Review for Xbox Series of Cronos: The New Dawn – An outstanding horror experience

We analyzed for Xbox, Cronos: The New Dawn, one of the best surprises of this end of the year in the horror genre.

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If there was a game I was eager to play this year, it’s undoubtedly Cronos: The New Dawn. Everything I’d seen about the game interested me, starting with its setting and its similarity to a saga I’ve always loved, Dead Space. We’ll discuss that later; for now, let’s get some background on Bloober Team. After working on the highly anticipated remake of Silent Hill 2, the Polish team has embarked on a new, original proposal, and the result is surprising. Cronos: The New Dawn arrives as a third-person survival horror with sci-fi and time travel elements that, without reinventing the wheel, manages to engage from the first minute to its end.

I would describe it as one of those experiences that knows how to play well with references, drawing from classics like Dead Space, but also bringing freshness in the way it tells its story and the mechanics it proposes. After completing it in about 16 hours on Xbox Series X, I can say that we’re facing one of the revelations of this year’s end: a title that mixes tension, exploration, and intense combat with a brutal atmosphere.

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Technical Section

Visually, Cronos: The New Dawn is a very solid title. The retro-futuristic world it proposes, with that brutalist air inspired by Eastern Europe, is represented with detail that catches the eye. Industrial corridors, devastated cities, and wastelands full of ruins combine with light and particle effects that reinforce that oppressive atmosphere that begs to be played with headphones and in the dark. Graphically, it’s a delight; Bloober has known how to represent the game’s world spectacularly, and although one could find some minor flaws here and there, overall, it’s outstanding, doing everything it shows well.

On Xbox Series X, the performance is good in general, with stable fluidity most of the time. It’s clear that Bloober Team has worked so that the engine doesn’t suffer in the most chaotic battles, although some occasional FPS drops appear in very loaded areas. These are minor details that don’t tarnish a set that feels well-optimized and more than meets expectations.

The sound deserves a special mention. The soundtrack accompanies exceptionally, raising the tension when needed, and the sound effects in combat achieve brutal immersion. Hearing the creatures’ growls, the crackling of fire when you burn an enemy to prevent fusion, or the whispers that come with essences is an experience on another level. This is where the game shines with force: playing it with headphones multiplies the impact. The game comes with texts in Spanish.

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Gameplay

The basis of Cronos: The New Dawn is in pure survival, starting with the fact that we don’t have a difficulty selector. Scarce ammunition, limited resources, and the need to explore every corner to advance set the pace of the adventure. It’s a game that doesn’t give anything away and forces you to be in tension, thinking whether to spend a bullet or save it for something worse. We can recover materials from the scenarios to craft, and although there are many, you might have to run out of ammunition at some point. We have different weapons available, although I’m team pistol, something similar to the plasma cutter from Dead Space, although not exactly the same.

We have a shotgun, pistol, rifle, and other weapons, as well as incineration tools and mines. It’s a broad arsenal, although limited by inventory slots, so you have to choose well what you carry with you and what weapon interests you and what doesn’t. All this gives a point of strategy, survival, and tension that’s great, something that makes it stand out and not lose interest as it becomes too simple over the hours.

The combats in Cronos: The New Dawn don’t conform to being a simple exchange of blows or shots: each encounter feels like a real test. The creatures that appear aren’t filler; they’re enemies designed to put you on the ropes. The fusion mechanic is the best example: if you don’t eliminate the monsters quickly, they can absorb the fallen and transform into much stronger and more lethal versions. That detail turns each confrontation into a race against time, forcing you to think and act with coldness even when chaos reigns on screen. Combat zones often don’t give you many hiding spots; you’ll have to move quickly, make use of the right weapons, aim at the correct spots, load shots (this is mandatory with the pistol if you want to do damage).

We can also rely on the scenarios to create explosions with fuel cans, giving us an advantage when enemies accumulate. The bosses deserve special mention; while they’re not impossible, they add an extra challenge and require careful observation to see their attack patterns and act accordingly. Almost all the game’s bosses are designed to fight while using the environment, so even though they’re demanding, you can defeat them by taking advantage of everything around you.

As for exploration, I liked that it combines open areas with detailed, closed spaces. It’s not an open world, but there’s enough freedom to feel that each discovery is yours. The narrative, supported by time travel and the contrast between 80s Poland and the devastated future, manages to engage without needing excessive cinematics, and the ones it has are excellent and perfect for telling the story in an appropriate manner.

Additionally, we have tools to redo moments in time, allowing us to rebuild platforms, stairs, or solve small puzzles, all well-integrated without overdoing it, but adding variety and freshness to the exploration moments. We also have gravity boots; while they might remind you of Dead Space, in this case, they work differently, but like everything in this game, the Polish studio has known how to make the most of it and combine these sections with exploration that doesn’t make you feel like you’re going in circles wondering how to advance. And we have cats, our best allies in this game and, in the end, our only friends…

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Duration

My playthrough lasted about 16 hours, although I’m convinced I left content to be discovered. There are hidden secrets, weapon and armor upgrades I didn’t complete, as well as additional essences that can change the course of the game significantly. This makes you always feel like there’s more to scratch if you decide to try again.

What surprised me most is that the game never feels bloated at any moment. Each area has its reason for being, and each mission maintains interest without filler or artificial tasks. And note, here there’s no difficulty selector: the challenge is the same for everyone. Cronos: The New Dawn is a survival horror that demands concentration, exploration, and strategy at all times. It’s tough at times, yes, but that’s precisely where its charm lies.

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Conclusion

Cronos: The New Dawn has seemed to me a outstanding experience. Bloober Team demonstrates that, beyond reinterpreting classics, it also knows how to build something original with a lot of personality. It doesn’t invent anything we haven’t seen before, but what it does, it does well. And many times, that’s enough to stand out.

The atmosphere is brutal, the combats have the necessary tension, the fusion mechanic adds a constant challenge, and the essence system puts difficult decisions on the table that affect both combat and immersion. It may lack that stroke of originality that elevates it to the genre’s Olympus, but what’s here is a first-class survival horror.

If you enjoy demanding titles that force you to manage resources, play carefully, and keep calm in the face of intense final bosses, Cronos: The New Dawn is a game you shouldn’t miss. For me, one of the big surprises of this year on Xbox.

We thank Bandai Namco for the material provided to carry out this analysis.