September 5 is Going to Be a Big Day For Dead Space, Silent…

Cronos: The New Dawn now has an official release date, and the upcoming psychological survival horror game from developer Bloober Team will be dropping later this year on September 5, just ahead of the traditionally spooky season. With Cronos: The New Dawn, Bloober is aiming to give players a new experience but one that also remains grounded in some of the familiar and well-liked aspects of two other major series in the genre, namely Dead Space and Silent Hill.

From its very first reveal, Cronos: The Dawn's inspirations that are taken from the above were fairly front and center, as can be seen in its visuals and third-person gameplay perspective. Developers have also stated that they looked to another of horror's heavy hitters, Resident Evil 4, when designing it. With its combination of channeling these while introducing an intriguing setup and distinct world, Cronos: The Dawn looks in many ways to be a title that fans of all these franchises and the horror genre overall won't want to miss.

While it's not currently confirmed, there is some speculation that Cronos: The New Dawn may also be a day-one Xbox Game Pass title.

Cronos new dawn Silent hill f Potential competition

Cronos: The New Dawn and Silent Hill f Could Be a Case of Allies to Rivals

Cronos: The New Dawn and Silent Hill f may now find themselves in a strange situation due to some specifically odd circumstances.

Posts

By J. Scott Thurlow

Silent Hill and Dead Space Fans Should Mark Cronos: The New Dawn's September 5 Launch on Their Calendars

Cronos: The New Dawn is Teed Up to Take From Some of Dead Space and Silent Hill's Best Elements

After cutting its teeth earlier on games like Observer and Layers of Fear, Bloober Team's work on last year's Silent Hill 2 Remake was a crowning achievement, thrusting the studio into the limelight as a premier modern horror developer. Cronos: The Dawn wears its Silent Hill and Dead Space influences on its sleeve, and both can be seen in the various footage that Bloober has released of it.

The protagonist, known only as The Traveler, is a heavily suited figure bearing no small resemblance to Isaac Clark. The form and function of the weapons also look similar to Dead Space's. On the Silent Hill side of its presentation, there are quieter but incredibly tense sequences where The Traveler hears strange whispers and comes face to face with other humans bearing grim tidings.

Silent Hill f is launching on September 25, just a few weeks after Cronos.

Cronos: The New Dawn Looks to Bring its Own Unique Blend of Dread on September 5

Bloober has previously delved into how it is bringing fresh ideas to the table for Cronos: The New Dawn, both in its narrative framework and gameplay design. The story follows The Traveler as they are tasked with braving unnatural time rifts into the past caused by a catastrophic event known as The Change that has apparently devastated Earth in the future, leaving it in horrific and surreal ruins. Players will explore a haunting world composed of a "retro-futurist technology fused with Eastern European Brutalist" art style split across two timelines.

One of the biggest features revealed about it so far is Cronos: The New Dawn's merging mechanic, which puts a gruesome and challenging twist on the way players must approach and combat its enemies, known as the Orphans. The Traveler must act to prevent the Orphans from combining their twisted bodies into more powerful and monstrous versions. This idea brings to mind Dead Space's limb-dismembering, and both it and Cronos can also trace their over-the-shoulder view back to RE4.

The Traveler's goal is apparently to survive in the past and seek out certain people with special talent or knowledge to avert or perhaps reverse The Change. This requires "harvesting their essences." How The Traveler handles the mental toll that comes along with the ominous overtones that doing so seem to imply will play a big part in the tale. Cronos: The New Dawn thus appears to be much more than a Frankenstein's monster of Dead Space, Silent Hill, or Resident Evil. But it does look to be taking some of the best lessons that they provided to heart to create an excellent horror experience all its own.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image