Today saw the exciting first look at Bloober Team’s upcoming Sci-fi survival horror game, Cronos: The New Dawn, in grisly action. In partnership with IGN, the Polish studio premiered the first gameplay trailer for the game, giving patient fans a generous helping of gory body-horror violence and unsettling scenery.
The Official Gameplay trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn can be watched on the official IGN YouTube channel or below.
The trailer is just over 2 minutes long, but even for such a short amount of footage, we get to see a lot of gameplay! Cronos: The New Dawn looks to blend over-the-shoulder 3rd-person action/survival horror with Bloober Team’s signature grotesque aesthetic, inspired by the works of ZdzisÅ‚aw BeksiÅ„ski.
There are hints to the game’s narrative, such as large red digital text telling you to “Bring Them Back” and “Pave The Path”, no doubt referring to the game’s time travel elements. At the start of the trailer, we hear a woman asking someone to repeatedly describe what they see. Perhaps this is some sort of handler speaking with the player character, the Traveler? We also hear a man’s voice telling someone to “Stay calm, stay focused.” Perhaps this has something to do with the figure we see at the end of the trailer.
But we are here for the gameplay, first and foremost, and it is looking good!
We only got to see two weapons that the Traveller can use: a pistol, which could be our starting weapon, and a pump-action shotgun. The pistol appears to have different ammo types or builds, as we can see the Traveller firing flaming projectiles as well as an explosive shot during the trailer. There also appears a moment when the Traveller shoots at a bridge to rebuild it, like reversing the flow of time, possibly just used for traversal, but we doubt it. Both firearms look to pack a punch, looking to blow chunks out of… whatever it is that’s attacking you!
Speaking of enemies, Bloober Team is bringing more horrifying monsters to give us nightmares, and they have their own signature mechanic. It is alluded to early on in the trailer, when the Traveller seems to pause to watch an enemy grow in stature. Later on, it is made abundantly clear what is going on. Enemies in Cronos: The New Dawn can merge, or at least living ones can merge with the dead bodies of others. The trailer is pretty explicit about this, making sure no one misses the point (like a message written on the wall in blood), flashing up the message “DON’T LET THEM MERGE”.
The mixture of environments looks very impressive, from wandering rubble-strewn streets and corrupted buildings, to traversing between floating debris in an empty void. Just like their enemy designs, Bloober Team are delivering the spectacle, the type you don’t want to look at but can’t tear your eyes away from.
The trailer ends with the Traveller seemingly meeting another, more veteran-looking figure wearing a similar suit. Perhaps this is a previous Traveller who went out before you, or maybe, due to the game’s own time travel elements, it is a version of the player character. I guess we will have to play the game to find out!
Sadly, no firm release date was given, but we did get a confirmation that Cronos: The New Dawn is expected to release in 2025 on PC for Steam and the Epic Game Store, Xbox Series, and PlayStation 5.
Check out some of the game’s earlier concept art, which the developers shared for Cronos: The New Dawn, to get more of a feel for the game.
What did you think of the Cronos: The New Dawn gameplay trailer? Let us know in the comments below.
