Zero Brightness - A Podcast About Horror Video Games · Ecstattic Studio

Zero Brightness Ep. 186: You Should Play Cronos: The New Dawn

·1 hr 8 min·4 clips

Classic Resident Evil worked because its clunky systems were built into the whole experience, not despite them.

1. Zero Brightness Ep. 186 focuses on Cronos: The New Dawn and why the host tells listeners to play it. 2. The host is the show’s main voice, and he uses his long history with Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Bloober Team to frame the review. 3. The episode asks whether horror games can still have good gameplay while leaning on older survival horror ideas. 4. He divides horror games into a prehistory in the 80s and early 90s, a first survival horror era from roughly 1996 to 2006, and a modern era beginning with Amnesia in 2010. 5. He says the first wave of survival horror worked because tank controls, fixed cameras, and three-point aiming were built into the whole experience. 6. He contrasts that with games like Rule of Rose, later Silent Hill entries, and Kuon, where combat or progression can overwhelm atmosphere. 7. He points to Resident Evil 4 and Half-Life 2 as major examples of horror ideas surviving inside games that also play well. 8. He describes the modern first-person horror wave as starting with Amnesia and Outlast, then spreading through PT and many copycats. 9. He says that style worked because it removed combat and kept players moving through clues, puzzles, and monster avoidance. 10. He argues that by 2019 and 2020 the hide-em-up formula had become repetitive, even if it was still accessible. 11. He then turns to action-horror games like The Last of Us and The Evil Within, which built on Resident Evil 4 instead of rejecting combat. 12. He calls The Evil Within one of his favorite games and says its sequel is even better. 13. He praises Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 8, and the Resident Evil 2 remake for combining modern presentation with both hide-em-up and action-game elements. 14. He says the 2020s started to feel too iterative, especially with the Resident Evil remakes and a broader return to throwback horror. 15. He contrasts throwback games that simply recreate late-90s mechanics with indie titles like Crow Country, Signalis, and Decarnation, which use retro ideas in playable ways. 16. He says Alan Wake 2 and the Silent Hill 2 remake disappointed him because their combat felt clunky and their atmosphere was overshadowed by weak playability. 17. The episode’s tone is argumentative and personal, with long-form genre analysis built from examples and repeated comparisons. 18. It sounds like a solo essay rather than an interview, and the host moves from broad history into a direct game recommendation. 19. Listeners who like horror-game history and design debates will get the most from it. 20. People wanting a short review without genre theory may skip it.

As heard by us

A focused case for Kronos as Bloober's unlikely break from horror's clunky throwback mood.

Zero Brightness frames Kronos the New Dawn as a surprising correction from Bloober Team, a studio presented as capable of sharp swings between excellent and terrible work.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want to know whether Bloober finally made a horror game that feels great to play? Start with Kronos: The New Dawn.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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