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Cronos The New Dawn Has A Cheeky Silent Hill 2 Easter Egg
- Image of Bloober Team, Courtesy of Bloober Team

You know a development studio is feeling like itself when it starts planting little inside jokes in its new games. Bloober Team, fresh off the massive success of their Silent Hill 2 remake, just launched their latest horror IP, Cronos The New Dawn, and it seems they couldn’t resist a little self-referential humor.

Bloober Team Horror Game Score

Let’s be real, for a hot minute there, Bloober Team was the problem child of the horror genre. Games like The Medium and Layers of Fear were ambitious, but often fumbled when handling sensitive themes. So, when Konami announced that Bloober would be the one remaking the holy grail of psychological horror, Silent Hill 2, the collective groan from the internet was almost loud enough to wake the dead. The skepticism was thick. Could they really pull it off?

Well, pull it off, they did. Against all odds, the Silent Hill 2 remake was a masterpiece reborn, and suddenly Bloober Team went from controversial to celebrated. Now, they’re taking all the hard-earned lessons from that project and pouring them into their brand-new baby, Cronos The New Dawn. And it looks like they brought a few souvenirs back with them from Silent Hill.

What’s the Silent Hill 2 Easter Egg?

Image of Red Square, Silent Hill 2, Courtesy of Konami

The game just dropped, and eagle-eyed players are already digging up its secrets. One Redditor, WordofGabb, stumbled upon a gem that’s a direct wink and a nudge to the original 2001 Silent Hill 2’s most iconic and anxiety-inducing feature: its save points. The only way to save your progress was to find mysterious red squares scattered throughout the foggy, monster-infested town. There was no autosave, no checkpoint magic. If you died, you were sent right back to your last encounter with one of those crimson squares. It was brutal, but it was a core part of the experience, forcing you to value every step you took.

Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake modernized this by adding a more forgiving autosave system, a change many players welcomed with open arms. It seems the developers haven’t forgotten the old ways, though. In Cronos The New Dawn, if you find a specific save point, the character muses, “It’s a strange symbol… Reminds me of an old horror game. Thank god for autosave, huh?”

You see what they did there? It’s a perfect, cheeky little nod. They’re acknowledging their own work and poking fun at the old-school difficulty of the original. They are also giving a shout-out to the very feature they updated. It’s the kind of Easter egg that makes you chuckle, a brief levity moment in a tense, atmospheric horror game.

The World of Cronos The New Dawn

Image of Cronos: The New Dawn, courtesy of Bloober Team.

So what is Cronos The New Dawn about anyway? It’s Bloober Team’s next big step in the horror realm, renovating the atmospheric dread and psychological depth they succeeded with their remake of Silent Hill 2. The game throws you into a chilling narrative set in a derelict, otherworldly environment. You’re tasked with uncovering the mysteries of a place that feels like it’s actively trying to break your spirit and mind.

From the early reviews and gameplay footage, it’s clear that the studio is leaning into what worked so well in their last outing. The environments are hauntingly gorgeous with top-notch sound design, and the story is a tour of the darkest unknown. It’s not just about jump scares; it’s about that slow-burn, get-under-your-skin kind of horror that lingers long after you’ve put the controller down.

Final Thoughts: Loud and Proud

Cronos The New Dawn isn’t just “Bloober Team’s new game.” It represents a studio that has listened, learned, and leveled up. They took the criticism from their earlier titles, hit a grand slam with a legendary remake, and are now stepping out with a newfound confidence. And if this clever little Easter egg is any indication, they’re having a lot of fun doing it.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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