Cronos: The New Dawn Review

If you blended Silent Hill, Dead Space, and Alien together, you’d get Cronos: The New Dawn. This ambitious title from Silent Hill 2 Remake’s Bloober Team tries to live up to those inspirations. Less than a year after its reveal, the newest from the horror-centric studio is here and, after spending some time with it, it works quite well. While its shaky presentation can get in the way, there’s potential in many of its aspects that would be a shame not to explore further.

Time to Scare

Cronos: The New Dawn follows The Traveler, a mysterious helmeted agent of the Collective. You’re tasked with going back in time and extracting valuable people from a terrible virus. You’ll face off against multitudes of virus-infected monsters and figure out your place in all of it. The game is a typical third-person shooter, though your arsenal and ammo are limited. Every shot counts, much like in Resident Evil 2 Remake and Silent Hill 2 Remake. With upgrades to your guns—like better stability and firepower—as well as your suit with increased inventory or better health, you can take on the droves of the decrepit with ease.

Story-wise, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of the lore is left in papers and voice memos scattered throughout Cronos: The New Dawn. Still, without spoiling anything, it feels like a lot is left unanswered that should be center stage. To add to that, it does involve some time-bending, so the all-too-common multiverse cliché is present and a touch too prominent. While the way it’s presented is rather cool and interesting, the final act ramps things up in a way that feels too big for a new IP to handle.

Beyond Scared Straight

On the gameplay side, it’s a great shooter. Everything feels tight and responsive, and enemies pose an even challenge. If you’re prepared, you could glide through a good chunk of Cronos easily, though the latter half can be challenging. Still, it does what it sets out to do and does it well, so horror shooter fans can rest easy. It delivers some decent scares, even if most are more aesthetic-based than action-based. The upgrade system also helps tighten up the gunplay and lets you cater to your playstyle, even if you have to explore to find what you need.

One of the game’s taglines is “Don’t Let Them Merge,” and it holds true in the game. Leaving an enemy body behind can allow others to absorb it and get stronger. Figuring out when to burn bodies and which ones to burn can be intense and sets it apart from others in the genre. Taking down a row of small creatures only for one to survive, absorb the others, and become extremely tough makes for some interesting battles. It’s a fun concept that, while it could be more present, delivers some great unscripted moments.

When you aren’t shooting creatures to high hell, you’ll spend a good chunk of Cronos: The New Dawn exploring and crafting. The Poland-inspired environments are decorated with hideous, bloody bulges and ruinous landscapes. It sets the tone perfectly and doesn’t become too repetitive or ineffective. Exploring can be fun and rewarding, though the inventory system and the compass do hinder that, as you can get lost easily and may not be able to pick up what you find if you’re full. It gets frustrating in later levels, as you’ll find yourself going back and forth to put stuff away just to retrieve the required items.

Mad World

In terms of presentation, Cronos: The New Dawn is stunning. Graphics are great, mixing realism with the grotesque rather well. It’s a visual spectacle and a feast for the eyes at times. The art direction is great too, as mentioned before. There’s a world Bloober Team wanted to take you to, and it’s well worth the trip. On that note, the music is perfect for the environment: deep synths that fit the eerie vibe perfectly.

Unfortunately, there were a handful of glitches in my playthrough, and not of the creature kind. Texture loading was frequent in cutscenes, enemies didn’t spawn where they should, and UI/audio problems were common. When a game looks and plays as well as Cronos does, those moments do hinder the immersion. However, they’ll likely be patched out later, but it’s still worth mentioning.

Such Is Our Calling

Overall, Cronos: The New Dawn is a great start to something truly worth exploring. There’s substance there and, while the game struggles to tap into its full potential, it works great. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have fun playing it, despite some of my negatives. Horror is a tough genre to master, and Bloober Team excels at delivering on those notes. There are plenty of games in 2025 to choose from, but you’d be remiss not to include Cronos on that list. Such is our calling.