Having greatly enjoyed Bloober Team’s impressive remake of Silent Hill 2, I’m eager to see what they bring to the table with their unique brand of horror. Their upcoming project, Cronos: The New Dawn, certainly has my attention, especially since it’s evoking the chilling feel of Dead Space.
Wojciech Piejko and Jacek Zięba, who are directing the game, have laid their influences bare in a recent preview of this sci-fi survival horror title. They draw inspiration from a mix of classics: John Carpenter’s The Thing, the German series Dark, and Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. Gamers might also notice hints of Dead Space and Dark Souls in Cronos. It shares some of Dead Space’s eerie characteristics, such as enemies that are grotesque human mutations, an immersive over-the-shoulder shooting view, and a focus on strategically dismembering enemies. However, Piejko mentions they are implementing a unique twist on the dismemberment mechanics compared to what Visceral Games did.
Following the cinematic reveal trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn last October, Piejko and Zięba recently unveiled a new gameplay segment in a development diary released by Bloober Team. They detailed how the main character, known as the Traveller, navigates like a deep-sea explorer diving through time’s depths, set on a mission to extract survivors from the remnants of human civilization. This alternate-reality setting is scarred by an event labeled the Change, which, within the game’s storyline, brought about the end of our world in the 1980s.
Both Piejko and Zięba have previously honed their skills working on Bloober Team’s projects like Observer and The Medium, gaining substantial experience in the realms of sci-fi and psychological horror. Cronos: The New Dawn marks a new original venture for Bloober, which is further collaborating with Konami on a subsequent project.
