‘Cronos’ Might Be the Closest We Get to a New ‘Dead Space’

As much as I love modern Resident Evil games, both the remakes and entries like Village, I do feel like the series has lost a bit of its original vision. Specifically, what I mean is that riveting feeling of tension created by the survival part of survival horror, scrounging for every scrap of ammo, every little tidbit of health you can scrape off the ground. While the Resident Evil 2 remake brought the feeling back a bit, I’d argue that the 2023 remake of Dead Space drove it home even further. And Bloober Team’s bold new horror game Cronos: The New Dawn takes liberal inspiration from Dead Space, in some truly smart ways. It’s highlighted, more than ever, how much we’ve lost from EA putting Dead Space on ice.

The survival horror genre is in a bit of an odd state right now — I wouldn’t say it’s flourishing as a whole, but there’s still a lot there to appreciate. Resident Evil is still going phenomenally strong, and we just saw the recent comeback of Silent Hill 2. The indie space has also seen a surge of titles like Crow Country, Signalis, Amnesia: The Bunker, and more.

But those big AAA tentpole series, or even AA, have vanished. And in a world where a Resident Evil game can sell 10 million copies, it’s baffling that Dead Space has vanished. There’s a whole sector of sci-fi survival horror that’s been largely unexplored for years, and Cronos, despite its flaws, scratches that itch fantastically.

You can look at the gameplay of Cronos and see how similar it is to Dead Space, on both a visual and mechanical level. You’re playing as a stoic hero with a memorable helmet, you’re facing disgusting mutated humans with freakish limbs, and you even have that iconic Dead Space stomp attack. Cronos also extremely heavily emphasizes ammo management to an almost ridiculous degree. Nearly every single battle will put you to the test, scraping by with only a single bullet left. For me, that’s genuinely been one of the biggest appeals of the game, using mechanics to reinforce the theme of diving into a twisted, unknown world where anything and everything can eliminate you.

But the similarities to Dead Space go a lot deeper than just the surface. Sci-fi horror is often in a unique position to use its setting and themes to explore the human condition, filtering societal commentary and issues through fantastical settings. Dead Space is one of the best examples of that in video games. It wove in themes of religious dogma and weaponized faith through Unitology. And it’s impossible to look past the game’s commentary on the human cost of capitalism, as you wander through a mining vessel filled with “disposable” employees put in harm’s way because of endless greed. Those themes are inexplicably tied to Dead Space’s narrative and message.

And even more than gameplay, that’s exactly where Cronos hit the same notes. Bloober’s version of 1980s Poland is absolutely dripping with historical context and social themes. Most of Cronos is set in a district of Krakow, Poland, called Nowa Huta, which historically was a massive experiment envisioned as a socialist paradise that never fully came to fruition.

That setting works as a lens to dissect Cronos’ version of the fall of humanity, and how government disinformation, worker suppression, and overreach accelerated events. Through these themes, Cronos adds a touch of grounded realism to its formula. Despite the grotesque creatures you’re fighting, a huge part of the game’s “horror” is witnessing a complete societal collapse in the face of an epidemic. In a post-COVID world, that’s a situation that anyone and everyone can identify with — something legitimately traumatizing.

And that’s where Cronos feels the most like Dead Space, in the meeting point between real-world themes and sci-fi horror, how these two elements interweave. I do wish Cronos could wrap up those compelling themes in a better way, as the final act feels like it drops a lot of those interesting societal elements. But regardless, Cronos is quite clearly following in the footsteps of Dead Space, and it’s a big step forward for Bloober’s storytelling as a whole. Dead Space heavily took inspiration from horror classic The Thing, and it’s fascinating to see that game turn into an inspiration of its own.

It’s remarkable how much I was invested in Cronos’ world and experience, playing through the game twice in a row despite my issues with the game. And it wasn’t until now that I realized Cronos is the kind of horror experience I desperately miss. It’s picture proof of the viability and potential of sci-fi survival horror. I just hope it’s enough to move the needle for big publishers to take chances on games like Dead Space again.

Cronos: The New Dawn is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.