Game Review: Cronos - The New Dawn

Failures shouldn’t define us when it comes to determining our true worth.  We’re all capable of making mistakes, but the true valuation of our ability is how we learn and grow in response to them.  After beating The Medium, I was so sure Polish-developer Bloober Team had little actual value to offer the horror genre of video games.  While it clearly offered some original elements, it was bogged down in tedious gameplay and a tone-blind narrative the only served to infuriate me with how insensitive it’s overall messaging was. I wasn’t convinced at all that this developer was going to be able to achieve much in the long term if they weren’t going to expand pass their limitations.  That concern was only exasperated when they were revealed to be the developer behind the remake of the culturally-acclaimed Silent Hill 2 game. With all of their poor executions, I was majorly concerned they wouldn’t be able to deliver on the original games core appeal.  Fair to say I was wrong on that front as the developer really nailed the remake and managed to surprise me.  I was curious however how the developer could handle an original IP after that. They did a grand job remaking Silent Hill 2 but when left to their own original ideas, could they deliver the same level of quality they showcased prior? Well Cronos: The New Dawn is the next original release from the studio and it answers that question with a resounding yes. 

Developed and self-published by Bloober Team, Cronos: The New Dawn is a third-person survival horror video game.  Playing as a character known as the Traveller, the primary gameplay will involve you exploring a post-apocalyptic setting and killing a range of infected enemies.  It was noted that Cronos: The New Dawn was being developed alongside the Silent Hill 2 remake with The Medium team handling work on it.  In response to the criticisms they faced with The Medium, the decision to focus on a more mass-market horror concept helped the team realize and build up Cronos: The New Dawn with notable inspirations taken from Alan Wake and Dead Space. Releasing on September 5th 2025 across most current generation consoles, the game aggregated a generally positive critical score of 78 on OpenCritic. On the sales end Bloober Team reported the game sold well over 500,000 copies as of November 2025, which is a great number when you consider this is an original IP. 

The narrative of Cronos: The New Dawn follows the Traveler, a mysterious being which has been sent to a post-apocalyptic Poland by an organization known as The Collective. The Collective have instructed The Traveler with the Vocation, a mission in which they must travel back in time through temporal anomalies littered throughout the local area.  The Vocation requires the Traveler to obtain the essences of a number of selected targets in the past before they died in the wake of the infection that spread and ravaged the world.  The mission to collect the essences of these targets will be far from easy for the Traveler however, as the resulting destruction caused by the infection will force them to face off against a number of infected monsters known as Orphans as they progress.  Their journey through the ravaged city will also have them discover the dark conspiracy that ties both past and present together in an unexpected way.

I’m big fan of time travel in most media, especially when it’s done in a smart and compelling format.  In Cronos: The New Dawn’s case the game delivers its twists and turns in some ambitious ways.  I think the way the past and present sequences are used to tease the mystery behind the world and the mission you are on is smartly deployed for the most part.  The progression of the story gives the player just enough hints to keep them guessing consistently over the course of the game. While I feel the general structure of the time travel stuff is well implemented, I do feel the general abstract nature of the core story does make following it more difficult than it needs to be. When it comes to the Traveler, her mission and the general governance of her organization and their motivations, it’s delivered in a really broad format.  I appreciate the idea is to give the player the means to interpret these elements themselves but I can’t help but feel in a general sense its broad approach is just an excuse to get away with not having to flesh things out. 

It helps that a lot of passion clearly went into building and defining the world of this game.  Exploring each environment is made all the more memorable because of how much detail is layered into its overall design.  I enjoy when an environment is able to easily project a gradual narrative the further you venture throughout it.  It’s helped that there’s a number of collectable documents and audio files which help flesh out the environmental storytelling even further.  The game consists of a number of unique areas too which while segmented and featuring their own individual stories; all connect together with the central narrative in smart ways. Context is a key element for many areas of the games narrative components and it definitely feels like a game which will give you more mileage on the 2nd playthrough because of key revelations that help frame things better later down the line.

It helps exploring the environments that the gameplay components are really well implemented too. You can clearly see where the Alan Wake and Dead Space inspiration come into the mix with how the games general approach to its core mechanics is delivered. You’ll start out with a limited inventory and arsenal as you slowly explore the game’s early locations, with the ability to upgrade several components of your character unlocking as you collect resources.  The way the game requires you to actively manage your gear and resources in line with your limited inventory helps keep you constantly on your toes from the early stages of the game right up to its climax.  It’s balanced in a remarkably smart manner so that you never feel over or under prepared for the situations you’re forced to endure.  The whole upgrade system is smartly deployed too, because with the limited upgrade resources you have to obtain, it forces you to really consider how you want to upgrade your own suit or weapons to fit the playstyle you are adopting over the course of the game.

You’ll need those resources and upgrades too because the enemy design in this game is constantly shifted to keep you against the wall.  The Orphans work as a standard sci-fi/horror enemy type but what helps them stand out is their ability to merge with the tissue of other Orphans.  This makes combat encounters with them even more frantic because if you don’t act fast, Orphans will merge and in turn upgrade their defensive and offensive capabilities.  It helps give a sense of urgency to the combat encounters because you can’t be complacent otherwise, you’ll find yourself heavily overwhelmed and outnumbered.  There’s a decent variety in their design which is slowly introduced over the course of your time with the game too.  It’s a well-balanced approach to enemy variety too, as the game will pit you against stronger enemies in line with your own progression of strength to keep you constantly challenged. 

On the explorative side, there’s a well considered design to how much the environment rewards you for exploring and going off the beaten path.  There’s a nice sprinkle of Metroidvania and Souslike design philosophy too with how the sections loop around on one another with unlockable shortcuts which you can only access with certain equipment you acquire later in the area. It’s not broad in scope because the game doesn’t typically allow you to return to environments once you’ve finished the main story section in them, but it helps reinforce the time you are there and encourage you to do as much as you can before you move on to the next area.

The visual side of the game is really impressive as well.  I love how much the Polish culture and architecture is projected throughout the game and how well it contrasts with the brutal sci-fi/horror elements.  It’s a remarkable mixture of design concepts which you don’t typically see in most video games, so it definitely gives Cronos: The New Dawn a unique aura to recognize.  Arkadiusz Reikowski also does a superb job with his 1980’s inspired synthwave soundtrack for the game as well.  The core atmosphere of the game wouldn’t hit nearly as competently if this soundtrack didn’t deliver at every opportunity.

While I don’t feel Cronos: The New Dawn is fully able to deliver on all of its intentions, what it misses out on pales in comparison to what it accomplishes.  This is a confident horror experience that does more than enough to justify the investment of your time.  Its overall narrative holds a lot of smart and interesting concepts that plays well with the sci-fi and horror elements for the most part.  The gameplay component is fun and inviting for the most part too, so you will generally feel engaged with the sense of progression and challenge it offers. All of those goes to show that Bloober Team were clearly not defined by their failures.  They made a clear and concise effort to address their biggest criticisms with their new line up of games and Cronos: The Dawn is one of the best examples of that.  I’ve never been happier to be proven wrong in my misconceptions about a developer and it reinforces the point that we should always be willing to give developers the ability to show they are more than their worst game.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐