Cronos: The New Dawn | Review Thread

Draugoth

Draugoth

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Game Information​



Platforms:

  • Nintendo Switch (Sep 5, 2025)
  • PC (Sep 5, 2025)
  • PlayStation 5 (Sep 5, 2025)
  • Xbox Series X/S (Sep 5, 2025)
Trailer:

Critic Reviews

Atarita - İdil Barbaros - Turkish - 75 / 100

Bloober Team continues their mastery of atmosphere with Cronos: The New Dawn. While its story draws you in with fear and brutality, repetitive level design and combat prevent it from maintaining the same quality.
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Bazimag - Sadeq Moqaddam - Persian - 9.5 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is one of the most complete, creative, and thrilling games of this year, and without a doubt, one of the best horror games of this generation. It hasn't come just to announce its presence; it's here to push the genre forward, add new elements to it, and prove that there's still room for creativity and fresh ideas in survival horror. Cronos plants a new kind of fear in your heart and makes sure you're glued to your seat.
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But Why Tho? - Mick Abrahamson - 8 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is a lot of fun as a survival horror. While not terrifying, it is still stressful and does something unique with the genre.
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Cerealkillerz - Gabriel Bogdan - German - 8 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn seems like the hidden successor to the Dead Space Trilogy that takes us back to its roots. The game offers incredible sound design and a terrifying atmosphere. The amazing graphics come with some fps drops, even in Performance Mode in the PS5. Melee is sadly a joke if you run out of bullets, but the great weapon design makes up for it. The story is also well done with the right amount of scares.
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Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - 8 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is a culmination of over a decade of experience from Bloober Team. Through the years, the studio has risen to the challenge, and this trend continues with its newest franchise, which is a mix of some of the biggest survival horror games to exist. The campaign is brutal and challenges you to survive in a bleak, failed world where a virus has wreaked havoc in Eastern Europe, and the sci-fi elements present a fun twist on the formula.
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Digitale Anime - Raouf Belhamra - Arabic - 9.5 / 10

"True horror in an unforgiving world" Cronos: The New Dawn is Bloober Team's most ambitious project yet, combining classic survival horror with innovative concepts like enemy combinations and time travel. Its dark atmosphere, stunning sound design, and mysterious story make it a standout experience for fans of methodical horror. Despite some sluggish movement and limited interactivity, it promises to be one of the most outstanding horror games of its generation.
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Digitec Magazine - Domagoj Belancic - German - 5 / 5

Cronos: The New Dawn impresses with a brilliant story and a fresh setting, somewhere between retro-futurism, brutalism, and sci-fi horror. The simple and slow combat system is a matter of taste. If you go along with it, you can expect nerve-wracking battles. Monsters that merge with already defeated enemies add an exciting twist to the encounters. The ingenious level design is (a bit too) linear, but it captivates with its almost perfect pacing, in which action, story, and puzzles alternate continuously. The scarce resources create a constant tension, which is underscored by an excellent synth-electro soundtrack. In short, "Cronos: The New Dawn" is one of the best horror games I've ever played.
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Final Weapon - Saras Rajpal - 2 / 5

Cronos: The New Dawn is filled to the brim with potential, which ultimately falls short in how it executes all of its concepts. While there is a great story foundation and some interesting mechanics, the lackluster conclusion to the narrative, combined with irritating combat, frequent glitches, poor pacing of traversal, and repetitive gameplay scenarios, makes for a product that fails to capture the quality of other entries in the genre.
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Game Sandwich - Augusto A. - 9 / 10

It becomes increasingly apparent as you play through it that Cronos is a passion project, one of those titles that a studio finally manages to develop after hitting it big with a commercially successful release. Following something like Silent Hill 2 with an entirely new horror IP takes a lot of confidence, but that bold move has certainly paid off, as Bloober Team's vision and execution are tremendously impressive.
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GameBlast - Alexandre Galvão - Portuguese - 8.5 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is a testament to Bloober Team's maturity within the survival horror genre. The studio delivers a dark, complex, and engaging experience that consistently balances psychological horror with science fiction elements. While not accessible to everyone, mainly due to its slower pace and high resource management requirements, it stands out as one of the genre's most memorable experiences in 2025. For those who enjoy the challenge and immersion of classic survival horror, Cronos is a must-play title.
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GameOnly - Mateusz Cieślak - Polish - 4.5 / 5

Cronos: The New Dawn surprised me above all with its unique type of narration and the blend of post-apocalyptic Poland with true portrayal of everyday life in the PRL era. I'm convinced not everyone will share my enthusiasm, but for me, Cronos is a game I would gladly pay even 350 PLN for, much more than the developers themselves suggest, and despite the higher price, I would feel fully satisfied with the purchase.
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Hinsusta - Pascal Kaap - German - 9 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is a gripping survival horror experience that takes Bloober Team to a new level. Cronos: The New Dawn is the best survival horror game of this year.
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Just Play it - Aimen TAIB - Arabic - 8 / 10

Bloober Team has partially succeeded in breaking away from its traditions with Cronos: The New Dawn, delivering a different identity built around the concept of time rifts and enemy fusion, which gave the experience a distinctive flavour. On the other hand, the studio strayed from its strength in crafting compelling stories, offering a survival journey that feels far removed from the sense of horror we had expected.
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Loot Level Chill - Chris White - 9 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is proof Bloober Team can make exceptional horror games, with terrifying monsters and some great ideas.
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MondoXbox - Giuseppe Genga - Italian - 9 / 10

With Cronos: The New Dawn, Bloober Team delivers its most accomplished work yet: a gripping survival horror with a masterful artistic vision, shaped by both past experiences and genre classics. Set in 1980s Kraków under Russian occupation, the game shifts into a nightmarish, oppressive reality. Its demanding mechanics and outstanding art direction make it one of the most intense horror experiences in recent years - unmissable.
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MonsterVine - James Carr - 4 / 5

Cronos: The New Dawn is a great survival horror game, utilizing its tough and grueling combat to complement the grueling and unforgiving atmosphere of Eastern Europe in the 1980s. It pushes the staples of the genre, like inventory management, to their extremes, without feeling overly difficult or unfair. The narrative won't blow you away, and it doesn't answer some of the more compelling questions its sci-fi story sets up, but you always want to learn more and find the next piece of information. It's not quite transcendent in the way some recent survival horror games have been, but it's a great time and absolutely worth diving into.
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Output Lag - Michael Murphy - 8 / 10

While a bit too ambitious, Cronos: The New Dawn is a great new IP from Bloober Team that showcases the team's horror chops in a gory futuristic way.
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PSX Brasil - Marco Aurélio Couto - Portuguese - 85 / 100

Combining a brutal setting, strong psychological elements, and engaging narrative, Cronos: The New Dawn represents another success for Bloober Team, although the repetition of objectives and limited variety in combat compromise the pace at times.
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Play Watch Read - Sylvano Witte - Dutch - 8 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is the newest project of Bloober Team and you know how to frustrate well with a moment, but also to inspire you again. This is mainly due to the scarcity of bullets, materials and tools. With every fight you have to make a decision or shoot or flights is the best choice. It is a challenging game where dead enemies can still frustrate you. Cronos: The New Dawn is not reserved for every gamer. So do you like a good challenge and can you make good choices? Then you will enjoy Cronos: The New Dawn.
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Prima Games - Ali Hashmi - 8 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is Bloober Team's best game yet and a clear showcase of their growth as a studio. Its mysterious world, grounded yet engaging characters, restrained use of horror and exposition, and striking visuals make it a worthy title among its contemporaries. The combat, however, can feel uneven at times, keeping it just short of true greatness.
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The Nerd Stash - Julio La Pine - 9.5 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is one of the most refreshing survival horror experiences of recent memory, thanks to its emphasis on player choices and split-second decisions, which shine even further due to its harrowing setting and gripping narrative.
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XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 9 / 10

Cronos: The New Dawn is excellent. Gorgeous graphics, smartly deliberate gameplay, an intriguing story, and incredible music create a new IP that is easily Bloober Team's best.
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Video Reviews


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Not bad, seems like a 8 out 10 game. I think I will buy the normal version instead of the deluxe though

Edit: Changed my mind
 
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Damn, I'm so happy for Bloober, I talked shit about SH2's trailers but they shut me up hard.
I want to play this but I don't really want to play extra to play today... Too bad they don't have a deal with GMG or Fanatical to buy it cheaper. I'll probably wait for Friday.
 
I've read quite a few of these, just really excited for the game, and my biggest take-away is that it's really old school in a way I appreciate the hell out of.

Inventory management, ruthless challenge at points, old school level design, mostly manual saves. Quite a few pointed out great level design and that The Thing mechanic being suprisingly strategic.

Excited Lets Do It GIF by Paramount+
 
I think it's one of the best games of the year. I'm going to buy it in October...

I've had enough of games like Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid Delta, Iwakura Aria, and Corpse Party, Silent hill f

I have to stop this month.
 
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SEGAvangelist said:
I'm guessing a lot of the people that don't like it suck at games.
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This is from PC gamer

"The issues are worsened by seriously stingy resource spawns. Too often, the game doesn't give you what you need—particularly bullets or healing—instead handing over something you either already have too much of or just don't have a use for. I swear, if I pick up even one more batch of energy token miles out from an upgrade room when I'm down to my last two bullets with almost no health left, I'm going to scream.

I felt like I was almost always either cheesing my way through packs of Orphans by the skin of my teeth in an effort to save precious resources or forced to spend everything I had to take just one big guy down. But then, sometimes I found myself blasting through enemies with ease without having to use too much ammo at all—the difficulty level of encounters just didn't seem consistent enough for me to ever get a read on the situation at hand."

Fucking clowns. Why you let a person review a survival horror game who hates these type of games?
 
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I mean the PC Gamer review at 2/5 trashes it for being survival horror. There's an entire paragraph complaining about resources he needs not spawning and having to conserve ammo.

I completely expect this to be a niche game, it sounds old school survival horror from every angle. If that's not your cup of tea...

YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME.
 
"Irritating combat"
I'll have to see it for myself but reading other reviews, most of them saying the combat is good or serviceable somehow tells me this person doesn't know how to handle challenging games.

DnFEjdwte8wJMGGD.png
 
GudOlRub said:
"Irritating combat"
I'll have to see it for myself but reading other reviews, most of them saying the combat is good or serviceable somehow tells me this person doesn't know how to handle challenging games.

DnFEjdwte8wJMGGD.png
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Yeah you can see the pattern. Every bad score is basically skill issue with this game. Like that PC gamer guy reviewing a survival horror and expecting a cod campaign or something
 
GudOlRub said:
"Irritating combat"
I'll have to see it for myself but reading other reviews, most of them saying the combat is good or serviceable somehow tells me this person doesn't know how to handle challenging games.

DnFEjdwte8wJMGGD.png
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seems to be an outlier. Mortismal gaming guy praised the combat as satisfying..
 
GudOlRub said:
"Irritating combat"
I'll have to see it for myself but reading other reviews, most of them saying the combat is good or serviceable somehow tells me this person doesn't know how to handle challenging games.

DnFEjdwte8wJMGGD.png
Click to expand...
What I saw in gameplay footage was that you really have to be tactical. Enemies have weak spots to expose, switch weapon, charge shot and hit and so forth. I watched a streamer approach the same fight differently after getting shit on and it showed that simply popping off shots doesn't do much, you have to employ that charge mechanic, burn corpses and keep enemies from going The Thing.

Shit sounds exciting to me.
 
Kacho said:
The scores aren't mid.
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A 77 average is pretty mid given typical review scales.

A lot of the individual reviews previewed in the OP are solid, lot of 8s, 9s, 5/5 etc. even the lower scored ones in the preview text are highly positive. Hence why it feels like disconnect between what I'm seeing and reading in the OP review snippets and a score in the 70s
 
Luipadre said:
This is from PC gamer

"The issues are worsened by seriously stingy resource spawns. Too often, the game doesn't give you what you need—particularly bullets or healing—instead handing over something you either already have too much of or just don't have a use for. I swear, if I pick up even one more batch of energy token miles out from an upgrade room when I'm down to my last two bullets with almost no health left, I'm going to scream.

I felt like I was almost always either cheesing my way through packs of Orphans by the skin of my teeth in an effort to save precious resources or forced to spend everything I had to take just one big guy down. But then, sometimes I found myself blasting through enemies with ease without having to use too much ammo at all—the difficulty level of encounters just didn't seem consistent enough for me to ever get a read on the situation at hand."

Fucking clowns. Why you let a person review a survival horror game who hates these type of games?
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How are you able to tell if it's a user issue versus the item-drop algorithm (assuming it's doing the RE4 adaptable difficulty thing)?

This game looks right up my alley, but is it possible the difficulty is overtuned?
 
Anyone saw in reviews if they calm down eventually with the explosive barrels mechanic? It was the biggest complaint of the preview but I hoped it was just because of an early section of the game perhaps.
 
I still think the overall design feels pretty generic, but there's something intriguing about it. I've already placed my preorder, so I'll find out soon enough if it was worth the money or not.
 
mdkirby said:
A 77 average is pretty mid given typical review scales.

A lot of the individual reviews previewed in the OP are solid, lot of 8s, 9s, 5/5 etc. even the lower scored ones in the preview text are highly positive. Hence why it feels like disconnect between what I'm seeing and reading in the OP review snippets and a score in the 70s
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The score is really an 80. The OP didn't update his Metacritic image.
 
How is that this AA-AAA studio managed to release 3 games in 4 years (The Medium in 2021, Silent Hill 2 in 2024 and Cronos in 2025) and other AAA studios sit 5 years on a sequel.
 
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