By Em Stonham

Copyright escapistmagazine

Bloober Team’s latest survival horror gem is Cronos: The New Dawn, a gritty sci-fi experience with gnarly monsters and an otherworldly story. It’s been met with a positive reception in the horror community, with both critics and players enjoying its dark and ominous world.

But how does Cronos stack up against what is arguably Bloober Team’s biggest horror hit, the Silent Hill 2 remake? Here’s a comparison of the two games to help you choose which to play next. We’ll keep it spoiler-free where possible, but will look at the main stories of both.

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Bloober Team has put out a variety of horror games over the years, including Layers of Fear, The Medium, and Blair Witch. The team is known for creating psychological horror games with ominous, atmospheric worlds. The latest Bloober Team game, at the time of writing, is Cronos: The New Dawn, a sci-fi survival horror game with elements of time travel and corruption. The Silent Hill 2 remake is arguably Bloober Team’s biggest hit, though, offering a fresh, modern take on the legendary survival horror title. While both games are worth your time as a horror fan, we’d suggest picking up the Silent Hill 2 remake before Cronos: The New Dawn if you’ve not played either yet. It’s a gem that’ll offer plenty for both Silent Hill lovers and new fans of the franchise.

Cronos: The New Dawn is more combat-intensive

While both Silent Hill 2 and Cronos: The New Dawn feature combat elements, pitting the player against hellish creatures, the latter game places more of a focus on combat and gunplay than the former.

In Silent Hill 2, you do end up with a variety of weapons, but they don’t hold a candle to the arsenal that you can generate in Cronos. This is deliberate and works well to achieve the desired atmosphere for both games.

Silent Hill 2’s combat is supposed to be unsettling and make the player feel like they’re backed into a corner, so giving the protagonist too many big guns to use would kill that vibe.

Having to swing a 4×4 or steel pipe around to save your precious bullets creates a sense of desperation, which adds to the building dread and uncomfortable atmosphere the game attempts to cultivate. There are guns to use, but they’re not as practical as melee attacks for the most part.

In comparison, Cronos features a hardy protagonist who can access powerful shotguns, carbines, and upgraded handguns. Gearing up can take time and effort, especially in the early game, but once The Traveler has her key weapons equipped, she’s a force to be reckoned with.

That’s not to say that combat is easy in Cronos by any means; there are still plenty of challenging fights that provide a real threat. Even the first boss in the game can run circles around you if you don’t pay attention to the environmental hazards in the arena.

If you’re someone who finds it scarier to play an undergeared character, though, the Silent Hill 2 remake will likely feel more unsettling and tense to play through. Combat still makes up a decent chunk of the game, but not quite to the extent that it does with Cronos.

Silent Hill 2 offers a richer, darker atmosphere

Cronos: The New Dawn has plenty of scary moments. The first monster reveal is genius – we even sang its praises in our review – and there are tense, unnerving moments dotted throughout the game.

There’s a real sense of dread that emerges as you explore the broken world of Cronos. Seemingly empty hallways or dark caverns can quickly spiral into ferocious battles with mutant creatures, exploding out of fleshy walls and coating the cramped rooms with acid.

If you’re easily grossed out by body horror, Cronos will likely push you to your limits. The world is coated with pulsating walls of skin, broken body parts, and gore, and every creature’s design is skin-crawling.

The story is also suitably dark and twisted. Without spoiling it too heavily, there are themes of control and corruption mixed in with the sci-fi elements, making for an uncomfortable yet gripping narrative experience. It’s a little heavy with the naming conventions – The Traveler, The Vocation, The Collective – but it’s still well-written.

The Silent Hill 2 remake is unmatched in terms of atmosphere and tension, though. While some fans of the franchise may argue that the original is scarier thanks to the art style, direction, and voice acting, the remake still oozes trepidation.

It may not be a style of fear that gels with everyone, of course. Silent Hill 2 is slow-burning, with a steady pace that can be off-putting to fans of quicker, more explosive horror titles.

But for horror lovers who enjoy games where they can slowly spiral into a nightmare and immerse themselves in a story, the remake is golden. There’s a strange charm to the world that the game portrays; it’s horrific and nightmarish, but there are pockets of normalcy and realism that make it oddly familiar to wander through.

Both Cronos: The New Dawn and the Silent Hill 2 Remake are haunting experiences that highlight how well Bloober Team can pull off psychological experiences. If you’re looking for something explosive and futuristic, Cronos should fit your preferences. For a deeply immersive psychological horror, stick to Silent Hill 2 and get lost in the fog.

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