One Avocadoan’s journey delving into the realm of survival horror.
As mentioned a few installments ago, up until 2024 the Polish game developer Bloober Team wasn’t particularly well regarded. I haven’t played any games of theirs from before that time, but from what I’ve gathered they tended to suffer from muddled storytelling and themes and weak gameplay. Things seemed to turn around for them with the excellent Silent Hill 2 remake, but unfortunately a single data point doesn’t equal a trend. Questions still swirled as to whether SH2R was an actual turning point for the company or simply a fluke. Luckily, only a year later Bloober released their newest survival horror experience, Cronos: The New Dawn – and to me it definitively confirmed Bloober’s upward trajectory.
Developed concurrently with SH2R by the team behind Bloober’s previous game The Medium, Cronos leans in a very different direction story- and aesthetic-wise when compared to SH2R. Specifically, Cronos goes for a very heavy sci fi dystopian feel, with inspirations including the films Alien, Star Wars, Annihilation, The Thing, and 12 Monkeys; the hit German TV series Dark; and the Dead Space and Resident Evil games.1,2 The story of Cronos: The New Dawn centers around Traveler ND-3576 (known mainly as ‘the Traveler’), one of many heavily-armored Travelers sent back in time by a mysterious ‘Collective’ to investigate an outbreak in 1980s Poland. That outbreak, known as ‘the Change’, seemingly wiped out humanity in a matter of months, transforming the Earth’s population into either fused masses of flesh or grotesque monsters known as Orphans. The Traveler’s mission, like that of many of her compatriots, is to find specific people identified by the Collective to have vital information regarding the Change and extract their minds to be sent along back to the future. Unfortunately for the Traveler, it doesn’t seem like everything is going according to plan.
I have seen some griping about the story of Cronos, and I can see why. Avoiding major spoilers here, the plot gradually shifts in a direction quite different from expected at the outset, with different stakes, and some people seemed to see that as a bait-and-switch of sorts (even if I pretty strongly disagree with that assessment). There is also quite a bit that is left vague or up to interpretation, with some finding the two endings that are available on a first playthrough to be unsatisfying. And while I can understand that, I ultimately enjoyed the game’s story. Part of that enjoyment comes down to Cronos’s small central cast of characters. The Traveler starts the game coming across very much like an emotionless robot, speaking in a measured monotone and taking everything unflappably in stride. As the events of the game pull her in, however, we see her personality develop and shift in intriguing ways. Another Traveler who plays a key part in the story is the Warden, who not only looks cool in his battle-scarred and jury-rigged armor, but also harbors some interesting views on humanity and what makes humans, well, human. His back-and-forth conversations with the Traveler are some of the most fascinating parts of the game. Then there is also Weronika, a Polish scientist embroiled in the events surrounding the Change in unexpected ways who provides another nice contrasting perspective to the Traveler and helps to develop some the game’s themes surrounding the meaning of survival.
The locations the Traveler must visit aren’t particularly unique – a hospital, an apartment building, a factory, train stations, etc. – but there is a lot of great environmental design and visual detail on display. The bulk of the game takes place in the Soviet-built city of New Dawn, Poland, a place teeming with Brutalist architecture and Communist propaganda. Having not encountered a horror game before set in this particular era of Eastern Europe, I found that this blended well with and added some intriguing layers to the unsettling atmosphere. The Change also appeared to have struck around Christmas, and as such you find abandoned Christmas trees and lights practically everywhere – another interesting and unusual touch for a game like this.
There are essentially two time periods that you explore over the course of the game. One is an undisclosed time in the future long after humanity’s extinction. This era acts as a home base of sorts for the Travelers, the point from which they dive into the past to complete their extractions. It’s also the more visually distinctive of the two time periods. With the Change having run its course and many Travelers already having gone about their missions, the decrepit and collapsing buildings are festooned with a mix of futuristic technology and gross, pulsating flesh, with Orphans hiding around every corner. The process of opening rifts to the past has also created many gravitational anomalies, leaving chunks of buildings and debris floating in the air in a nice surreal touch against the backdrop of the brooding, dark sky. The other main time period is, of course, 1980s Poland during the heart of the outbreak of the Change. While maybe not quite as arresting, the visuals still do a strong job of showing a society collapsing mid-transformation. Signs of normal, everyday life mix with cosmic horror elements to create a world that feels both lived-in and increasingly alien. While exploring you can also find records detailing both the fear and anxiety of people trapped in their apartments while a pandemic rages outside (hitting pretty close to home after COVID) and simmering anger as the government and military resorts to increasingly heavy-handed methods of quelling unrest and covering up what is going on. These details really drive home the feelings of anxiety and dread that suffuse the entire game.
On the lighter side of things, though, is the game’s use of cats. Cats are one of the game’s main collectibles, something that sounds kind of weird on paper but adds some levity to the experience. Particularly great is watching the Traveler’s reaction to encountering a new cat, kneeling down to pet it with her large gloved hands and telling it – in her monotone, formal diction – how good of a kitty it is. Once you’ve found a new cat it will show up in the save room in the game’s main hub, and it is a lot of fun to watch the place grow increasingly infested with feline friends over time. (Plus you can then pet them at any time.) One of my favorite conversations between the Traveler and the Warden is centered around the nature of cats and why they act the way they do. There’s just something so hilarious about these seemingly emotionless time travelers talking about something as mundane as the propensity of cats to knock things off tables.
On the gameplay side of things, I’ve seen some people (mainly those who haven’t played the game) claim that Cronos is a complete ripoff of Dead Space. On the other hand, I’ve seen people who have played both games counter that the similarities are largely superficial outside of the Travelers’ power suits (which, it should be noted, are based on old-school diving suits). As I haven’t played Dead Space (yet), I can’t say which side is correct and to what extent. What I can say, though, is that Cronos certainly owes a lot to another titan of the genre – the Resident Evil series. Outside of specific mechanics, Cronos’s overall gameplay feels like an almost perfect fusion of the survival horror focus of the original three Resident Evil games, the bombastic action horror of Resident Evil 4, and the over-the-shoulder combat of the remakes. This may seem, in a way, like I am damning it with faint praise – that the best elements of its gameplay are copied from other sources. While Cronos does add a few new things into the pot (more on that later), it is true that it leans heavily on its inspirations in some respects. But that isn’t inherently bad. Synthesizing components from earlier games and media into a cohesive and competent whole still takes skill and can still provide a compelling experience, something that Cronos succeeded at for me. And, of course, one can certainly do worse than drawing on a series as beloved as Resident Evil.
Perhaps the first thing that a prospective player needs to know about the gameplay side of Cronos: The New Dawn is that the game goes all in on resource and inventory management, to a degree that nearly rivals the original three Resident Evil games. As with the original Resident Evil (Chris’s run specifically), you start the game with only six inventory slots. This number can be increased over time through upgrades, similar to Resident Evil 2 Remake, but by the time you can do so there are usually more things that you’ll be wanting to carry anyway such that it ends up being something of a wash. Pretty much everything (outside of resources for crafting) takes up inventory slots, and the player is forced to frequently run back to the nearest save room to exchange items with the item box. Combine that with an ammo distribution that requires you to make every single bullet count and you are always having to make very tough choices. (There is actually a surprising number of ways to acquire ammo – crafting it, purchasing it in save rooms, enemy drops, etc. – but it’s generally received in small amounts at a time and the enemies tend to be bullet sponges.) If you miscalculate and have to pick up a new key item while your inventory is full, you’ll have to use every trick in your arsenal (use up a healing patch, drop some precious ammo, burn up a nearby enemy body with your flamethrower fuel, etc.) to open up a spot for it. When encountering an enemy, maybe you can conserve ammo by avoiding it entirely or maybe you can maneuver it to take advantage of environmental hazards. Constant strategizing is a requirement, and something that I love (as I did with REmake). There were even a few times where I had to start a section over because I entirely ran out of ammo or healing patches, something that hasn’t happened to me since Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Unfortunately, this intense focus on resource and inventory management can make it a little difficult to recommend the game to someone who is less experienced with this style of gameplay.
While the management mechanics are in line with the first three Resident Evil games and other early survival horror titles, there are definite elements of Resident Evil 4’s action set pieces present in Cronos (and not just the fact that enemies can drop ammo and healing items). Most relevant are the forced battles that the Traveler encounters on a semi-regular basis. The player will sometimes enter a room to find themselves trapped with swarms of Orphans, the only way out being to eliminate them all. I mentioned in my Resident Evil 4 review that I was not fond of that game’s constant waves of enemies, but I felt that the forced Orphan battles in Cronos worked a lot better for me. I think part of that is the aforementioned resource and inventory management focus of the game, which made every such battle a tense nailbiter. Another part of it comes down to the aesthetics, with the cosmic horror look of the Orphans and the often fleshy walls of the arenas combining with the futuristic vibes of the Collective’s technology to create a more visually interesting experience than the comparatively drab locations of RE4. I will say, though, that I do wish the forced battles were a little further and fewer between as they can still get exhausting.
The gameplay of Cronos is not entirely homage, as it does add a few unique mechanics of its own into the mix. Perhaps the most-advertised of these is the merge mechanic. As with REmake and Signalis, leaving dead enemies as they are without burning them can have consequences. Unlike in those two games, though, dead enemies don’t come back to life after a certain amount of time. Instead they can become consumed by, or ‘merged’ with, living Orphans to create a larger, tougher, and more powerful enemy. The process of doing this takes time (maybe ten to fifteen seconds, but I’m not positive), during which it can be interrupted by a strong enough attack. In situations where there are a lot of Orphans at once, however, with bodies piling up and difficulty keeping track of where everything is, merging can be difficult to avoid. You can even find a lot of already dead Orphans scattered around throughout the game, fodder for whatever living enemies come wandering in. (Some aren’t actually dead though, just pretending until you get close.) I quite like what merging adds to the game, introducing further elements of body horror, some much-needed enemy variety, and additional incentive to remain always vigilant during enemy encounters.
Another mechanic Cronos throws into the survival horror mix is charged shots. Orphans are, with limited exceptions, bullet sponges. It pays to take advantage of every opportunity to conserve ammo, and charged shots are one way to do that. By holding down the trigger button with most weapons you can charge them up before firing, causing bullets to deal more damage than they would if fired normally. Unsurprisingly this can be very helpful, especially against larger and tougher enemies. There is a downside, however. You cannot charge a shot indefinitely and release whenever you want; instead, after a specified time of charging (usually a couple seconds, but that’s dependent on the weapon and how many times it’s been upgraded) the weapon will automatically fire. Thus you have to be very careful when charging shots, making sure that you have the seconds to spare before the enemy gets close enough to hit you and that you are keeping the enemy in your sights the entire time (or risk missing entirely). I love the risk/reward aspects that this mechanic introduces, and it helps fuel one of my favorite elements of the genre – always giving the player choices in how they deal with situations.
There are a couple more gameplay elements that were pretty heavily shown in the promotional materials – anti-gravity boot segments and rewinding time by interacting with anomalous orbs – although these don’t end up adding all that much to the experience. They certainly provide some spectacle and cool visuals, and there are a handful of uses of the orbs (particularly the ones that are reversible, allowing you to move time backward and then forward again) that provide some light puzzle-solving opportunities. Outside of that, though, there really was only one specific use of each that I found interesting. For the anti-gravity boots, there is one phase of one late-game boss fight where you can utilize them to dodge attacks in a pretty fun manner. And there are some exploding or flammable barrels you can find in the mid- and late-game that can be put back together using the time anomalies so that they can be used against Orphans again, a great twist on a staple of the genre. Otherwise, though, I wish they found ways to more meaningfully incorporate these mechanics into the game.
Beyond the various nitpicks I’ve previously discussed, there really aren’t all that many other criticisms that I can think of. The game does rather frequently require you to make decisions between various dialogue options, but from what I’ve gathered they don’t result in any long-term changes to events outside of some tweaks to that particular cutscene. Additionally, you can’t skip any cutscenes that contain a dialogue choice, which I’ve heard can be annoying on replay. On a similar note, the ending that you get is entirely dependent on one choice made after the final boss fight. I really would have preferred a system that takes more of your actions from throughout the experience into account. I did encounter some stutter here and there (a hallmark of Unreal Engine 5 games, apparently), and the game did crash once, but in general I seemed to avoid a lot of performance issues that other people claimed to have encountered (similar to SH2R, also made in UE5). Also, some of the human NPCs (not including Weronika) can be a little…wonky in terms of animation and voice acting. It doesn’t hurt the game too badly or anything, but it can be immersion-breaking at times.
In general, though, I was very pleased by how Cronos: The New Dawn turned out. It is by no means the most unique entry in the survival horror genre, but it takes its inspirations and mashes them together in a way that works surprisingly well. Its resource and inventory management are tough as nails, the environments and story are haunting and intriguing in equal measure, and the merge and charge mechanics add some great bits of strategy to the mix. Despite some flaws here and there, this is one of my favorite games I have played for this series so far. I can’t wait to see what Bloober Team comes up with next.
Survival horror and adjacent games I hope to cover (in no particular order) – Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil: Village, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Amnesia: Rebirth, Amnesia: The Bunker, Tormented Souls, Alien Isolation, Yomawari: Midnight Shadows, The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, Alisa, Dead Space (2008), Alone in the Dark 1, Alone in the Dark 2, Alone in the Dark 3, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Curse: Eye of Isis, Dino Crisis, Darkwood, ObsCure, Cold Fear, Lempo, Stasis, Stasis Bone Totem, System Shock 1 and 2, Metro 2033, Look Outside, Fear the Spotlight, Heartworm, Little Goody Two-Shoes, SOMA, Empty Shell, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Clock Tower: Rewind, White Day: A Labyrinth Called School, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Sorry We’re Closed, Fragile Reflection, Bioshock 1, Bioshock 2, You Will Die Here Tonight, My Friendly Neighborhood, Conscript, The Callisto Protocol
My Current Survival Horror Ranking:
- Resident Evil (HD Remaster) (9.5/10)
- Silent Hill 2 Remake (9.5/10)
- Signalis (9/10)
- Cronos: The New Dawn (9/10)
- Resident Evil 2 Remake (9/10)
- Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (8.5/10)
- Crow Country (8.5/10)
- Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (8/10)
- Silent Hill 4: The Room (8/10)
- Silent Hill f (8/10)
- Resident Evil 4 (7/10)
Up Next: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Header image courtesy of Comics Gaming Magazine.