Cronos: The New Dawn – A New Breed of Horror
Bloober Team, the acclaimed Polish studio behind the Silent Hill 2 remake, is rolling the dice with Cronos: The New Dawn. Planned for release in 2025 on consoles and PC, this sci-fi horror is a bold step for the developer.
Cronos pushes beyond Bloober Team’s psychological horror roots to offer a gameplay heavy experience stacked with white-knuckle unease, strategy, and time travel. This game has everything needed to become the studio’s next successful IP.
“Imagine this: a distorted mix of sci-fi, time travel, retro-futuristic dread, and body horror—all set against the gritty backdrop of 80s Poland. What a ride, right? And whatever you do… don’t let them merge,” Jacek Zięba, Co-Director and Producer at Bloober Team, said in a press release.
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Set in a Post-Apocalyptic Poland
In The New Dawn, players assume the role of the Traveler, an agent from an organization known only as the Collective. The story unfolds in a future Poland devastated by a mysterious event called The Change.
Victims of this event are still somewhat alive but transformed into horrific creatures known as Orphans. The Traveler’s mission is to go back in time to 1980s Poland to rescue people who were lost during the onset of the disaster.
The storytelling is heavily influenced by cinema and television, particularly 12 Monkeys, Dark, and Annihilation. Time travel is not used as a gimmick but as a plot device driving the story in a world where players have to grapple with the ethical implications of their decisions.
Strategic Combat Focused on Dismemberment
Cronos is a third-person survival horror built on Unreal Engine 5 with over-the-shoulder combat view reminiscent of Resident Evil 4. Players will have to dismember and incinerate fallen enemies in a hurry because of a sick mechanic – The Merge.
Enemies that aren’t obliterated can fuse and become grotesque abominations that are even stronger and more dangerous, like something straight out of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing. This is what will make combat feel like there’s always a sense of urgency and resource management. Running out of ammo and supplies is a surefire way of getting killed.
Wojciech Piejko, Co-Director and Designer at Bloober Team, adds: “How do you fight them? Fire! Burn the fallen before they merge with living creatures. The Merge changes the game, adding a whole new layer of strategy to combat. Push your survival instincts to the max.”
Bloober’s Vision For a New Horror Franchise
According to Bloober Team’s creative leads, Cronos: The New Dawn is a turning point in the studio’s journey. Rather than relying on the psychological aspects of horror, this title leans into action and survival. Zięba has described it as a deliberate step toward more accessible horror that still retains depth and atmosphere.
The studio is investing heavily in establishing Cronos as a major new franchise. The gameplay trailer and early previews have garnered close to half a million views on YouTube in less than 24 hours at the time of this writing, with the comment sections overwhelmingly expressing anticipation for the game’s release.
Cronos builds on the studio’s vast experience of games in the genre with previous successful titles like the Layers of Fear franchise, Observer, and The Medium.
