Cronos: The New Dawn Review - Screenshot 1 of 6
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)

In the run-up to the launch of Bloober Team’s new IP, Cronos: The New Dawn, chances are you saw one or two (or ten) comparisons to EA’s Dead Space series. And yes, while there are definitely some similarities between the two, I’d feel more comfortable describing Cronos as an amalgamation of nearly every major survival horror game ever released.

This is both good and bad. In one sense, Cronos is the quintessential survival horror, taking all the best elements from Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark, and the aforementioned Dead Space, making for an experience that genre fans will relish. On the other hand, it never really attempts anything new to call its own, and although its setting and story certainly elevate it, there’s little here that hasn’t already been done elsewhere.

Taking place primarily within the ruined city of New Dawn, which itself is based upon the historical district of Nowa Huta in Kraków, you take on the role of The Traveler tasked with locating rifts within the world to travel back in time to the 1980s. There, she must extract the ‘essence’ of individuals who perished during a devastating event known as The Change in which humans morphed into grotesque monsters called Orphans.

Cronos: The New Dawn Review - Screenshot 2 of 6
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)

Cronos’ narrative is undoubtedly the game’s strongest aspect. It presents a consistently intriguing mystery, withholding enough crucial information while giving you just the right amount to keep you invested. Like all great survival horrors, a lot of the backstory is found within the environment, with messages hastily scrawled upon walls, journals revealing more personal struggles during The Change, and government notices urging solidarity in the face of extinction. It’s cool stuff, and I sincerely hope the game does well enough to warrant a sequel or prequel – there’s definitely potential.

The Traveler is also a surprisingly compelling protagonist, though I could understand if some folks don’t gel with her. She’s all business, with a cold, detached, almost robotic demeanour, albeit one that occasionally falters as she begins to struggle with hallucinations. She often comments on her surroundings, and it’s exactly how I imagine Samus would verbally record data as she’s traversing Zebes or Tallon IV… y’know, if you ignore her portrayal in Metroid: Other M. If you’ve played HouseMarque’s PS5 exclusive Returnal, you could also draw favourable comparisons with Selene Vassos.

Cronos: The New Dawn Review - Screenshot 3 of 6
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)

Gameplay is the classic survival horror combination of combat and puzzle-solving, utilising the over-the-shoulder camera perspective made popular by Resident Evil 4. You’ll start with a standard pistol, but shotguns, carbines, and rocket launchers are all up for grabs as you progress. Interestingly, in another nod to Metroid, every weapon has a charge shot, which deals significantly more damage and can pierce multiple targets at once. It’s advisable to use this almost exclusively, though the time needed to charge your shot leaves you exposed, naturally.

Thankfully, you can upgrade your charge shot — along with almost every aspect of The Traveler’s capabilities — via terminals in safe rooms. You’ll hoard a whole bunch of energy along your travels while also nabbing the odd ‘Core’ (some of which are gifted, believe it or not, by cute cats throughout the game world), the combination of which grants you improved health, weapon damage, and more. The safe rooms themselves are obvious homages to Resident Evil, featuring save stations, storage boxes, and even a relaxed, ethereal background melody to signify that, yes, you can take it easy here.

Cronos: The New Dawn Review - Screenshot 4 of 6
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)

Safe rooms are handy because the rest of Cronos is absolutely rife with danger. Just one Orphan can prove deadly if you’re not careful, but facing off against multiple enemies at once is often a recipe for disaster. Careful resource management proves crucial, and this includes procuring fuel for your makeshift flamethrower.

Like REmake, downing Orphans often isn’t enough, as others can merge with dead bodies, thus gaining new abilities along with added strength and armour. Burning bodies with a quick tap of ‘L’ will save you a lot of hassle, and this can even be used against active enemies, slowing them down enough to land a charged headshot, using one of Switch 2's multiple control options.

You can use the standard twin-stick setup if you wish, and this is perfectly viable, but I opted for a combination of stick aiming and gyro controls. This worked really well for me after tinkering with the sensitivity, but you might be enticed by the additional mouse controls. You can set Mouse Mode to either the left or right Joy-Con, and it makes for a pretty accurate option once you get used to the increased sensitivity. I didn't much care for it, but this is less a commentary on the game and more Switch 2's mouse functionality in general.

Cronos: The New Dawn Review - Screenshot 5 of 6
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)

Some of the very best survival horrors strike an excellent balance between giving you agency against your enemies while encouraging you to avoid unnecessary encounters. Unfortunately, this is one area where Cronos falters. Should the Orphans spot you (which in many scenarios is almost guaranteed), they prove to be exceptionally quick and relentless, making running away a tricky proposition, especially in more claustrophobic environments. As such, you’re often forced to engage in combat whether you want to or not, and this can severely diminish the sense of fear, making enemies less of a threat and more of a nuisance.

While the creatures eventually lose their initial impact from a gameplay perspective, the excellent visual design remains consistent throughout. Though not particularly gory, it's a very gooey game, with writhing masses plastered over walls and floors through which enemies often emerge with a rather sickening squelch.

In fact, the sound design is great across the board. The voice acting is particularly strong, with a great performance from headliner Kelly Burke as The Traveler, along with a host of actors portraying support characters, with plenty of audio logs to nab throughout. The synth-heavy soundtrack is also a real treat, lending the sci-fi setting a good sense of atmosphere.

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Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)

As for how Cronos holds up on Switch 2, it’s mostly good news. You’re looking at a pretty solid 30fps which occasionally struggles during more hectic encounters, though it’s rarely anything to be too concerned about. To achieve this, visual cutbacks have been made; you’ll sometimes see assets that look like they’ve not fully loaded in, but no, that's intentional in order to achieve a stable frame rate. Although The Traveler looks fine in her elaborate sci-fi getup, characters without helmets or other face coverings can look a little iffy.

There’s one major technical issue that needs addressing, too, and it’s one that Bloober Team is aware of and keen to fix ASAP. Currently, if you start playing the game in handheld mode and switch over to docked mode, it hard crashes; just straight-up shuts down and kicks you back to the home screen. While I appreciated the heads-up beforehand, this is the kind of issue that might make your average consumer seek a refund; it’s absurd. You’re playing the game on the Switch 2, and you can’t… y'know, switch. We’re confident this will be fixed very soon, but for now, stick to either docked or handheld mode and refrain from switching mid-game.

Conclusion

Although Cronos: The New Dawn doesn't quite reach the heights of Bloober Team's excellent Silent Hill 2 remake, it's nevertheless the result of a studio that has levelled up significantly from the days of Layers of Fear and Blair Witch. It's a celebration of survival horror, paying homage to all the genre greats effectively, although failing to do anything truly original.

That said, the setting and story really help elevate the experience. This is a solid Switch 2 version (assuming a rather unpleasant bug gets fixed soon), and there's real potential here for Cronos to become a central pillar of the genre going forward, should Bloober choose to expand upon it in the future.

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