Cronos: The New Dawn Review – Story, Length and All Missions

Cronos: The New Dawn Review — First Impressions

If you remember how scared we were when we saw the inscription “cut off their limbs” in Dead Space, Cronos: The New Dawn turns that feeling into a new, Polish-brutalist nightmare. Cronos: The New Dawn is a brand new horror game from Bloober Team, released on September 5, 2025 and available on PC, PS5, Xbox and Series X|S. This new game immediately got into the “classic survival horror” category. Cronos: The New Dawns is a game where you will find a cold atmosphere, limited resources, time-based puzzles and one very important warning — “Don’t let them merge!”

The game takes place in two dimensions: in the future, which is a desolate, abominable Poland; in the past, where the action takes place in 1980s Krakow. We play as a Traveler, who ventures into time rifts to rescue “key” people and stop the merging of monsters. All this is done using tools such as a strict inventory, gradual weapon upgrades, and space-time puzzles. Cronos: The New Dawns is stylistically similar to Silent Hill, Resident Evil and Dead Space, although it is worth noting that the game has its own, sharp ideas.

And as for the question “how long is Cronos?”: The game length of the main campaign of Cronos: The New Dawn is on average 15–20 hours, and the full game completion of all missions takes 25–30+ hours. We will discuss the details in a separate section below in our Cronos: The New Dawn review.

Cronos: The New Dawn — Story

Cronos: The New Dawn review To start with the story, this is not just another “horror game” where you just shoot guns. The narrative is built on time travel and around one specific moment when parts of the world were absorbed by Essence and people turned into distorted creatures.

The player will have to take on the role of the Traveler. This is a special agent who has a unique device for moving through the labyrinths of time. His mission is to return Essence to the 1980s, an era where there was still hope for the survival of humanity. This concept gives the game two parallel worlds:

Future Poland — a dystopian, blood-soaked environment where monsters are constantly fighting to become stronger by merging with each other. This is where you will meet the main terrible creatures.

Past Poland (Nowa Huta, 1980s) — It seems like an ordinary Soviet-era neighborhood, but deep down it’s also rotten with Essence. There are more puzzles, NPCs, and narrative details here.

Main Missions and Progression

The game’s storyline is divided into main missions, where each time you travel through time you get a specific goal. For example:

You need to discover and destroy a new Essence source.
Save a specific person in the past so that he doesn’t turn into a monster in the future.
Defeat a boss abomination, whose characteristic mechanic is “save/burn”.

The entire mission progression in Cronos: The New Dawn is almost reminiscent of the structure of Resident Evil: after exploring one area, you get a new key or ability to return to another location.

Side Missions

In addition to the main campaign, there are side missions. Here you will have to find lost records, collect fragments of Essence and fix small time anomalies. These additional missions not only increase the game length, but also intensify the narrative. As a result, you get more information about both Essence and Traveler’s past.

Atmosphere

Cronos manages to simultaneously combine the corporate horror of Dead Space and the psychological terror of Silent Hill in one game. The environment is so sophisticated that you can almost feel the Krakow of the 1980s.

The game’s narrative is more dramatic than your typical action-horror. Here the player is constantly faced with a choice: saving one life can lead to the destruction of a thousand lives in the future.

Cronos: The New Dawn — Gameplay Review

Cronos: The New Dawn gameplay review starts with the most important thing. This is a real survival horror where everything is adjusted to the fact that the player constantly feels fear, lack of resources and stress.

Combat System

The combat in the game is heavy and slow-paced. There are few weapons: a pistol, a shotgun, an iron pipe and a few special weapons. Bullets are quite rare, so every shot is important. The main mechanic is that if you kill an enemy, but do not burn the body, he can return in a stronger form. This creates constant tension. Therefore, constantly burn the body.

Resources and Inventory

As we have already mentioned several times, the inventory is very limited. The player is forced to think about what to take and what to leave. Healing aids are rare, ammo is scarce, and sometimes the smartest choice is to simply run away from enemies.

Exploration

The environment is closed, but full of details. The corridors, dirty factories and dark streets of Nowa Huta create a feeling of danger everywhere. Puzzles are often hidden in the environment: finding keys to doors, turning on electricity or using a time anomaly correctly.

Time Travel Mechanics

Time travel forms a major part of the gameplay. For example, you can break down a wall in the 1980s and when you return to the future, you will find a new exit there. These small but clever details add to the uniqueness of this new horror game.

Difficulty

Cronos is definitely not an easy game to play. Sometimes the battles are unfairly difficult, especially when you run out of resources. However, those who grew up on old-school Resident Evil and Silent Hill will find real nostalgia here and will not find it difficult to play.

Cronos: The New Dawn Campaign Length

Cronos: The New Dawn campaign length is one of the most frequently asked questions. Players often ask: “How long will this nightmare last?”

Main Story Length

If you just follow the main storyline, the game will take an average of 15–20 hours to complete. This depends on how quickly you find clues and solve puzzles. Some boss fights may take several attempts, which of course increases the amount of time.

All Missions and Side Content

The game has main missions that directly follow the story, and additional side missions that better explain the world.

Main missions involve destroying Essence foci, meeting important characters, and fighting large bosses.

Side missions are smaller: finding lost records, collecting Essence fragments, fixing time anomalies.

If you do everything in full, the full game length of Cronos increases to 25–30 hours.

Replay Value

Cronos has a certain amount of replay value. In some missions, you can act in different ways: saving one person changes the future, while ignoring them gives a different outcome. These alternative scenarios add meaning to a new replay.

Graphics and Sound

Cronos: The New Dawn graphics prove that Unreal Engine 5 is showing its full power here. The environments are stark and detailed. Here you will find Soviet-bloc buildings, Nowa Huta factories and the ruined streets of the future, which are realistically rendered. Lighting and shadows create an atmosphere of constant fear.

Sound design is another strong point of the game. Whispers, echoes of footsteps and screams of enemies always make you feel that you are not alone. The music is minimal, but it turns on when the tension is at its highest.

Cronos: The New Dawn Review — Final Verdict

Cronos: The New Dawn is a true throwback to the old-school survival horror genre. The game combines the fear of Dead Space, the psychological tension of Silent Hill, and the resource management of Resident Evil. Bloober Team has crafted an experience that is both nostalgic and full of new ideas.

If you want a game where every bullet counts and every mission has an impact on the story, then Cronos: The New Dawn is the perfect choice. The game length is enough to keep gamers glued to the screen for 20–30 hours.

Verdict: