Cronos: The New Dawn

[Nag]

Played around 4 or 5 hours of this now (split between yesterday and today) enjoying it a lot, the previews really weren't lying when they said it was Dead Space in all but name and in my opinion that's no bad thing as that's one of my favourite franchises of all time.

 

 

In tone and feel the game shares a hell of a lot from some the survival horror greats, mainly down to inventory space, lack of ammo and how flimsy you are even though you have a suit of armour on... if you've played any recent third person horror game you'd be right at home here. Saying that the game I'm mostly reminded of when playing is actually Control thanks to the weird environments and random floating junk hanging in the air.

 

 

Supplies are scavenged in the field or can be made through crafting, so far the game is doing a good job with giving me just enough to get the job done... there's no hording ammunition this early on.

 

Story wise I'm very early so don't really know what's going on, I remember reading the devs saying they'd unwittingly made a game about Covid and given some of the logs I've found and read I'd agree with that whole heartedly... whatever is happening has definitely piqued my interest though so that's good.

 

 

After the Silent Hill 2 remake my main concern was the combat, I found the shooting in SH2 to be a little too skittish and in some ways this is too... there are upgrades that look like it can help out with that but at the minute, with ammo being as scarce as it is, I'll admit I'm using aim assist a little... hopefully I can get rid of that down the line. So far in terms of offensive I have the starting Pistol and the Shotgun equivalent... both can be charged for more damage with the same amount of ammo used, obviously this is risk and reward as charging takes time allowing the enemies to close the gap. Gas cannisters and red barrels make an appearance (of course) and do exactly what you expect them to with the big difference that your suit is completely fireproof and you can literally stand right next to these things and melee them... you also have a defensive fire attack that explodes outward in a 360 circle... handy for stopping the enemies merge mechanic. 

 

The biggest niggle so far (and considering it's a horror game it's a big one) the game hasn't been scary... it has atmosphere in spades but it really isn't scary at all. I've jumped once but that was mainly down to a loud noise coming from nowhere. 

 

So after some initial skepticism as to Bloober pulling this off I'm pretty happy with what I've seen so far and I'm hoping I can get it clocked before my travels next Saturday... I'll definitely be smashing some hours in tomorrow. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[mfnick]

11 minutes ago, Nag said:

The biggest niggle so far (and considering it's a horror game it's a big one) the game hasn't been scary... it has atmosphere in spades but it really isn't scary at all. I've jumped once but that was mainly down to a loud noise coming from nowhere. 

I think that goes for all survival horror games unfortunately. Very, very rarely are they actually scary. In fact PT is the only one I can think of that actually scared me. As long as the atmosphere is right though I don’t mind.

[Nag]

Yeah, I suppose I can get behind that, I mean Resident Evil hasn't been scary in years... if at all.

 

Although certain parts of Silent Hill 2 Remake are terrifying in my opinion, yes Prison Block I'm looking at you.😬

[mfnick]

Yea SH2R and RE7 are probably the closest some have come.

 

Anyway, looking forward to getting into this in the future. 

[one-armed dwarf]

One I found reasonably creepy recently was Amnesia the Bunker. At least early on, I turned it off cause it creeped me out

 

I wish I could play a horror game or watch a horror film with the wild imagination of a kid who gets so scared by it that he nearly thinks it's real. I remember seeing The Ring remake and fucking noping at the closet scene, and a few years after multiple scenes in The Grudge remake

[Nag]

Still making progress on this, not quick progress but progress all the same... I'm pretty sure I won't get it done before the weekend but that's fine.

 

Due to the stingy nature of the game and how easy it is to fluff shots and waste resources I'm kind've playing this differently to how I usually do, I'm walking pretty much everywhere and after encounters I'm usually second guessing myself and thinking I could've probably done that better... which results in a reloaded checkpoint (and added time)

 

In terms of story it's still pretty abstract... it mainly boils down to extracting people's consciousness from the past and deciphering what actually caused "The Change". I have a few ideas, mainly some kind've self perpetuating time loop shenanigans or something. I'm enjoying the logs and notes you find either way, it's really well done in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

[Maryokutai]

3 hours ago, Nag said:

I have a few ideas, mainly some kind've self perpetuating time loop shenanigans or something.

 

They maybe should have given it another title if the plot is steering towards something like this.

[Maf]

Returnal was taken 

[Nag]

Due to having quite a bit of unexpected time on my hands (the Jag/Land Rover thing is effecting my workplace) I managed to get this finished.

 

 

Save scummed the two base game endings... preferred the the first one I went for (A) I know there's a third that's only obtainable in NG+.

 

I think I was partially right in my thinking that there's time loops going on in game, at least going by the after credits scenes you get during both endings, tbf I'll probably read up on people's views with the ending. Overall I really enjoyed this... it came very close to taking Expedition 33's number one spot in my top ten of the year. I'll be keeping a close eye on Bloober from now on.

[Nag]

Platinum done after finishing a hard NG+ run through, which opened up a third choice during the ending... unfortunately that seemed like the worst out of the bunch unless I completely misunderstood something (which is entirely possible) 😂