Last Updated on Sep 25, 2025 @ 15:08:20 PM.
For a few years now, there’s been an absence of genuinely terrifying horror experiences, other than remakes, remasters, and sequels. Thankfully, with the release of Cronos: The New Dawn, Bloober Team has ended that unwanted streak and decided they wanted to brutally mess with everyone’s heads, and personally speaking, I’m all for it. Give me more.
Let’s get it out of the way nice and early. There is zero chance that Cronos: The New Dawn isn’t in some way influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 onwards. Set in Poland after a mysterious disease has swept through the quarantined country, you play as The Traveller, a being that is responsible for exploring and cataloging the events of ‘The Change’, an event so bad (and unexplained), it left the country (and maybe the world?) unrecognisable.
To me, any good survival horror game needs to leave as much unexplained and unknown as it does show/tell you what’s going on, and Cronos: The New Dawn certainly manages that. Early doors, the atmosphere is claustrophobic. You might have objectives, but you’re never really sure what’s going on, and you’re left to piece together the story, the history, and the events that have already occurred by exploring the environment and finding notes, or wall writings, and so on. It’s a master stroke that continually keeps you immersed, rather than being bogged down with exposition and conversation after conversation.
The protagonist of the tale might be The Traveller, but the real main character is the environments you meet along the way. It’s unbelievably clear that the team behind the game spent countless hours crafting this world for us, and you’ll be rewarded for taking some time and exploring it.
Cronos: The New Dawn Brings the Heat
Seemingly following the same restrained MO as that of the environment and atmosphere, the gameplay in Cronos: The New Dawn is less of a frenetic and constant beast, and more of a tangible, thinking-man’s method. Instead of overwhelming crowds of monsters, you’ll regularly be confronted with a few at a time, which, if you take your time, don’t miss your shots and use all the skills at your disposal, you should dispatch with ease… however, it’s never really that easy. The real terror in the game comes from the moments where you’re not particularly composed, and you’re quickly overwhelmed. Upgraded weapons or not, the Traveller may be an expert in their craft, but it’s all for nothing if you don’t follow some simple lessons.
The enemies in the game, mutated humans who succumbed to ‘The Change’, have an uncanny ability to metamorphose and melt into their fallen comrades, in turn making themselves stronger. This adds another tactical layer to the gameplay, and I found myself constantly checking the floor for any bodies to get rid of, as much as I was checking the environment for enemies that could actually hurt me. If you don’t remove those bodies, or the bodies of those you kill in your travels, you’re going to have a bad time. Thankfully, Cronos: The New Dawn throws plenty of tools at you to help in that endeavour, from new weapons on the regular, upgrades (something reminiscent of old school survival horror, in the way it handles the limited skill points), and more besides.
Personally, my absolute favourite thing to do was to use the fire blast to remove the bodies of the Orphan (the enemies), and then blast away with reckless abandon, before having to use my fists to finish the job. By the way, getting up close and personal to them and having to use your fists is not advisable, and is as horrifying as it is gloriously gory and pretty to look at.
Time is But a Construct
The last part of the game I want to highlight is the utterly unique idea of the time-travelling mechanics and the anomalies present in the environment. From having to complete puzzles by moving anomalies using your gun, which in turn changes the environment in a number of ways, to travelling through time to ‘save and extract’ seemingly important members to affect the past, and stop ‘The Change’, Cronos: The New Dawn has everything it needs to be considered a mind-melting, sci-fi epic. Thankfully, as high as the reach might be for the studio and its developers in attempting to craft a multi-faceted video game with an intriguing atmosphere, interesting and layered gunplay, and a story that will have you guessing continually, the execution is almost flawless.
There are some teething problems in performance, and I suffered a few crashes, but hopefully that’ll be squashed with a number of updates and patches. The gunplay, as layered as it can be, depending on the situation, could also be considered overly simple at times and sparse when compared to other survival horror games. However, for every slight detractor, there is something that more than makes up for it in the finished experience, and you’ll end your first playthrough thoroughly scared, but satisfied. Well, I did, and then I booted it up again for a second go-round.
Cronos: The New Dawn
A whole new breed of survival horror emerges with Cronos: The New Dawn. Survive the brutal wastelands of the future, fight nightmarish merging creatures, and jump back in time to harvest souls as you seek to uncover the origins of the apocalypse that wiped out humanity.
Summary
Cronos: The New Dawn hits nearly every beat it needs to, from a genuinely terrifying atmosphere and environment painstakingly created, to a gameplay loop that harkens back to a nostalgic age of survival horror, all wrapped up in one of the most unique stories of 2025. If you’re looking to be scared, look no further.
HOURS PLAYED: 21
PLAYED ON: PS5
- It doesn't pull any punches and never shies away from the harsh realities of a world-changing disease sweeping through a country with reckless abandon.
- Some moments were pure nightmare fuel, while others left me questioning humanity.
- Rewards both exploration and outside-the-box thinking. Proper brain-scratcher at times, something dreadfully absent in most modern survival horror games.
- Some performance issues, audio drops and graphical fallout, but very minimal, but equally immersion-breaking when it did happen.
- I felt I became too OP too quickly, and stopped fearing the Orphans after a few upgrades and new weapons.
Cronos: The New Dawn is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
For more Thumb Wars, go check out our review of the Eldritch horror FPS Forgive Me Father 2, or our talk with the developers of Ready or Not, and their opinions on the long-standing controversies around the game.
Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!
