, you can’t use it; it has to be in your inventory. The only way to drop items is to permanently discard them. You’re telling me we can have magical inventory boxes that can transfer your gear from one safe area to the next, but I can’t use a first aid pickup right in front of me?
You often have compulsory story items taking up slots, and I ended up not really using the game’s central burning mechanic because each flame canister—you guessed it—takes up an inventory slot. I felt punished for minimizing ammo and resource waste. Now, I think the game’s Hard Mode will be better-suited for me, and inexperienced horror fans are probably going to chew through supplies faster than a hungry mouse does a block of cheese, but veterans might get the ick from the system’s obtrusiveness.
Cronos: The New Dawn Verdict
The critic in me will say Cronos: The New Dawn isn’t transcendent. Again, this is ok. What Cronos does, it does very well, and taking the recency bias of the Silent Hill 2 Remake out of the equation, I can’t recall a new survival-horror game I’ve enjoyed this much and found this immersive in a while.
Once it gets going, Cronos batters you with a buffet of scares, stress, and superb combat. I can’t overlook the stingy inventory management headaches that will last a lifetime, but there’s no denying that Cronos: The New Dawn wants you to think and strategize. I’ll wrap up this review by saying Cronos: the New Dawn is an excellent new survival-horror title. If you have an interest in the genre, this is a must-play, and old-school horror fans will love this: Such is our calling.
4 – Great
The Insider Gaming forum is the usual go-to for all your thoughts on gaming. I’d also recommend you check out some of IG’s other recent reviews: Killing Floor 3, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Madden 26, and Dead Take.
NOTE: A copy of Cronos: The New Dawn on PS5 was provided to Insider Gaming for the purposes of this review.
