Cronos: The New Dawn Review for PlayStation 5

Bloober Team has made its name in horror, but after last year’s “Silent Hill 2” remake (you can check out my review of that HERE), I was curious to see what they could do without the weight of an established franchise behind them. With “Cronos: The New Dawn,” the studio steps fully into its own world, crafting a brutal and unrelenting survival horror experience that plays with time travel, sanity, and the fear of enemies that just won’t stay dead. The result is a game that’s ambitious, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately a bold statement that Bloober can build something original and memorable.

From the start, “Cronos: The New Dawn” makes it clear this isn’t a forgiving ride. You play as a Traveler, an agent of the Collective, venturing through a bleak future wasteland while slipping back into 1980s Poland during a catastrophe known as The Change. In one timeline, you’re facing off against grotesque mutants called Orphans that roam the ruined future. In the other, you’re extracting key people who died in the past, harvesting their Essences and carrying them forward. It’s an intriguing structure that balances exploration with high-stakes combat, always forcing you to weigh risk against reward. One of the mechanics that really stands out is how the game treats death. Enemies don’t stay down unless you burn their bodies. If you don’t, nearby foes can absorb their remains through a process called Merging, becoming faster, stronger, and far more dangerous. This isn’t just a cool idea; it adds constant tension, because it forces you to think about ammo, resources, and positioning in a way most survival horror games don’t. The downside is that ammo is scarce from the beginning, and sometimes I found myself stressing more about inventory management than the horrors lurking around the next corner.

Combat itself feels like a mix of deliberate third-person survival horror pacing with a bit more weight than some might expect. You’ve got melee abilities and firearms like pistols and shotguns, but every encounter feels like a gamble. Burning enemies, keeping track of dwindling supplies, and making sure you don’t let the battlefield spiral into chaos is exhausting, but in a good way when it works. At its best, it reminded me of the tension I felt in “Resident Evil 4” and “Dead Space,” where every enemy could wipe me out if I got careless. A comparison I’m sure many other people will make as well, primarily because those are a couple of the most highly regarded in this genre; this one is somewhat up there as well. Though at its worst, the game sometimes tips into tedium, especially when I was stuck raiding containers for scraps of ammo or batteries, wishing the pacing had a bit more variety. What makes the grind worthwhile is the atmosphere. Bloober leans heavily into its strengths here, blending Eastern European brutalist architecture with retro-futuristic tech to create a setting that feels oppressive yet oddly mesmerizing. The future wastelands are stark and punishing, while the 1980s Poland sequences offer a different kind of dread, slowly pulling back the curtain on the apocalyptic event that doomed humanity. The studio’s knack for environmental storytelling is on full display; you don’t just explore these spaces, you feel the weight of history embedded in them.

The Harvester mechanic ties the timelines together in a way that feels both clever and unsettling. Extracting Essences from the dead allows you to bring them into the future as companions of sorts, and while they can enhance your abilities, they also haunt you. The whispers in your ear and distorted visions as you carry more of them add a psychological layer to the already punishing combat. It creates a strong sense of unease, even when you’re not actively fighting, and it reminded me why Bloober has been able to carve out its niche in horror. Still, “Cronos: The New Dawn” isn’t flawless. The game only offers one difficulty mode, and while that adds to its hardcore survival edge, it also makes it feel inaccessible in places. I appreciate a challenge, but constantly worrying whether I’d have enough ammo to survive the next encounter wore me down more than it thrilled me. As I stated earlier, for a survival horror game, I wanted to spend more of my energy dreading the monsters themselves, not agonizing over whether I had enough bullets to burn corpses before they merged. It’s a thin line between tension and frustration, and “Cronos” doesn’t always land on the right side.

Narratively, I found the story engaging in concept but uneven in execution. The mystery of The Change and the role of the Collective kept me invested, but there were stretches where the pacing dragged, and I felt the writing didn’t quite capitalize on the fascinating premise of hopping between past and future. That said, the game delivers enough eerie twists and morally gray decisions to keep you hooked, and when it hits, it hits hard. What stuck with me most was the sheer relentlessness of the experience. Every step through the wasteland felt heavy, every decision carried weight, and every fight left me drained in the best way possible. Even when the game frustrated me, I couldn’t deny how effective it was at putting me on edge. That sense of unease is what survival horror is all about, and “Cronos: The New Dawn” nails it.

Bloober Team had a lot to prove with this project. After working on an iconic series like “Silent Hill,” the question was whether they could stand on their own without leaning on someone else’s legacy. With “Cronos: The New Dawn,” they’ve answered that question. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s an uncompromising, atmospheric, and deeply unsettling survival horror experience. It frustrated me at times, but it also left me impressed with how far Bloober has come as a studio. If you’re looking for a new horror game that challenges you while making you squirm, this one deserves a spot on your radar.

8/10

For more information, visit HERE. Cronos: The New Dawn is slated to release on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and Epic, and Nintendo Switch 2.

You can pre-order Cronos: The New Dawn now for PC via Steam, Epic, Gog.com, Microsoft Store, Nintendo and PlayStation. Preordering the Deluxe Edition gives players 48 hours of early access beginning today, Wednesday, September 3.

Related: Nick Navarro Reviews

Nick Navarro

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Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87

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