Cronos: The New Dawn – Essential Tips to Help Your Journey
With Cronos: The New Dawn, Bloober Team is launching an all-new horror IP, with entirely new mechanics and other nuances that we’ll experience for the first time. If you’re thinking of taking up the title of The Traveler and braving through the game’s gruesome world, we’re here to help.
We’ve listed a few essential tips we think players will want to know before playing, based on our experience playing through the game.
This short guide is spoiler-free, so you’re free to check each tip out without worrying about story-related stuff being spoiled.
Cronos: The New Dawn Tips to Know Before Playing
Max the Inventory First and Fast
You’ll be able to upgrade your suit in Cronos using Core, which you’ll find plenty of in the game. The thing you’ll want to do when you find one is to upgrade your inventory. space. Needless to say, your inventory space is very, very limited in Cronos, and this is the most important thing you’ll want to max out for your suit early on, since you’ll soon won’t have enough space for bullets, key items, and so on. Plus, you’ll have to do a lot of backtracking to a save station for your item stash, which is never fun.
Explore and Explore More
While Cronos is a linear experience, and you won’t be able to go to places you’re not supposed to, there are small pocket of areas that are hidden from plain sight. You’ll want to go there first before going to where you need to be, since these areas usually have Energy, bullets, Core and more.
When in doubt, just go the other route where your in-game objective marker says you should be going. More often than not you’ll stumble across an area that has a few items you’ll want to collect. Check doors if they are boarded up from the other side, anything you can duck under and whatnot.
Use Your Stomp Wisely
Let’s get it out of the way: the melee attack in Cronos is useless. You’ll need more than seven direct hits in order to kill the most basic of enemies. The stomp, however, is a lot more useful. You can shoot the legs of enemies, and when they fall down, stomp on them for extra damage. Usually you’ll be able to sneak in two stomps before the enemy completely rises.
This is a good way to save ammo, though it’s not a feasible strategy if you have mulitple enemies rushing at you.
You Can Refund Upgrade Energy
In Cronos, players can upgrade every weapon at their disposal, and if you ever change your mind about a a weapon, you can reverse the upgrade process for a small fee, and n return, you’ll get the Energy you spent back.
There are multiple weapons in the game, so choose which ones are your “mains” since you won’t be able to max every gun in one playthrough.
Follow the Cats
You’ll see cats in the game, and if you do, follow it! Collecting the cats isn’t just nice since you’re saving them from being attacked by the enemies, but each one has a surprise item drop. Some drop Core upgrades, while others have nifty surprises that we’ll leave for you to discover.
Pick a Gun to Level Up
There are multiple guns to find and upgrade in Cronos, and you won’t be able to upgrade all of them in one playthrough. My advice is, choose which ones work best for you and upgrade those. I personally chose the auto handgun (Dagger) to max out since it hits hard and the game gives handgun ammo the most.
We won’t mention what the other guns are, but this is more of a case of preference of which ones you want to max out.
Save Bullets, See Red — Shoot!
During major combat encounters, you’ll often see red barrels or gas canisters littering the levels. Save these for groups or for the big enemies. Lure them in, shoot the red barrel, and watch them burn.
There are also barrels and gas cans that can be used over and over, and if you spot one, you’ll know it can be “repaired,” I suggest conserving ammo and run around and let the enemies chase you while you’re waiting for these to cooldown. Once it’s ready to be rebuilt, do so, and burn enemies again. Rinse and repeat and you’ll save a ton of ammo in the process.
Use Your Torch and Pyre Intelligently But Don’t Hoard Them
The Torch is extremely powerful in Cronos. Same with the Pyre, an explosive throwable that you’ll unlock early on. While these two items are valuable for taking out mobs, it’s best to use them for boss encounters, given they take up inventory space. Having said that, if you find yourself constantly dying in one combat encounter, then by all means, use the Torch and Pyre to get past it.
You can easily craft both with Metal Scraps which you can find scattered or via the in-game shop. If there’s a save room near where you are, use your Torch and then just run back to the save room to get a new one.
Always Be Ready to Burn and Cut Bolts
If it’s your first time playing Cronos, you won’t know what the next corner brings. Aside from enemies, there are also loads of locked rooms to open. Some require you to burn through whatever mass is covering the entrance, while others will require the player cut open the chain lock with a bolt cutter you’ll obtain early on (you won’t miss it since it’s part of a mission requirement to advance).
Make sure to always carry a Torch and the bolt cutter at all times. Unless, of course, you’re OK running back and forth the save room whenever you see a locked door. No? I thought so.
There you have it. Do you have any tips for Cronos: The New Dawn players that we forgot to mention? If so, leave a comment and let us know. Make sure to check out our review of Cronos to see why this new horror game is worth playing.
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