Bloober Team, the developers behind the wildly successful remake of Konami‘s psychological thriller masterpiece Silent Hill 2, as well as the phenomenal narrative driven first-person horror titles of the Layers of Fear series, are once again asking players to “Give us a chance,” with their upcoming third-person sci-fi action thriller Cronos: The New Dawn.
Jacek Zięba, the game director for Cronos, indicated that the devs were met with a lot of initial confidence issues within the company as many fans of the Silent Hill franchise were hyper critical of the team during development, as they hadn’t yet released a game with combat and the first one entrusted to them was one of the most storied horror franchises in history.
“We are starting to stop feeling like underdogs all the time after Silent Hill,” Zięba stated. “The Silent Hill era wasn’t so easy in the eyes of the public. There were a lot of voices: ‘Oh no, Bloober is doing this. They will destroy that.’ It was very tough for the whole company to stick to our guns and put all our heart into that thing, even if most people didn’t want it. We proved people wrong, so that’s nice.”
Zięba went on to explain that Bloober Team is now in a very “different position” after the success of the brilliant remake and have drawn in a much larger audience of fans that are greatly interested in the team’s upcoming projects. It’s very exciting to see such a passionate group of developers get the recognition and budget they deserve, allowing for their phenomenal storytelling and now their excellent third-person combat shine. It will be very interesting to see how they blend psychological and biological horror in the crumbling sci-fi world of Cronos: The New Dawn.
Of course, with the overwhelming success of their recent release somewhat coming from the big name that it was, the pressure is certainly still being felt by Bloober Team to deliver on their upcoming title, but the studio has a lot more support this time around and are much more confident in themselves and their product than ever before.
“We’re in a different moment,” Zięba shared. “I think we’re riding the wave of people being intrigued, and we need to deliver. We know we need to deliver. We put our hearts into all our games, and we do whatever we can to make them the best.”
Cronos’s lead writer Grzegorz Like also provided his feelings on the matter by stating that the time wants to continue to do better with each game going forward.
“Every time you publish a game, you learn, and then you change, you evolve. You try to be better. I swear to God, we want to be better, even after Silent Hill,” Like said. “People were like ‘this is perfection!’ This is not perfection.”
“Or maybe it is,” Zięba chimed in. “We also like to say that with Silent Hill and Cronos, it’s like two pizzas with different toppings. Even if we created one perfect one, maybe now we can show you a different one.”
After the Silent Hill 2 remake provided hours of fun and excitement for so many fans of the series (I’m still waiting for an Xbox release), Bloober Team was elevated from a team of indie horror devs, to a player with their own seat at the table. The main focus now is for them to hold that seat by playing their cards right and reading the room, which right now they seem to be doing incredibly well.
Cronos: The New Dawn looks like some twisted and intriguing amalgamation of Dead Space and Resident Evil 4, but with enough fascinating new mechanics, unique environments to explore, and grotesque fusing monstrosities to encounter to truly set it apart and make it a serious contender in the horror gaming space. The most creative aspect of the grim third-person survival horror comes from the above-mentioned monster design, or rather, the mechanics they bring with them. If these fleshy freaks aren’t properly dispatched (like dismembering limbs in Dead Space or burning dead zombies in Resident Evil remake), then they will merge with other creatures and create much more challenging combat encounters to test the player’s tactical prowess.
If one of the toxic-puking teratisms merges with one of the husks of flesh and gunk with blades for limbs, then the player will be left battling a sword-arm swinging, acid spitting nightmare, constantly allowing for evolving pulse-pounding encounters during the developing gameplay. Sometimes there are already piles of corpse husks when the player enters a new area, and if they’re not promptly burned and disposed of, they may very well be utilized by one of the frightening foes to become even more formidable through merging.
With flamethrower fuel being relatively limited as Cronos: The New Dawn is an action survival horror at its core, players may choose to be more cautious and evasive when dealing with enemies, as not to trigger a merging that could very quickly get out of hand. Though if you’re familiar with other similar games of the genre, then you likely already know that the concept of caution is often much more easily said than done.
This cleverly crafted mechanic makes for a fresh and unique take on the genre that will lead to a terribly tense and highly strategic combat experience that is sure to make the hairs stand up on the back of our necks. Alongside a haunting atmosphere and engaging environmental exploration, this type of anxiety driven thrill is a major part of what makes a scary game great. It’s like players leaving raptors alive in Dino Crisis to conserve ammo, only to have them crash through a window and scare the daylights out of them. It’s all about proper planning to contend with unforeseen outcomes.
Regardless, with all of the upgrades available to the player, the awesome arsenal of advanced weaponry, and the tactical know-how of the person holding the controller, I think Cronos: The New Dawn will prove to be an absolute delight, and one for the history books. I for one can’t wait to get my hands on a copy and obsess over it like I do with every amazing horror title that drops. I’m really excited to see one of my favorite indie devs from back in the day truly come into their own and succeed with a new IP. I’m just so happy about how things are going for Bloober!
