Cronos: The New Dawn: Everything You Need to Know About Bloober Team’s Upcoming Sci-Fi Horror Game

Are you ready to dive into a chilling blend of time travel, survival horror and retro-futuristic nightmares? Cronos: The New Dawn is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated games of 2025, combining gripping storytelling with intense gameplay mechanics.
Developed by the masters of psychological terror at Bloober Team, this third-person survival horror title promises to transport players between a desolate future and a haunting past.
Whether you’re a fan of classics like Resident Evil or Dead Space or just love sci-fi horror games, here’s your ultimate guide to Cronos: The New Dawn, covering the story, gameplay, release date, studio details and more.

What Is Cronos: The New Dawn?

Cronos: The New Dawn is a sci-fi survival horror game that thrusts players into a brutal world where humanity’s fate hangs by a thread.
Set against a backdrop of Eastern European brutalism fused with retro-futurist technology, the game explores themes of apocalypse, time manipulation and monstrous evolution.
You’ll play as the Traveler, a lone operative navigating wastelands overrun by abominations while jumping through time rifts to alter history.

The game’s atmosphere draws heavily from body horror and temporal paradoxes, creating an immersive experience that’s both visually striking and psychologically intense.
With influences from films like Alien, 12 Monkeys, Annihilation and The Thing, it stands out in the survival horror genre by emphasizing strategic combat and narrative depth over jump scares.

The Studio Behind the Game: Bloober Team

Bloober Team, the Polish studio renowned for atmospheric horror titles like The Medium, Layers of Fear and the recent Silent Hill 2 remake, is both developing and self-publishing Cronos: The New Dawn.
Founded in 2008, Bloober Team has built a reputation for crafting narrative-driven experiences that delve into the human psyche.
Development on this title began in late 2021, right after wrapping up The Medium, as the team sought to pivot from psychological horror to more action-oriented, mass-market horror games.

Initially, Private Division was slated to publish, but they stepped away in May 2024, allowing Bloober Team to take full control.
This shift enabled them to infuse the game with a unique Polish flair, drawing from 1980s communist-era architecture in Kraków for its brutalist aesthetic.
For physical editions, partners like Skybound Games (North and South America) and Bandai Namco (Europe, Middle East, Australia) are handling distribution.
If you’re familiar with their work, expect Cronos to blend intimate character stories with high-stakes survival elements, marking a bold evolution for the studio.

The Story: A Tale of Time Travel and Apocalypse

At the heart of Cronos: The New Dawn is a compelling narrative that spans timelines.
You assume the role of the Traveler, an agent for the mysterious Collective, a shadowy organization fighting to salvage what’s left of humanity.
The future is a ravaged wasteland teeming with nightmarish creatures known as Orphans, born from The Change, a cataclysmic event that mutated humans into monsters.

Your mission? Scour the future for time rifts that let you leap back to 1980s Poland, where The Change is unfolding.
There, you’ll extract Essences (souls) from key individuals who perished in the apocalypse, potentially rewriting the future.
But it’s not just about survival, carrying these Essences boosts your abilities while risking your sanity, adding layers of psychological tension.
The story explores themes of loss, redemption and the horrors of unchecked evolution, with enemies that can merge into deadlier forms if not properly dealt with.

Cronos: The New Dawn plays from a third-person perspective, emphasizing tactical survival over mindless action.
Combat is deliberate and resource-scarce, you’ll wield melee attacks, pistols, shotguns and other firearms to fend off abominations.
A key twist? Defeated enemies must be burned with fire to prevent them from merging with nearby corpses, evolving into tougher variants. This mechanic adds strategy, as you’ll need to manage ammo and positioning carefully.

This dual-timeline structure creates a gripping loop: actions in the past ripple into the future, forcing players to make tough choices amid body horror and temporal anomalies.
It’s a fresh take on survival horror storytelling that’s sure to keep you hooked.

Gameplay Mechanics: Survival, Combat and Time Manipulation

Time travel is central: Dive into rifts to switch between the barren future and 1980s Poland, using temporal Anomalies to manipulate environments, clear paths or gain advantages.
Scavenging for resources like ammo and energy is crucial and extracting Essences from the living grants buffs but heightens madness risks, affecting gameplay.
Inspired by Dead Space and Alan Wake, the game balances horror with puzzle-like elements, making every encounter feel high-stakes.

Pre-order bonuses, especially in the Deluxe Edition, include early access, extra resources, skins and a digital artbook/soundtrack, enhancing replayability.

Release Date and Platforms

Mark your calendars: Cronos: The New Dawn is set to launch on September 5, 2025, just days away.
It will be available on multiple platforms, including PC (via GOG, Epic Games Store and Steam ), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and macOS.
Pre-purchases are live now, with options for Standard and Deluxe Editions.

For PC players, here are the system requirements to ensure smooth gameplay:

Minimum:

• OS: Windows 10 x64
• Processor: Intel Core i5-8400F / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 / AMD Radeon RX 5700-XT / Intel Arc A770
• Storage: 50 GB

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 10 x64
• Processor: Intel Core i7-10700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 / AMD Radeon RX 6800-XT / Intel Arc B580
• Storage: 50 GB

Trailers, Reviews and Why You Should Play It

Bloober Team has released several trailers, including a story-focused one and a 35-minute gameplay demo, showcasing the game’s eerie visuals and mechanics.
Early reviews praise its gorgeous graphics, intriguing story and smart gameplay, calling it a mature evolution for the studio.

If you’re into survival horror games with deep lore, innovative mechanics and a Polish twist on sci-fi, Cronos: The New Dawn is a must-play.
It could redefine time-travel horror, much like Dead Space did for space terror.

What are your thoughts on Cronos: The New Dawn? Drop a comment below!

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Picture Souce: Cronos: The New Dawn