Survival horror fans who spent last autumn being gnawed on by merging mutants in Cronos: The New Dawn can mark their calendars. Bloober Team has finally put a date on the game’s first story expansion, Cronos: Lazarus, which arrives on 3 December for PC (Steam, Epic and GOG), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It costs $9.99, which is roughly what a cinema popcorn costs these days, and it won’t make you quite as sick. A Switch 2 version follows in the first quarter of 2027.
It’s a prequel, which means you finally get to find out how the Pathfinder became the Warden, the fellow who spent the main game being a surprisingly awkward ally. The new story trailer shows him taking on a secret mission the Collective must never discover, and introduces the Tracker, a hunter sent to deal with him. In the Tracker’s view, the Warden is an “error” to be corrected, which is the sort of language that tends to get a man fired from a shadowy time-meddling organisation, or worse.
The bigger change is in the combat. Bloober has promised a faster and more aggressive game than the careful, ammo-counting slog of the original, with new tricks including a teleport and a decoy hologram that lets you slip away unseen. Anyone who liked their survival horror with a bit more panicked running should find it a good fit, though purists may mutter that the genre was invented on the principle of having six bullets and a lot of regret. It does sound like something the studio has wanted to try for a while, and given Bloober Team also has a Silent Hill remake in the oven, they seem to be a busy lot.
If you missed the main game, the sensible plan is to play it first, as Lazarus assumes you know the story. The base game is currently half price across digital stores for the Halloween promotion, which runs until 2 November. Here at SFcrowsnest magazine, we call that an offer you can’t refuse, mostly because the alternative is being chased by something with too many arms.
Watch the trailer on YouTube: Cronos: Lazarus – Story Trailer & Release Date Announcement
Join the conversation (0)