Latest news with #Cronos:TheNewDawn
Mint
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Polish Studio Behind ‘Silent Hill' Remake Plans Original Games
(Bloomberg) -- Few expected a small Polish studio like Bloober Team SA to do justice to Silent Hill 2 with their remake of the survival horror classic. Yet the game turned out to be one of last year's biggest hits, selling two million copies in just four months while winning award nominations and critical acclaim. The game has been a windfall for the 17-year-old outfit and its founder Piotr Babieno after starting out making low-effort games for quick cash. Shares of Bloober have surged more than 13% since Silent Hill 2's release, and last year earnings grew sevenfold to about $6 million. Fresh off that success, the studio is returning to the franchise with another Konami Group Corp. collaboration — a remake of the series' 1999 debut title, which is already in production You may be interested in Not content with just doing remakes, Babieno is now looking further afield. His 250-person studio is slated to release its first shooter-horror hybrid this year. It's also working with fellow Polish developers on five horror titles with a target 2027 release. They're all original ideas, which amount to bold bets in a games industry increasingly obsessed with sequels and live-service games like Fortnite. 'We would like to create Bloober Team as the most impactful horror house in the world,' Babieno told Bloomberg News during an interview in Beijing, where he was attending game exhibitions. 'Making your own IP will be challenging and expensive if you would like to deliver the same quality. But for game designers, it's like raising a kid, something coming from your heart.' In Cronos: The New Dawn, you play as a time-traveling agent fighting monstrosities in a sci-fi wasteland version of 1980s Poland. Bloober's spin on the action-horror genre is that players have to keep monsters from merging with one another even after slaying them. Babieno said the premise is a metaphor for our times. 'We are in information bubbles and those bubbles are sometimes connecting and sometimes not.' Bloober is now preparing for the roll-out of Cronos on console and PC before the end of the year. The game drew inspiration from thriller films and horror franchises like Resident Evil. But for Babieno, the remastering of Silent Hill 2 — which began production about 10 months ahead of Cronos — has paved the way for Bloober's developers to take on its first original mass-market horror game. Bloober has come a long way from its origins as a tiny outsourcing studio with no specific expertise. It got its name from a rushed business registration while developing a title called Double Bloob for the Nintendo DSi handheld. Babieno, who played the original Silent Hill 2 multiple times through different phases of his life, eventually decided to settle on psychological horrors, or walking simulators where players explore a haunted house or dark forest and solve puzzles. Bloober's productions in this sub-genre have received mixed reviews. 'We are trying to learn from our mistakes,' said the former reporter and marketing executive. 'It's not revolution. It's like evolution.' While reimagining Silent Hill 2 was a dream come true for Babieno, convincing Konami to partner on the project wasn't easy. Bloober lacked a proven track record producing the complicated combat gameplay action-horror games are known for. Babieno said his first pitch to the Japanese conglomerate came as early as 2015, followed by years of on-and-off discussions. When the tie-up was officially announced in 2022, it took many fans by surprise. Another gaming giant that saw Bloober's potential was Tencent Holdings Ltd. In 2021, Tencent acquired a 22% stake in the Polish studio, becoming its largest shareholder. The investment adds to a long list of bets the WeChat operator made in up-and-coming games developers in Europe, ranging from Baldur's Gate 3 maker Larian Studios and Alan Wake studio Remedy Entertainment Oyj. Tencent will help Bloober market Cronos ahead of its China launch, said Babieno, who last week traveled with a Tencent representative to Shenzhen and Beijing. 'They are a minority investor, but they are one of the most supportive companies which I ever met in my life,' he said. Back at home in Kraków, Babieno said most of his designers are either crafting the Silent Hill 1 remake or planning the studio's next original title, which he promised won't be a sequel. He's also assembled a team of less than 40 people to work with third-party studios on the development of new games that mix horror elements with other genres like strategy and role-playing. Such collaboration, Babieno said, would free Bloober's core team to focus on what they do best — story-driven, single-player horror games that sell copies. 'We would like to work with the best in their own niche.' — Mark Anderson and Zheping Huang More stories like this are available on
Daily Maverick
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
The top 5 game announcements from Xbox Games Showcase 2025
Here are the top five most intriguing game reveals from the 2025 Xbox Games Showcase, including fan-favourite studios delivering survival horror, hard sci-fi and kooky, charming adventure. Along with the Summer Game Fest show, arguably the most high-profile stream of the former E3 exhibition period is the Xbox Games Showcase, typically paired with a developer deep dive into one of Xbox's biggest upcoming games. In the case of the latter, this year's Direct was split between two Obsidian games: the already announced sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds 2 (set for release on 29 October this year), and the surprise reveal of co-op adventure sequel Grounded 2 (Think Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The Game), which enters Early Access next month, from 29 July. You can watch the full two-hour Xbox Showcase and Direct double, or read a thorough summary of the various announcements here. What you'll find below is a singling out, on the basis of personal preference, of the top five most intriguing game announcements from the event. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Out of nowhere, we got a reveal trailer for Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, from Asobo Studio and Focus Entertainment. Amicia and Hugo's story is done, but action-adventure Resonance shifts the spotlight onto one of their Requiem allies, the smuggler Sophia. Set 15 years before the events of the last game, Resonance follows Sophia as she journeys to the Minotaur's Island, overcoming deadly trials, puzzles and a relentless army as she uncovers ancient secrets, and a curse that has a powerful connection to her. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy comes to Xbox Series consoles, PC and PlayStation 5 in 2026. It's also going to be a day one Game Pass release. Still talking sequels and fresh franchise additions, charming puzzle platformer Planet of Lana is getting a follow-up in 2026 (for all gaming platforms), and future-set military shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was teased. Blops 7 is out later this year, apparently (on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC). Both titles will be immediately playable with Game Pass. Cronos: The New Dawn Fresh off their success with Silent Hill 2 's remake, Bloober Team, the same developer behind the likes of Layers of Fear and The Medium is back in survival horror territory with Cronos: The New Dawn — which we can probably consider their Dead Space. You play as the Traveller, sent by the mysterious Collective to salvage what remains of humanity. That means harnessing a time travel mechanic that can transport you to 1980s Poland, among other things, as well as facing the monstrous Orphans, creatures that can fuse together to create even deadlier foes. Revealed last October, Cronos: The New Dawn is out this northern hemisphere autumn, coming to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. On matters of horror, special shoutout to Bandai Namco and Rebel Wolves ' already announced The Blood of Dawnwalker, a Witcher-esque pitch-black fantasy out in 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Dawnwalker received a new gameplay trailer during the Xbox Showcase. Aphelion Keeping things space-centred, but with more of a hard sci-fi angle (it's made in collaboration with the European Space Agency), is Aphelion. From Life is Strange makers DON'T NOD, this narrative-driven adventure seems to be taking a cue from the studio's 2024 releases, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant, in that you're exploring and delving into the mysteries of a hostile world. In this case, you're astronaut Ariane, trying to reach your wounded partner Thomas on Persephone, a frozen ninth planet discovered on the edge of our solar system. The game promises a cinematic experience with traversal and stealth gameplay. Aphelion comes to Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS5, and Game Pass in 2026. Keeper It's been four years since the release of Psychonauts 2, and now we know what's next from Double Fine Productions. With Stacking project lead and Brutal Legends art director Lee Petty driving development, Keeper is described as a 'beautiful and surreal third-person, atmospheric puzzle adventure… told without words'. Players take control of a battered lighthouse (yes, a lighthouse) that awakens in a post-human world and totters off across the island with a seabird companion. The lighthouse's beam and the bird's agility will be key tools in completing their odyssey. Keeper is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC on 17 October this year. You'll also be able to play it day one with Game Pass. There Are No Ghosts at the Grand Finally, there's the genre-spanning and completely unpredictable There Are No Ghosts at The Grand, the debut title from indie developers Friday Sundae. By day, you'll be restoring the dilapidated English hotel you inherited from your estranged father, and exploring the local seaside village with its many secretive inhabitants. By night, though, you'll be facing supernatural threats with the aid of a sassy talking cat. Either way, There Are No Ghosts at The Grand is a kooky, cosy blend of mystery, music, and environmental puzzles with an in-game deadline of 30 days and nights. There Are No Ghosts at The Grand releases in 2026 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. It's also a day one release with Game Pass. DM
Newsweek
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Bloober Team Says Its New Game Won't Have an Easy Mode
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors Bloober Team, most well-known for producing the critically acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake as well as other great horror games like the Layers of Fear series, has a new survival horror game in the works that hopes to capitalize on their recent success called Cronos: The New Dawn that looks to full embrace in the genre in a way the studios hasn't done before. Part of that is making the game a challenging experience, which is why in an interview with DBLTAP, co-directors Wojciech Piejko and Jacek Zieba confirmed that the game won't have an easy mode. They explain that the game will have just one difficulty mode, with an even harder one being unlocked the first time you complete the game. A person in an outfit that looks like a space suit, but with an opaque helmet with a tower being shattered in the background. A person in an outfit that looks like a space suit, but with an opaque helmet with a tower being shattered in the background. Bloober Team As Jacek Zieba puts it in the interview, "it's survival horror, to make it work it needs to be a bit challenging," citing FromSoftware's lack of difficulty options. They do note that they don't mind how people play the game on repeat playthroughs, but they want everyone's first playthrough to be as close to the intended experience as possible. "The first experience is the first experience," Zeiba says, "So if you do easy mode, okay, somebody will play it and maybe have less scares or something, but to play as intended, this is why we decided to go with our difficulty at the beginning." Cronos: The New Dawn is set to be released on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam in 2025.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cronos: The New Dawn Gameplay Trailer Is a Fiery Descent Into 80s Sci-Fi Horror
The upcoming sci-fi survival horror game from Bloober Team, Cronos: The New Dawn, has revealed gameplay in a spine-tingling new trailer. Bloober Team — the studio behind the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake — has finally unleashed a trailer packed with Cronos: The New Dawn gameplay for fans to sink their teeth into. Set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic version of 1980s Poland, Cronos: The New Dawn tells a twisted time-travel story in which players take on the role of a Traveler — agents sent by the Collective to extract select individuals who didn't survive the apocalypse and bring them to safety in the present.v The trailer can be viewed below (thanks to IGN). The new trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn explores what Bloober Team is calling 'The Merge' — a new gameplay mechanic that changes how players approach any confrontation, turning a simple walk down the street into a mind-bending nightmare once a merge occurs. A merge happens when fallen enemies combine with living creatures, and the only way to stop them is to burn the dead. Players will explore two separate time periods in Cronos: The New Dawn as they attempt to rescue individuals selected by the Collective. The decaying district of New Dawn — ironically named — is inspired by the real-life Nowa Huta, offering a bleak setting to explore following the apocalyptic events in the world of Cronos, as well as in the version of 1980s Poland that existed before the fall. Co-director and producer at Bloober Team, Jacek Zięba, warns players: 'Imagine this — a distorted mix of sci-fi, time travel, retro-futuristic dread and body horror — all set against the gritty backdrop of '80s Poland. What a ride, right? And whatever you do… don't let them merge,' he says, referring to the abominations that await players in New Dawn. Co-director and designer at Bloober Team, Wojciech Piejko, adds: 'How do you fight them? Fire! Burn the fallen before they merge with living creatures. The Merge changes the game, adding a whole new layer of strategy to combat. Push your survival instincts to the max.' Cronos: The New Dawn is set for release in 2025 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC.
