This time final yr, Bloober Crew was nearly to show itself.
Having beforehand struggled to determine itself as a prime studio following lukewarm receptions to the likes of Blair Witch, the Layers of Concern video games and its divisive 2021 title The Medium, gamers have been involved when Bloober was confirmed because the studio behind Konami’s remake of Silent Hill 2.
Regardless of this, the Polish studio managed to drag off what only a few studios do when their mission is earmarked for failure by the usually cussed gaming group – it proved the web flawed.
As a substitute of the missed alternative some have been predicting, Silent Hill 2 was an distinctive trendy retelling of Konami’s traditional survival horror, to the extent that the studio is now engaged on a remake of the primary recreation within the sequence too. Till then, nonetheless, now we have Cronos: The New Daybreak to maintain us occupied.
Reasonably than the core Silent Hill 2 crew, Cronos is co-directed by the producer and designer of The Medium. It’s maybe becoming, as a result of it left me feeling extra like The Medium did – it’s a recreation that appears and sounds unbelievable, however will in the end divide gamers attributable to its awkward plot and considerably clunky core gameplay.
Cronos: The New Daybreak – 25 minutes of gameplay footage:
Cronos places gamers within the position of The Traveler, a mysterious feminine protagonist sporting a big diving go well with type equipment. The Traveler works for The Collective, a equally mysterious group which has tasked her with travelling again by means of time to gather individuals who survived The Change, a cataclysmic occasion that befell within the Nineteen Eighties and turned the human race into monsters. Positive, you bear in mind it.
The final goal at first, then, is to discover post-apocalyptic Poland searching for time rifts, which can take the Traveler again to the identical location within the Nineteen Eighties, the place they’ll then discover their goal survivor and carry out a harvesting course of to take their essence. You possibly can then carry these essences with you, supplying you with new talents.
It’s an fascinating idea for a storyline however one which begins to get a bit of convoluted – which can come as no shock to those that performed The Medium – and which admittedly had me scratching my head a bit of all through. Nonetheless, it wasn’t sufficient to cease me enjoying on to see what occurs subsequent, so in that respect it’s successful.
Additionally successful is how unimaginable the sport appears to be like at instances. Whereas wandering round darkish and gloomy corridors doesn’t usually present probably the most spectacular outcomes, there are moments – usually going down outside – the place Bloober Crew takes the chance to indicate how nicely it will probably pull off environmental design.
The sport’s use of ray-traced lighting is de facto efficient at instances, and there are some actually beautiful scenes which had me hammering the screenshot button for my desktop wallpaper assortment. Right here’s a freebie I took for you:
Cronos’s gameplay is curious in that its biggest power and most notable weak spot are the identical factor – its familiarity. So many parts of this recreation have been borrowed from different survival horrors that on one hand you must perceive Bloober for going with what’s already been confirmed to work, whereas however acknowledging that you just’ve probably seen a lot of this earlier than.
The faceless protagonist with a giant go well with offers critical Lifeless House vibes, as do a number of the creature designs and the everyday viewpoint, which is over the shoulder with a small flashlight-illuminated space in entrance of you.
The anti-gravity puzzles from Lifeless House are additionally right here due to the invention of gravity boots at one level, and in the event you have been to inform me the punching and stomping melee assault animations had been lifted immediately from that recreation I wouldn’t want a lot convincing.
The protected rooms, restricted ammo and the ECG line representing your well being are straight out of Resident Evil, whereas a number of the residence designs early within the recreation even really feel like they’ve come straight out of Bloober’s personal Silent Hill 2 remake.
Different parts can’t be pinpointed to 1 particular recreation, however that’s as a result of they’re tropes you’ve seen time and time once more. Safes that require numerical codes to unlock, that are conveniently written on memos sitting on close by tables. Doorways locked with chains which require bolt-cutters. Bosses with glowing, pulsing bits that clearly must be burst to stun them. It’s a survival horror biggest hits mixtape, for higher or worse.
“So many parts of this recreation have been borrowed from different survival horrors that on one hand you must perceive Bloober for going with what’s already been confirmed to work, whereas however acknowledging that you just’ve probably seen a lot of this earlier than.”
To its credit score, Cronos just isn’t completely with out its personal concepts. If fallen enemies are left mendacity on the bottom, different enemies are capable of take in their flesh and switch into far more highly effective ones. You due to this fact must attempt to set fireplace to enemies you’ve killed (utilizing a finite useful resource of incendiary gadgets, in fact) to stop this from taking place.
It’s a bit just like the Crimson Heads within the GameCube remake of Resident Evil, besides that was zombies ultimately getting up once more themselves whereas that is one thing you will have extra management over. It additionally makes the occasional enclosed battles – the sport likes to lock you in a small space sometimes and throw a bunch of monsters at you – extra tense.
In any case, whereas regular logic dictates that when in a gaggle battle the extra enemies you kill the better it will get, on this case the extra enemies you kill the extra power-ups you’re primarily leaving mendacity round for the others, except you’ve obtained sufficient fireplace to burn them away (or make use of the conveniently situated exploding barrels, one other helpful online game trope).
A few of the different options unlocked as you progress by means of the sport are additionally fascinating. One of many first ones you get is an add-on to your gun which acts like a well being sensor for enemies. If you level your gun at a monster the gizmo exhibits a bit of colored show – if they’ve full well being this show is inexperienced, and as you put on them down it turns yellow, then pink then goes off once they die.
This makes for an entertaining scene proper after you decide up the sensor – which will be seen in our gameplay video above – the place you make your manner by means of a maze which has a great deal of seemingly lifeless mutated creatures hanging from the partitions. By pointing your newly upgraded gun at them you may inform which of them are literally lifeless, and which of them make your gun gentle up and are due to this fact alive and ready to pounce at you. It’s a pleasant second of stress.
Maybe probably the most divisive aspect of the sport, nonetheless, is the shortage of clear issue settings. Cronos is designed to overwhelm gamers at instances, and when you can ultimately improve your weapons and your go well with there are some moments even within the first couple of hours the place you may count on to die just a few instances till you determine how one can get by means of sure mass enemy encounters or boss fights. It helps that generally the AI is dumber than a bag of guts, besides.
This received’t be a problem to some gamers who will welcome the problem, however for others who might have loved The Medium – which sits on the alternative finish of the spectrum as a result of it had no fight in any respect and was comparatively simple to get by means of – and are right here extra for the storyline, there aren’t any actual concessions right here to assist them by means of it.
Go into it conscious of this, nonetheless, and Cronos is an entertaining sufficient survival horror that may definitely maintain your consideration till the credit. It’s removed from authentic and by no means actually does something significantly spectacular (except for its great visuals), however nor does it ever do something that’s significantly terrible. It’s completely wonderful, and generally that’s all you want.
