Cronos: The New Dawn

Dead Space meets Silent Hill 8/10

Cronos: The New Dawn is a phenomenal sci-fi horror experience with a few caveats holding it back from being a true masterpiece. The presentation from a design perspective both audio and visual is exquisite, all incredibly detailed and with purpose. It's a game I found myself just slowing creeping through the different environments savoring every sight and sound, pausing too contemplate this dystopian hellscape Blooper Team cooked up for us. I love the sound design in this game soo much, from the dark ambiance to meaty boot stomps/shogun blasts and glorious moody synth driven banger OST, it's all amazing really best in recent memory. The exploration is immersive and rewarding, found myself checking every nook and cranny collecting vital ammo and energy. They nailed the resource balance in this, every shot counts. The monster design and look of the protag is really cool in this, one of my new favorites for space suits. The world buidling just feels copacetic and well thought-out. Good arsenal of weapons all which feel useable and balanced, I played through 3 times and ending up trying everything atleast once, good variety. The burning and enemy merging mechanics are great, gives a sense of urgency and anxiety to combat. Torching a group of bodies feels super satisfying. There are a few sections that feel bloated and unnecessary, the game is too long for a horror game imo my first run was like 16-17hrs, I think some moments when you are just travelling back to the hub could be cut out, less backtracking. It's hard to keep the tension going for so long for the player it can be exhausting. The voice over effect for Mother Eliza is also pretty annoying, that paired with the jarring distortion effect on the scene you can't disable during some of the Abby sections weren't my favorite. Some cutscenes are unskippable which makes speed running and achievement hunting tideous at times. The story can also feel a little convoluted on the first go around I had to watch a youtube video to grasp some elements. The bosses are also a little too similar only a couple really stand out. The reason I had avoid this game until now was I was worried about the performance on PC, read a lot about potential stuttering and poor optimization, the game also has crashing issues with panini on ultrawide. The game heavily relies on DLSS and FG to run at high framerates, but I didn't find the stuttering to be that bad, honestly Dead Space remake was worse for me. I read up on this stuff and knew what to expect how to disable that problematic panini setting ect beforehand, so I didn't have any crashes but yes some stuttering manily during auto-saves and weridly on climbing ladders, occasional traversal ones ect. Blooper just needs to work on game optimization they are starting to have a bad track record for this, but honestly Cronos for me was mostly fine I was expecting much worse after SH2 remake. I had a few nit-picky issues but overall this is one my new favorites and was a blast too 100% I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it and would highly recommend it to horror fans, can't wait for the DLC. 9.1/10

the mechanics and slow buttonsresponses ruin this decent game.

better than dead space and RE

Cronos: The New Dawn entregou o survival horror que eu esperava, com fortes influências de Resident Evil e Dead Space. A atmosfera é tensa, os sustos funcionam e o áudio mantém a sensação de perigo durante toda a campanha. A direção artística, o design das criaturas e a história original também se destacam. O combate é dinâmico e satisfatório, e a mecânica de fusão dos inimigos mantém os confrontos interessantes. Meu maior incômodo foi o inventário pequeno e difícil de expandir. Em alguns momentos, fiquei sem munição e precisei repetir áreas, já que o corpo a corpo é fraco. No PC, tive quedas breves de FPS ao entrar em novas áreas, mesmo com DLSS e Frame Generation, mas isso não prejudicou muito a experiência. Finalizei em 15,1 horas, achei a duração bem equilibrada e recomendo muito.

Das Spiel orientiert sich ganz klar am Dead Space Remake und deshalb vergleiche ich es auch damit. Und diesen direkten Vergleich verliert Cronos, das muss man einfach sagen. Das heißt aber nicht, dass es sich nicht lohnt. Die im Vergleich größte Schwäche zu DS ist sicher der Kampf und das Gunplay. Was die Waffenauswahl angeht, gibt es hier nur relative Standartkost. Pistole, Schrotflinte, SMG etc. Jede mit einem normalen und einem aufgeladenem Schuss. Das kommt einfach nicht an die einzigartigen Waffen aus DS ran. Ein nerviges Detail bei dem aufgeladenen Schuss ist übrigens, dass man diesen nicht halten kann und er sich vorzeitig löst, wenn er voll geladen ist (hehehe..). Nur eine Kleinigkeit,e die einen aber stehts begleitet und mir zusammen mit dem Schwanken beim Zielen etwas das Gefühl nimmt, mein Überleben wirklich selbst in der Hand zu haben. Auch fehlt es hier an wirklich saftigem Trefferfeedback an den Gegnern und ein richtiges Schadenssystem wie bei DS oder DOOM Eternal gibt hier leider auch nicht. Das beworbene Merge-System macht leider auch nicht so viel aus. Gegner, die andere absorbiert haben, bilden lediglich eine zweite "Schutz-Schicht" um ihren Körper, die man erst wegschießen muss und die sie einfach zu einem Bulletsponge macht. Die Gegnervielfalt lässt leider auch zu wünschen übrig. Das hätte mehr Potential, wenn z.B. Gegnertyp A und B zusammen Gengnertyp Y ergeben würden, der dann neue Fähigkeiten bekommt. Warum empfehle ich das Spiel also trotzdem? Diese ganze Kritik findet immer noch auf einem hohen Niveau statt. Auch so macht der Kampf definitiv Spaß und wird dem Genre gerecht. Die größte Stärke des Spiels ist aber das Setting und die Atmosphäre. Jumpscares gibt es definitiv, die werden aber etwas dosierter eingesetzt, als bei Dead Space. Cronos setzt hier mehr auf atmosphärischen Horror, was ich persönlich bevorzuge. Und auch wenn für mich nichts an die Ästhetik der USG Ishimura herankommt, bleiben die von Gravitationsanomalien zerrissenen Alptraumlandschaften von Cronos definitiv im Gedächtnis. Wenn man also mit den genannten Schwächen leben kann, kommt man hier definitiv auf seine Kosten.

Terror dos bons, uma pena que o final começaram a meter jumpscare barato.