No, Cronos: The New Dawn Isn't the Second Coming of Dead…

When it was first announced and revealed last year, Cronos: The New Dawn immediately caught many fans' attention due to how it looked to strongly resemble one of survival horror's most revered titles, Dead Space. Developer Bloober Team only added to this sentiment by stating on more than one occasion that Visceral Games' classic was one of Cronos: The New Dawn's major influences, along with another beloved title, Resident Evil 4. And given that Bloober garnered a lot of goodwill for its work on 2024's Silent Hill 2 Remake, excitement around its latest project was high, with many hoping that Cronos: The New Dawn would indeed be the inheritor to Dead Space.

Cronos new dawn Traveler with orphans in background

Now that Cronos: The New Dawn has been released, it has seen a mostly welcome reception, with a Very Positive score on Steam and 77% critical recommendation on OpenCritic. It can't be said then that Cronos didn't deliver a generally satisfying experience. But the fact that it also invited such close comparisons to Dead Space and ostensibly promised to be a true successor to it may have worked against it in the long run. And while I personally feel that Cronos doesn't quite compete with Dead Space on the same level, that doesn't mean I didn't greatly enjoy it, and would also easily recommend it to survival horror fans.

Cronos: The New Dawn Might Not be the Dead Space Successor That it Seemed, But it's Still Worthwhile Survival Horror

Cronos new dawn screenshot dead orphan against wall

Dead Space is a Classic That May Never Be Truly Replicated

After Dead Space arrived on the scene in 2008, it marked something of a new era for survival horror, which at the time wasn't as prolific as other genres. But Dead Space made a big splash, becoming widely hailed as a masterpiece, and finding itself on many lists of some of the best the genre has to offer. The franchise saw two sequels, which were also well-liked (though the third proved more contentious), but neither attained the overall acclaim of the original. Since then, there have been many attempts made for a "Dead Space-like" title, but so far none have really achieved it.

Even 2022's The Callisto Protocol, created by a new studio headed by Glen Schofield, one of Dead Space's creators, was thought to be lackluster in many ways, and fell short of recapturing the gory glory of Dead Space. EA Motive's Dead Space Remake then delivered a great modern version the following year, and ignited rumors of either a Dead Space 2 remake or potentially a new fourth entry. However, EA later dispelled these possibilities, leaving hopeful fans in the dark. Cronos: The New Dawn was then positioned as the game that might take Dead Space's crown. And although I feel it doesn't, Cronos does deliver a very solid survival horror experience on its own.

Cronos: The New Dawn Doesn't Quite Reach Dead Space's Highs, But it is Definitely Worth Experiencing

Cronos new dawn screenshot dont let them merge blood writing

Alongside a few obvious shared elements, like their protagonists' designs and the third-person gameplay, the two games also have some specifically similar mechanics. Whereas in Dead Space players had to dismember the Necromorphs, Cronos: The New Dawn's Orphans have the ability to merge themselves with defeated ones and other nearby corpses. Preventing them from doing so is integral to ensuring they don't morph into near-unstoppable monstrosities that require extra firepower to put down. Much of Cronos does indeed feel "Dead Space-y," but at the same time, it isn't quite the same.

Cronos new dawn screenshot traveler pointing weapon

And while that may be disappointing in some sense, it doesn't negate many of the things the game gets right. Its mind-bending time-travel plot and particularly Cronos: The New Dawn's striking setting go a long way to making it feel unique, simultaneously distancing itself from being too overtly a Dead Space clone, even if the latter direction was Bloober's intent.

At the end of the day, Cronos: The New Dawn is, in my opinion, an excellent survival horror entry this year and in general. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who has a passing interest in and taste for the genre. But I would just temper expectations, especially for those wishing for it to be on par with Dead Space. Cronos offers a tense and intriguing ride, hitting many of the marks of great survival horror, and deserves to be given credit and recognized for that regardless of its comparisons or aspirations to be the next Dead Space.

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