Summary
- Cronos: The New Dawn should focus on a compelling and original story to stand out.
- Combat variety is crucial for Cronos: The New Dawn's success, unlike The Callisto Protocol.
- Cronos: The New Dawn needs to avoid a lackluster narrative, combat, and enemy variety seen in The Callisto Protocol.
When Striking Distance Studios' The Callisto Protocol launched in 2022, it carried the heavy burden of being a spiritual successor to Dead Space, complete with a sci-fi horror setting, grotesque creature design, and a focus on atmospheric tension. Unfortunately, despite its cinematic visuals and technical polish, The Callisto Protocol struggled to deliver on the same levels that not only defined Dead Space but also made it a modern standard for sci-fi horror. Now, Bloober Team's upcoming survival horror game Cronos: The New Dawn is considered to be yet another spiritual successor to Dead Space, but it will need to avoid The Callisto Protocol's biggest fumbles if it hopes to achieve greater success.
With Cronos: The New Dawn not only sharing DNA with The Callisto Protocol but Dead Space as well, expectations are understandably high for it to rise above the former and at least be on par with the latter. While The Callisto Protocol might have specialized in style, Cronos: The New Dawn needs to deliver on substance. There are a number of different things it could do to not just mimic Dead Space but also improve upon The Callisto Protocol's approach, but narrative, combat, and enemy variety are arguably the most important elements it needs to target.
Cronos: The New Dawn Could Have a Hard Time Scratching One Dead Space Itch
Based on early footage, Cronos: The New Dawn feels reminiscent of Dead Space, but it could also be missing one essential feature.
How Cronos: The New Dawn Can Avoid The Callisto Protocol's Biggest Mistakes
Cronos Needs to Deliver on the Story Front Where The Callisto Protocol Fell Short
One thing that was most intriguing about The Callisto Protocol was its premise. Set in the year 2320 on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons, The Callisto Protocol saw players assuming the role of Jacob Lee, a cargo pilot working for the United Jupiter Company. During a transport mission, Jacob's ship is boarded by members of a group known as the "Outer Way," which triggers the ship's crash landing on Callisto. Both Jacob and Dani Nakamura, the Outer Way's leader, survive the crash but are apprehended by Black Iron Prison's security and incarcerated without trial. Jacob then awakens to find the prison overrun by mutant creatures known as "biophages," which leads him on a journey to uncover a conspiracy involving the UJC's experiments with alien larvae to accelerate human evolution.
With Cronos: The New Dawn not only sharing DNA with The Callisto Protocol but Dead Space as well, expectations are understandably high for it to rise above the former and at least be on par with the latter.
Unfortunately, despite such a compelling premise, the story overall felt a bit derivative, unoriginal, and predictable, drawing heavily from the same sci-fi tropes players have likely seen in other games and even films. Character development was a significant shortcoming as well, keeping players from forming meaningful bonds with many of The Callisto Protocol's characters. Finally, there was limited lore and worldbuilding in The Callisto Protocol, despite a convincing atmosphere, making the game more about the present conflict than the past that created it.
Fortunately, Cronos: The New Dawn already looks to improve on this area where The Callisto Protocol fell short, with its post-apocalyptic 1980s Poland setting and time travel and a mysterious organization known as the Collective at the heart of its story. While not much else is currently known about its story, Cronos already looks setup for something with more depth than what The Callisto Protocol offered, but whether that turns out to be the case remains to be seen.
Cronos Should Ensure It Has More Variety in Its Combat Than The Callisto Protocol
A shallow story is one thing, but perhaps an even greater criticism of The Callisto Protocol lies in its combat. For some reason, The Callisto Protocol places a significant emphasis on melee combat, despite being a spiritual successor to Dead Space, which prioritized ranged dismemberment mechanics. The Callisto Protocol also lacked enemy variety by and large, making combat feel repetitive, and its AI was far too predictable to maintain the suspense of what should be tense combat moments. As such, Cronos: The New Dawn needs to ensure it offers players plenty of variety in its playstyle and enemies.
Cronos: The New Dawn is currently slated for a 2025 release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
If Cronos: The New Dawn wants to succeed where The Callisto Protocol failed, then it needs to get the fundamentals right. That means combat that doesn't get old after the first few encounters, a fleshed-out story that actually makes use of its worldbuilding, and enemy encounters that keep players thinking instead of simply going through the motions. The Callisto Protocol already showed what happens when a game looks the part but lacks the depth to back it up, and Cronos: The New Dawn can use its stage as an opportunity for a better performance.
Cronos: The New Dawn
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 78 /100 Critics Rec: 77%
- Released
- September 5, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Bloober Team
- Publisher(s)
- Bloober Team
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror, Science Fiction, Action
