Cronos: The New Dawn Preview — «Polish Dead Space» from the Creators of Layers of Fear

Despite public expectations, there were few major announcements at Xbox Games Showcase 2025 — Microsoft focused on showcasing already announced projects. Together with you, we learned more about the upcoming The Blood of Dawnwalker, Clockwork Revolution, The Outer Worlds 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, and Cronos: The New Dawn. The latter received a new gameplay segment, from which we learned more about the combat system, visuals, and overall atmosphere of the upcoming horror title from the creators of the recent Silent Hill 2 remake. In this article, we have gathered all available information about the project to give you a complete picture of what awaits us in the fall of 2025.

Cronos: The New Dawn is a sci-fi horror game with gameplay mechanics reminiscent of Dead Space and Resident Evil 4. The Bloober Team studio began working on the game at the end of 2021 and plans to release it in the fall of 2025. During development, the creators were inspired by John Carpenter’s films, the early entries in the Alien series, and the classic Star Wars trilogy. References for the plot included the Netflix series Dark, the film 12 Monkeys, and the sci-fi movie Annihilation. The developers placed special emphasis on exploring the theme of time paradoxes — the writers carefully studied the possible consequences of time travel to create a convincing and captivating story.

Cronos’ visual style is cinematic retrofuturism, mixed with architectural brutalism and biopunk in post-Soviet settings. Most of the events will take place in a location called New Dawn, whose appearance and design are inspired by the Polish city of Krakow in the 1980s. Interestingly, this is not the first time Bloober Team has used this city in their projects — for example, in Observer we saw its cyberpunk interpretation.

When working on the visual appearance of the monsters, called «Orphans» in the game, Bloober Team drew inspiration from famous body horror works, especially the film The Thing. Despite the obvious resemblance of the enemies to necromorphs from Dead Space, the game apparently will not feature a detailed dismemberment system. This is clearly seen in the Xbox presentation trailer, where the protagonist fires powerful weapons at enemies. However, it is possible that this feature was disabled so the video would not be banned from video hosting platforms for excessive violence. Hints of a dismemberment system can be heard in one of the developers’ interviews, where they promised to add a special mechanic similar to killing necromorphs in Dead Space and using a flashlight from Alan Wake.

The main events of Cronos: The New Dawn, as you may have guessed, will unfold in a post-catastrophe Poland. The protagonist, an employee of the organization known as «The Collective», embarks on a journey through time to save key characters affected by a cataclysm called «The Change», which turned people into terrifying monsters. Players will have to explore a grim future while also discovering time anomalies that lead to the relatively safe 1980s.

According to the studio, we can expect a chilling horror game with deep storytelling, yet a rather personal narrative focused on the characters and their experiences. All currently available trailers provide too little specific information about the plot to draw any firm conclusions just yet, but knowing how much Bloober Team loves psychoanalysis and deep exploration of the human mind, we can expect something more than a standard adventure in post-Soviet Polish settings. At the very least, the developers have already promised that choices made by players in the past will affect events in the future.

The main character, known as «The Traveler», will not be another «silent protagonist», according to the writers. While details are still under wraps, the developers promise an unexpected backstory and motivation that could turn the entire narrative on its head.

Even now, Cronos: The New Dawn looks like an incredibly promising project thanks to its unique blend of science fiction and post-Soviet aesthetics. After all, most modern horror games can no longer offer anything truly fresh or unique, but here we have something special. Bloober Team knows how to create stunning environments and atmospheric locations, so there’s no need to worry about dull visuals. Judging by the two available gameplay trailers, we’re in for a game with graphics on par with The Callisto Protocol and the Dead Space remake.

The success of the Silent Hill 2 remake inspired Bloober Team to experiment with gameplay — instead of the usual «walking simulators», the studio has shifted towards dynamic action with survival horror elements. The creators have repeatedly stated that they are inspired by the game design of Dead Space and Alan Wake, where combat isn’t just filler between jump scares and story cutscenes, but an integral part of the overall horror experience. According to the game designers, they are aiming for a very hardcore combat system in the spirit of soulslike games, where strategic thinking and tactical planning are the keys to victory.

The Silent Hill 2 remake had a decent combat system, but it lacked budget and highly polished animations. Yes, the sound design and overall pacing masked most of the flaws, but the end result still didn’t reach the standards of modern blockbusters. Judging by the trailer shown at the Xbox presentation, the combat in Cronos looks noticeably better. The animations are livelier and more varied, though there are still moments with abrupt interruptions and «clunky» transitions. This is especially noticeable when «The Traveler» tries to crush a monster’s head. On the other hand, the gunshot sounds, just like in Silent Hill 2, are very satisfying.

From the pacing, it looks like we’ll get more Resident Evil than Silent Hill. The developers have promised to add survival horror elements with limited ammo and resource management. Enemies need to be not only killed with accurate shots to weak points, but also burned, so that their remains aren’t consumed by other creatures and turned into even stronger opponents. Something similar was implemented in the Resident Evil remake, where players had to use a lighter on dead zombies to prevent them from resurrecting as dangerous Crimson Heads.

Other features borrowed from Resident Evil 4 include a limited inventory, yellow supply crates, a health bar in the form of a cardiogram wave, and Metroidvania elements involving key hunting. There is no open world in the usual sense: city locations are divided into separate sectors connected to a central hub. Players will frequently return to previously explored areas after obtaining important story items. At the same time, Cronos will not have a map. The developers want gamers to study the environment and choose their own routes. In addition, the game will feature many surreal locations that can’t be represented on a schematic map.

The main mission objective will be to search for quantum traces of important characters, which must be collected using a universal «Collector». The more «souls» you have in your possession, the more the environment and enemy behavior will change. There is currently no clear information about the protagonist’s superpowers, but there are strong hints that the quantum trace will serve as a resource for upgrading the suit and as a difficulty modifier. At the very least, the developers have stated that players will need to think more than shoot, and properly allocate resources and abilities to overcome all challenges.

Judging by the available gameplay footage, the protagonist’s arsenal includes several types of pistols with alternate fire modes (one of which resembles the Auto-9 from RoboCop), as well as shotguns, rifles, and melee abilities. «The Traveler» will have several ways to burn enemies, but flamethrower fuel is always extremely scarce. Additionally, the game world contains many places that need to be «burned» to unlock secret sections and clear debris. In these moments, you’ll have to make a tough decision: save fuel for exterminating monsters or spend it to obtain useful items. A similar system was used in The Last of Us, where you had to break a shiv to open locked doors.

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Unfortunately, most of Cronos: The New Dawn’s gameplay features have yet to be shown in trailers, so for now, we just have to take the developers at their word. In any case, what was demonstrated at the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 looks stylish and energetic. If the game delivers everything Bloober Team has promised, and adds the hardcore challenge of FromSoftware titles, we might get another cool horror game that won’t feel like an Eastern European parody of every survival horror at once. The release is scheduled for fall 2025 on PS5, Xbox, and PC. There are rumors of a version for Nintendo Switch 2, but there’s no official confirmation yet.