Cronos: The New Dawn Dropped the Ball With its Most Clever…

Cronos: The New Dawn, developer Bloober Team's latest title, is traditional psychological survival horror through and through. Bloober went to great lengths to ensure that its original follow-up to the acclaimed Silent Hill 2 Remake contained all the necessary genre hallmarks while branching out into more heady sci-fi territory. Cronos: The New Dawn embraces time-travel, sending players on a journey to discover the root cause of a mysterious and catastrophic plague that devastated humanity and forever changed the survivors. This event, known appropriately as the Change, forms the core of the plot and the ensuing investigation of its enigmatic protagonist, the armored figure known as the Traveler, into the depths of the past in search of answers.

Cronos new dawn screenshot looking at time rift void

During the course of the tale , the Traveler will alternate between exploring the unspecified future timeline and the early 1980s. Cronos: The New Dawn gives fans the ability to interact with glowing time rifts to navigate and manipulate the environment to continue on their mission. However, the incorporation and extent that this mechanic is actually used leaves a bit to be desired, and Bloober could've taken it much further in a couple of ways.

Cronos: The New Dawn's Time Manipulation Mechanic Feels Like a Missed Opportunity

How To Solve the Time Oddity Puzzle in the Desert Region in Cronos The New Dawn 4

Cronos: The New Dawn's Time Rift Gimmick is Fairly One-Dimensional

As the story opens, it wastes little time in thrusting players into Cronos: The New Dawn's shattered version of Poland. The Traveler at first appears just as confused and disoriented as players likely are at that point. They awaken in the ruins of the future, and after a brief expository scene that covers the basics, the Traveler is tasked with finding the coordinates to a time rift leading to the past where they can extract an important person who may be the key to understanding the Change. As they do so, the Traveler must deal with the horrifying warped humans known as Orphans.

Cronos new dawn screenshot shooting time manipulation gun

This is generally the goal of each section, with the Traveler tracking down more rifts and targets in the past throughout. In terms of gameplay, though, interacting with these rifts is just an alternate firing mode, requiring players to shoot a beam at them to progress. Visually, this is impressive and looks cool, with landscapes and objects materializing and reality reforming to create new paths. But in practice, it usually boils down to just finding the right spot or angle and changing the scenery as prescribed. And this is also applicable to combat, as the mechanic barely comes into play in fights, whereas it could have added a great dynamic and had a much bigger impact.

Developers stated that the film, Annihilation, was one of Cronos: The Dawn' s influences, and the idea and presentation of the time rifts does bring to mind some of the movie's aspects.

How Cronos: The New Dawn Could Have Better Used its Time Manipulation Mechanic

cronos new dawn screenshot bus floating time warp

The fact that Cronos: The New Dawn's time-shifting ability can't be used against enemies in any way seems the most glaring omission, as it would theoretically make narrative sense for the Traveler to be able to weaponize it. The only concession Cronos makes is allowing players to spawn in extra explosive barrels in a couple of staged encounters and later briefly, against two end-game bosses. Though this can be helpful, it's still quite limited, and is not always even necessary to succeed in some cases. The rifts could also have been incorporated into more optional puzzles, as there's only a handful that make use of them.

Cronos new dawn screenshot time rift barrel

One good point of reference for how Cronos: The New Dawn could have made more robust use of its time manipulation is Singularity, an FPS with BioShock vibes from 2010 that relied heavily on the concept in both plot and gameplay. Singularity allowed players to both change the environment through this mechanic and use it against enemies, rapidly aging or de-aging them as an offensive tactic.

Though admittedly it may not have been feasible for Bloober to have included a similar design without disrupting Cronos: The New Dawn's otherwise careful balance, perhaps it could've instead had additional unique setpiece battles that used time manipulation in more varied and fun ways. These might've seen players needing to avoid a specific boss enemy or a large group while aligning various rifts in such a way as to defeat them. As it stands, while Cronos' time manipulation is a solid idea on the surface, it still feels like it could've been integrated and expanded to a greater degree.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image