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Less than a week after its Xbox Partner Preview debut, confidential details about a mysterious upcoming horror game have surfaced online. An anonymous poster on 4chan stealth dropped what they claim is a leak of internal documents of Cronos: The New Dawn from Bloober Team. It showcased alpha build screenshots, character design sheets, and story outlines for the early chapters of the game.
Of course, the information we have compiled below reveals potential story spoilers, so tread with caution. However, all images used here are taken from the reveal trailer and the official website. As with any 4chan leak, it’s best to take this information with a hefty grain of salt.
Story Outline Leak for Cronos: The New Dawn Early Chapters
The first chapter is titled “Future 1 – Grave New World.” You play as the Traveler, a female spacesuit-wearing humanoid being created by the collective consciousness of mankind called the Collective. Her layered suit is inspired by sea butterflies, calcite, and even MCU Iron Man‘s nano suit and Dune‘s battle armor. Through the mysterious transformative phenomenon, the Change, the whole of humanity was wiped out and the Collective was born from its ashes.
The Traveler landed in ruins of human civilization, accompanied only by an AI companion that ‘speaks up’ from her helmet’s widget. The AI told the Traveler to reach ‘the predecessor’ to ‘Stop the Change.’
Along the way, the Traveler encounters Orphans, the ‘fallouts of Change’ that are hostile against her, as common enemies. Then she discovers a Relic which enables her to manipulate Time Knots.
When Traveler and her AI reach their destination, they find that the predecessor is already dead. Fortunately, a clue leads them to someone called Edward, the predecessor’s person of interest who could be connected to ‘the source of Change.’ To actually meet Edward though, the Traveler will have to use a time rift through the Relic and travel back to time.
With the time jump, players enter chapter two, “Past 1 – Genesis,” and land in Edwards’ apartment in 1981. Here, the Traveler discovers Edwards’ identity — and her own past, if players managed to collect enough ‘conditions’ such as hard-to-find lore pieces.
If players are able to get ‘the chaos ending,’ the Traveler will pick up the past Veronica and carries her towards the time rift. The document mentioned the Traveler hating someone named Angel, presumably the AI companion, for keeping her identity secret. She then realizes that ‘the key’ isn’t to bring Veronica to the future but to seek the Collective’s aid before ‘it is gone.’ The Traveler spares Angel and uses the Time Rift to look for help. End of story.
Bloober Team’s Cronos Horror Game Gameplay Mechanics
Cronos: The New Dawn as described in the Bloober Team leak is a third-person game that’s ‘split in two’:
- During the Future segment, the main focus is on exploration, interacting with objects, and combat with ‘horror creatures.’
- In the Past missions, gameplay becomes slow-paced, tense investigation with puzzle mechanisms ‘and facing the threat.’
The core gameplay element between the segments goes like this. First, you explore the ‘desolate brutalist’ environment until you find time anomalies. Then secure the area utilizing various ‘retro-futuristic weaponry’ for the time jump. Once you reach the Past, gather ‘Souls’ while interacting with NPCs. Lastly, before you bring clues to the Future, defeat enemies and choose which Souls to take with you.
In terms of maps, each segment. The Future area is designed as a ‘semi-open world’ with linear sections connecting hub areas, unlockable zones, hidden loot, and story items. Monsters’ dead bodies can be absorbed by other enemies, making them stronger than before.
On the other hand, the Past is much more closed and linear. You cannot exit predefined areas before, interacting with NPCs, collecting clues, and defeating monsters. This segment might work like the Batman Arkham Asylum‘s clue gathering. Cronos: The New Dawn offers around 21 unique areas to be discovered, not including smaller sub-zones.
According to another anonymous poster, this Cronos: The New Dawn leak might come from a disgruntled ex-employee of Private Division game publisher. They said this game was internally called ‘Project C’ and Bloober Team was looking to work with the Hades and Kerbal Space Program publisher. Only time will tell whether this is a real leak or not.
