There haven’t been a plethora of big horror games gracing Nintendo consoles over a number of years now, not really since the GameCube days, as a matter of fact. With the Nintendo Switch 2, it seems that we might finally be starting to get some of the heavy hitters coming over, some even day-and-date with other consoles – such as the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem.
While Cronos: The New Dawn isn’t a big name – given it’s a new IP – the developer has been propelled up the chain by many gamers, including myself, over the last year. The fact that their next big game comes to Switch 2 this early in its lifecycle and on the same release date as the other consoles and PC, is a fairly big thing in my eyes.
The developer is Bloober Team, known for many decent horror games over the years. They have made original games such as Observer and The Medium, as well as a game based on a well-known horror franchise in Blair Witch. They are also coming off the back of last year’s hugely successful and brilliant Silent Hill 2 remake (and are currently in the process of remaking the original Silent Hill). It’s clear they specialise and have a good pedigree in horror titles.
In Cronos: The New Dawn, you play as ‘The Traveller,’ who works for an organisation called ‘The Collective.’ You are tasked with travelling back to the 1980s to collect essences of key figures. If that doesn’t make sense, then don’t worry, as I found it hard to keep track of what was happening. It asks a lot of questions and sometimes doesn’t give you the full answers. There were parts of the game I was still a little confused about, even at the end of my playthrough. In typical horror game fashion, a lot of the backstory is told by voice notes and written notes hidden around in the environment, so if you don’t end up finding everything, you may miss something that helps fill in the blanks.
The big feature of Cronos: The New Dawn shown before release, and something which does feel slightly unique, is that the enemies in the game can fuse with dead enemies, which not only makes them stronger in terms of attack power, but also defensively harder to kill, as they may gain armour that deflects bullets. Your options are either to kill the enemy before it fuses with the dead enemy or to burn the corpses beforehand (like in the original Resident Evil Remake), so that they cannot be used to merge with. While I do feel more could have been done, it is a cool feature nonetheless. You are constantly having to think about whether to waste an item to burn corpses, or take a risk and leave it, only for it to potentially come and bite you further down the line.
This aside, Cronos: The New Dawn can sometimes feel like a game you’ve played before. Dead Space’s influence is evident all across Cronos. Everything from the look and the feel to the enemies and the guns seems like they could have been in a Dead Space game. Dead Space is one of my all-time favourite horror games, so it’s not that I’m disappointed by this. It’s more that Cronos: The New Dawn never fully feels unique aside from the merging feature. Add in a few Resident Evil influences here and there, and it only demonstrates this thought further.
Control-wise, Cronos: The New Dawn utilises some of the Switch 2’s features, namely the mouse controls and gyro-aiming. I didn’t feel the mouse controls to be as intuitive as I’d hoped (I hope this isn’t the case going forward, as this was the first mouse-controlled game I have played on Switch 2), but the gyro-aiming, mixed with regular analogue stick aiming, worked wonders for me.
The shooting can take some getting used to. The first few times I came across an enemy, it felt a little too difficult to dispatch them, both from an aiming perspective and the fact that enemies take a fair few bullets to put down. This is why I found the mix between aiming with the analogue stick and then fine-tuning it with the gyro to be best for me. Once I did this, I was hitting all my shots and not wasting any of those hard-earned bullets. You can also charge your shots before firing, making your bullets slightly stronger. You’ll find that you never just tap the shoot button, as the lack of bullets at your disposal means you want to get everything out of every single bullet you possess. The punching and stomping mechanic (again, lifted directly from Dead Space) isn’t that useful in combat situations either, its only real use is for breaking environmental objects to collect items.
There’s also a light smattering of puzzle elements here, too. You can manipulate certain floating rocks or objects while you are aiming at them. They will move to a pre-determined location and create a new way forward. These can either be to secret areas, or the way you’re supposed to go. There are times when you must look around the environment to find something that could be used as a combination for locked objects – something which is a staple of horror games at this point – and these usually give you some good items, not just bullets or health. Some of these more hidden items are often Cores. These are used to upgrade your character, such as increasing max health or inventory space. Alongside this, you also collect Energy, which is found much more commonly. Energy allows you to upgrade weapons – in the kind of ways you’d assume – such as damage, clip size, and reload speed.
This is one of the first major multiplatform games released on the Switch 2 on the same date as other consoles, and it performs admirably. If you put the Switch 2 version side-by-side with the other consoles, of course, you can tell the difference (especially when playing it blown up on a big TV). However, the Switch 2 version doesn’t look bad by any means, and while it does run at 30 frames per second, as opposed to 60 frames per second (and there were a few hiccups), it didn’t detract from my experience. We also must take into consideration that this is an early game in the Switch 2’s lifecycle, by a developer that isn’t Nintendo, so it’s not going to be the absolute best that the console can achieve. All in all, I was happy with the overall presentation and style.
Cronos: The New Dawn is, by default, the best Nintendo Switch 2-only horror game out there at the moment, and it’s further proof that Bloober Team are very good horror game makers. While it never fully feels unique, it’s a fun and captivating horror title that borrows from the very best in the genre and the perfect game to get you ready for Halloween season.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review copy provided by Bloober Team
