There's something about the Rorschach test that kicks off Cronos: The New Dawn, developer Bloober Team's upcoming sci-fi survival horror.
The character, known as The Traveler, is strapped to a mechanical stand while being asked a random set of questions by a big red robotic eye part of The Collective, all to understand their cognitive abilities.
It quickly goes from questions like "What is your purpose?" to full-on statements such as "Everyone's already in place," with two answers the player can answer. All while an ominous soundtrack plays in the background.
It's an enigmatic and chilling start to the game, giving me the same type of mysterious, satisfying tension from a similar scene in "Blade Runner 2049," where K (Ryan Gosling) goes through a Baseline test for his department to make sure he knows who he's meant to be: a replicant.
It's not something I expected, especially after Bloober Team's successful psychological horrors Layers of Fear, The Medium and, of course, Silent Hill 2. But from then on, I was immediately engaged in making my way through the eerie, infested wasteland The Traveler finds themselves in. What truly is their purpose, and what are they?
To note, I'm a massive survival horror fan, and as soon as I saw the strange, futuristic space suit The Traveler dons and the twisted, fleshy monsters when Cronos was first announced, I was all in for the Dead Space vibes.
Now, after playing the first hour of Cronos: The New Dawn at Gamescom 2025, I can safely say its the Dead Space successor I've always wanted (sorry, The Callisto Protocol) — with a dash of philosophical horror.
Here's why I can't wait to play more of Cronos: The New Dawn when it arrives on September 5 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2.
Fantastically horrifying
Bloober Team is very familiar with the horror genre, but this is the studio's first own venture into a third-person survival horror title. It nailed the vibe of Silent Hill 2, but that was a remake, after all.
Regardless, Cronos looks to be an accumulation of what the team has learned from its past titles, and that's apparent in the misty, broken world I stepped into after taking the strange test from The Collective, a mysterious group that's hopefully?) trying to save humanity.
Everything is dark and torn apart, and it only gets creepier when entering an abandoned building that's filled with disgusting bulges of biomass scrawled across walls. And, as it is a horror title, mannequins.
The grotesque merged bodies found outdoors ain't pretty either, but it reminded me of the perished bodies lying around the sculpted landscapes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — something that's hauntingly beautiful.
I was taking my time looking around corners, which already tells me that the game knows how to inflict frightening tension and leave players cautious with every new environment they enter. That's something games like the Dead Space Remake and Resident Evil Village knew how to handle, and Cronos walks in their footsteps.
The same goes for the limited resources and ammo available, making item management and scavenging an essential. I was breaking boxes to find energy (the games version of currency) to use at a shop to upgrade my suit's health and inventory space, along with weapon improvements — like firepower, reload speed, stability, etc.
From what I played, it feels akin to classic survival horror vibes I'm used to, but what aspect I'm adoring is the sound design. Bloober Team may have got its cues from Silent Hill here, but it's the subtle tense music that plays in the background, along with its use of silence and other environmental sounds that gave me chills.
That's shown through the deep hum of the futuristic light bars dotted around the place; it gives off a very unsettling yet satisfying horror vibe. And I'm all for it.
Yes, a flamethrower that's useful
It doesn't take long until you encounter your first monster, known as Orphans. It breaks down a door and closes in on you post-haste, and it takes a good few shots from The Traveler's Sword MK-1615 handgun to go down (I was panicking after using three out of my six available bullets at the time).
But action is a lot snappier than the long, drawn-out and somewhat slumsy attacks of James Sunderland in the Silent Hill 2 Remake, which is fitting for the armor-clad Traveler and the genre of the game. I thoroughly enjoyed the kick of the pistol at it fired off rounds, and I'm a fan of the charging mechanic implemented.
The longer the charge, the more powerful the shot, but it also leaves more time for Orphans to gain on you, so every shot really does count. Seeing how this further progresses with upgrades and other weapons will show if Cronos maximises on this mechanic, as it will set it apart from the rest of the survival horror titles out there.
However, in one way, it already does. Heading further into the game, it's made clear that Orphans love to merge with one another. This makes them stronger and harder to take down, so the goal is to not let that happen. This creates a whole new dynamic in enemies, as if you take one down, another may arrive and absorb the one on the floor.
Luckily, and very much unlike Dead Space, there's a useful flamethrower that's integral to Cronos. Using special canisters to blow fire in your immediate surroundings, you can burn biomass to get through once-restricted areas and, more importantly, the fallen bodies of Orphans.
Burning Orphans (words I never thought I'd write together) once you've taken your shots means they won't be absorbed by other monsters that come along, giving you an easier time to handle enemies.
It's an interesting mechanic, and one I'd love to further explore once the game fully arrives. But one things for sure, it beats the heck out of the flamethrower in in the original Dead Space.
The next big survivor horror?
From its snappy combat and interesting gameplay mechanics to the alluring dystopian mystery that touches on time travel, Cronos: The New Dawn is set to whet my survival horror appetite.
While I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Resident Evil Requiem in 2026, I'm already looking forward to burning down monsters and keeping my ammo supply in check in Bloober Team's latest title.
Luckily, it won't be long until we all get to do so. There's still plenty of the game to play, and I'm interested to see the team's take on philosophical terror instead of its usual psychological one — not unlike what I found in Blade Runner 2049.
Oh, and did I forget to mention? There's a cat, and you can pet it.
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