Fresh off their critically acclaimed remake of Silent Hill 2, Bloober Team isn’t slowing down. Their next project, Cronos: The New Dawn, marks a bold departure from the psychological horror-heavy roots fans associate with the studio’s other projects. While it leans harder into action gameplay, don’t be fooled, as Cronos is still deeply unsettling, strategic, and weird in exactly the right ways.
Set in a post-apocalyptic future where a devastating virus transforms humans into grotesque, evolving monsters, Cronos: The New Dawn casts players as The Traveler, a woman tasked with entering infected zones, salvaging what’s left of humanity, and paving a path forward.
That path, however, is anything but linear. With time travel, moral choices, and horrifying mutations in the mix, Cronos forces players to think ahead, or die trying.
Wojciech Piejko summed it up during an IGN preview of the game: “Manage your resources, take risks when appropriate, and survive.”
That philosophy underpins everything in Cronos, including the game’s most unique mechanic, monster merging. Let an enemy feast on too many corpses, and it will mutate into a stronger, faster version of itself. Fire can stop this process, but it’s a limited, valuable resource, making every encounter a tactical decision.
Set in the real-world district of Nowa Huta in Krakow, Poland, Cronos adds layers of narrative and nostalgia. Through time-travel, The Traveler identifies key figures from the city’s pre-plague 1980s and digitizes their souls to carry them forward into the present. But she can only carry a limited number, forcing players into tough decisions about who to save.
Per brand new gameplay, these rescued souls aren’t passive collectibles either, as they interact, remember each other, and comment on places you explore, sometimes even bickering with each other if they have shared histories.
And yes, there are cats. Throughout Nowa Huta, players can rescue cats modeled after the real pets of Bloober’s developers, and these furry survivors help you gather resources. It’s a strange contrast to the decayed, infected world, but it fits. Even in horror, there’s room for quiet comfort.
Though Cronos leans more towards action than previous Bloober titles, it hasn’t lost the studio’s signature psychological touch. And with the team behind Silent Hill 2 now merged into the project (yes, even the dev structure mirrors the game’s themes), Cronos feels like a fresh yet familiar evolution for the studio.
You can continue to rely on us for coverage on all things Bloober Team as we head into a new era for horror gaming, and watch the new gameplay trailer below.
