I’ve given Bloober Team a lot of chances. The trailers for their games always look pretty good, but as a long-time horror fan, their titles have always been major let-downs. Layers of Fear, Observer, Layers of Fear 2, and The Medium all looked like they might be generation-defining horror games in their trailers, but when I finally got my hands on them, I found them to be snoozefests.

I had a lot of trepidation when I started playing Bloober’s remake of Silent Hill 2 last year, since I had been burned by the studio’s entire catalog to that point. What made things even worse was that, despite Bloober’s previously strong trailers, the marketing for Silent Hill 2 didn’t fill me with confidence that the studio understood the subtle horror of the original PS2 classic.

Luckily, I was wrong. The Silent Hill 2 remake was superb and it felt like Bloober was finally bringing their A-game. With another Bloober Team game scheduled for release later this year, the studio has finally grabbed my attention.

Bloober Team Has My Attention…

Cronos: The New Dawn is Bloober’s upcoming science fiction horror game that seems to be one part Silent Hill, one part Dead Space. Previously, my pessimism would have led me to start thinking about all the ways that Cronos would likely not stick the landing by misunderstanding the elements of its primary inspirations. That was what happened with The Medium, Bloober’s previous attempt at making its own version of a Silent Hill game.

Now that Bloober Team has actually made a Silent Hill game that recaptures the essence of what made the original game great, it’s proven that it can understand the nuances of psychological horror. There’s so much excellent storytelling and writing packed into Bloober’s Silent Hill 2 that wasn’t in the original game, but falls in line with its themes and narrative. It shows just how much homework Bloober did to make sure it was able to get things right.

To be fair, Bloober kind of got to use a cheat sheet since the studio was able to base its biggest success off of a prexisting title, but it’s hard to think of a better game for a studio to learn from than Silent Hill 2 if it wants to reverse engineer the psychological horror genre.

…It Just Needs To Keep It

With trailers looking promising for Cronos: The New Dawn, I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about Bloober Team. That said, I still think the studio is going to need to deliver another hit for me to really be sold on its eye for quality. Cronos looks good in its trailers, but so did The Medium and Layers of Fear 2, which didn’t make good on the gameplay mechanics, storytelling, and overall vibes that their trailers sold.

If Cronos: The New Dawn sticks the landing and delivers another excellent psychological horror experience that rivals the quality of the Silent Hill 2 remake, then Bloober will have officially gained me as a fan. If you had asked me if that was possible back when I was frustratedly making my way through never-ending hallways, yawning played Layers of Fear back in 2016, I would have said it was unlikely; that the studio would need an incredible redemption arc for me to really get on board with what it had to offer.

Now, nearly a decade later, it might just happen. Sometimes all it takes for a studio to become great is to hone its craft on smaller titles. Any creative can understand that to make something good, you have to first make something bad, that there’s so much failure before you can reach success. And don’t take it from me, take it from Jacek Zieba, one of the directors on Cronos: The New Dawn. He said that Bloober has “made some shitty games before, but we can evolve.” With Silent Hill 2 under its belt and some promising looks at Cronos, I might just believe him.

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Cronos: The New Dawn

Survival Horror Science Fiction Systems Released 2025 ESRB M For Mature 17+ // Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Strong Language Developer(s) Bloober Team Publisher(s) Bloober Team Engine Unreal Engine
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