New Cronos The New Dawn gameplay footage shows brutal Dead Space combat with Cronenberg horrors

Horror fans should keep Cronos: The New Dawn on their radar, especially those who like Dead Space or even Resident Evil.

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At Gamescom 2025, Polish game developer Bloober Team released a sizable 10-minute gameplay trailer for their new sci-fi thriller, Cronos: The New Dawn. The footage shows off what exploration will be like in the final game, complete with enemy encounters, scavenging loot and resources, and crafting.

The trailer also makes Cronos look like a medley of different games, with references to games like Dead Space, Resident Evil, and even Halo 3's distinct Flood biomass designs. The game also pays great homage to sci-fi body horror, with splicing and effects that would make directors David Cronenberg and John Carpenter proud.

Combat-wise, Cronos takes cues from decades of zombie survival games, bringing that chilling, panicky dread that you feel when an enemy slowly creeps closer. The enemies are also just as freakishly twisted--they can merge together to create horrifying monstrosities that are tough to take down.

"Combat in Cronos can be quite challenging, and enemies can hit quite hard. And they can merge...Remember, don't let them merge," said game director Wojciech Piejko.

Gamers will have to shoot at specific parts of enemies to expose weak points, which is reminiscent of having to saw off parts of enemies in Dead Space. The third-person action combat will require players to quickly swap weapons on-the-fly and know which types of ammo to use against specific enemy types.

Cronos: The New Dawn releases on September 5, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Check below for more information via the Steam store description:

A whole new breed of survival horror emerges with Cronos: The New Dawn. Survive the brutal wastelands of the future, fight nightmarish merging creatures and jump back in time to harvest souls as you seek to uncover the origins of the apocalypse that wiped out humanity.

Cronos: The New Dawn is a brutal third-person survival horror where you fight for the future by salvaging the past. Burn monsters before they merge. Extract souls from the living. Adapt or die.

Set in a grim world where Eastern European brutalism meets retro-futurist technology, Cronos: The New Dawn lets you experience a gripping story that straddles the line between past and future.

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In the past, you will witness a world in the throes of The Change, a cataclysmic event that forever altered humanity. Meanwhile, in the ravaged wastelands of the future, every moment is a fight for survival against dangerous abominations that will test both your reflexes and your tactical thinking.

You are a Traveler working for the enigmatic Collective, tasked with scouring the wastelands of the future in search of time rifts that will transport you to 1980s-era Poland.

In a desolate world filled with ever-present danger, your survival hinges on your ability to strategize and plan ahead. The enemies you'll encounter are nightmarish creatures, born from the remnants of humanity - defeating them will require you to make full use of your arsenal.

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You can manipulate temporal Anomalies to clear a path through the desolate environment, and will have to scavenge for resources to replenish your limited ammo and supplies. Good preparation is key. Once in battle, split-second decisions can mean the difference between life and death.

The creatures you kill won't stay dead for long. Fallen enemies can be absorbed by others - through a grotesque process called Merging - to become faster, tougher, and far deadlier.

The only way to stop them? Burn their bodies. And do it fast.

If you don't, you'll face ever-evolving abominations that will push your combat skills to their limits.

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Your mission is to locate key people from the past who perished in the ensuing apocalypse. Using your all-powerful Harvester, you can extract their Essences and have them accompany you into the future.

But be wary: these essences have a profound impact on your journey.

The more you carry, the more haunted your suit becomes - increasing your prowess on the battlefield but also bringing with them whispers in your ear and flickers into your vision, edging you ever closer to madness.