Cronos: The New Dawn [Review]

The first few hours of Cronos: The New Dawn weren't really for me, but it was after some insistence that I've realized that I was actually liking this game. With so-so navigation and environments that can feel too maze-like, Cronos can feel a bit daunting, and getting lost is more common that I'd like. Still, it was worth it.

Everything starts in the most mysterious way possible – weird phrases and realities that don't really add up. I've played as The Traveler, and she is stoic and hard to relate in the beginning. The Traveler was sent by an "organization" called The Collective, and although she is autonomous from them, her destiny is to follow her vocation: extract important and relevant people and "preserve" their minds in the collective itself.

Reality is bending – not only on the game's narrative but with also on some exploration, like the reconstructions "states" that some structures that can be manipulated by the Traveler herself. Some sections are better realized than others, and not always these "states" really create the "a-ha!" moments that the game sets up, but they happen sometimes. It is a clever mechanic, maybe not used enough.

The game has good pacing, and it could actually answer most of the mysteries it raises. The voice acting is convincing, but some of the characters felt a bit overacted with exaggerated body expressions and uncanny facial expressions. As the plot unravels, some characters are clearly better written than others, and that kinda spoiled the ending for me. Still, I liked it enough, even if I saw it coming.

There's not a map in this game, and navigation sometimes felt artificially difficult. It can sometimes be a bit too dark. There's enough save points though, but regardless, I got really nervous between them, so the whole atmosphere worked on me.

Cronos is very serious and dark in tone, but there are moments of levity, like interesting and surprisingly long conversation with The Warden, one of the few NPCs of the game, and searching for cats. The Traveler starts understanding people in some ways as the game goes, and that was rewarding.

The battle system is one of the things that was interesting from the get-go, with chargeable weapons and the need to manually reload when they get empty. Enemies can evolve during battle by consuming corpses of their brethren, so right from the beginning it had good enemy variety. By the middle of the game onward, though, there wasn't many new monsters or surprises. There's even a boss battle with the same monster more than once. So while it starts good, it gets a bit repetitive.

Progression-wise, it was great. I've felt that every upgrade to my arsenal was noticeable, and made getting the rare items required to make them a nice and fulfilling activity. The survival horror aspect of it all is intense, with scarce ammo throughout. Cronos successfully made me tense while traversing, fearing that I'd lose everything since my last save, multiple times.

The game can get a bit repetitive not only because of the lack of enemy variety, but also because most of the environments are too similar between each other. The gruesome corridors are also too samey. Another problem I had with the game was the reliance on fetch quests, some of them feeling more like chores than a fun thing to do for progress

Closer to the end of the game, more traversal options made exploration a bit more interesting, but most of the crazier schemes were in reality too streamlined and linear. The gravity jump is a great example of it – only well used in a later encounter, most of the time, it is just a gimmick. The puzzle solving was always interesting though, even if not that unique in its execution.

Cronos: The New Dawn is a perfectly solid execution of the modern Survival Horror formula, yellow painting and all. With nice weapons, responsive enemies and mind-bending sequences. It is also a bit repetitive, full of fetch quests, too dark and slow in the beginning. Undeniably formulaic.

But its interesting – albeit predictable – story, good characterization, inventive battle system and overall great atmosphere are high highs that made the game very memorable and worthwhile. It frightened me and made me tense while also giving me just enough tools to deal with the horror.

8/10