Cronos: Lazarus DLC Preview: Horrifying Improvements Are Gratefully Accepted

Our heroes of horror, Bloober Team, are back with Cronos: Lazarus—a fully fledged DLC for Cronos: The New Dawn. It’s still a new IP for the company, and Lazarus is an extension of the terrific base game. We’re the Warden this time around, who players of the main game will be immediately familiar with, and our goal is simple: Find what you’re looking for.

I’ll be honest, I found the Warden a more engaging character than the Traveler in Cronos: The New Dawn (don’t shoot me!), so this is a welcome change-up, and as Bloober Team has put it, the DLC demands ‘a more aggressive style of gameplay.’ My special behind-closed-doors preview revealed this was very much the case.

Also, check out my full Cronos: The New Dawn review if you haven’t already!

A Literal Gameplay Shift

The Warden has new tools that instantly give you new ways to approach combat. It was very easy to become trapped in Cronos, but the new teleport mechanic is a superb last-minute maneuver you can whip out to evade the clutches of enemies and zoom behind them. Moreover, if you’re in one of the game’s classic arenas being swarmed by enemies and merging monsters, you can deploy a Warden clone, which enemies will pounce on like cats with a string.

Obviously, you can’t abuse this, as it does have a lengthy cooldown, but it’s another tool provided by the developer to get you out of a pinch. If you’re one hit away from death and starting a section all over again, it’s literally the difference between life and death. I found them both excellent additions, and these could easily have been sequel-selling tweaks Bloober could have saved for the next game.

It might have been for the purposes of the Gamescom demo, but I found ammo was very generous. Again, this could be the build of the demo, or it ties into the idea of more ‘aggressive’ gameplay. This is an extension of Cronos, and it’s not a fundamentally fresh experience, so don’t expect Lazarus to suddenly drop you into an ice-laden world or anything outlandishly different.

This is very much Cronos 1.5, and I even revisited some locations from the main game early on. On the other hand, as a survival-horror fan, I wanted more Cronos after finishing The New Dawn, and Lazarus fills that grotesque hole.

More of the Same is Fine by Me

Lazarus is as atmospheric as The New Dawn, which was one of my favorite things about the core title. With headphones on, any change in my spatial audio caused me to abruptly halt the Warden’s footsteps.

Bloober Team did an excellent job with this in Silent Hill 2 Remake and Cronos, and the rush of planetary sandstorms, the rustle of barrels and objects nearby always had me on edge, with a drop of sweat ready to run down my face at a moment’s notice.

There isn’t too much difference with Lazarus and, as I said, this is more of a continuation of The New Dawn. Thematically and gameplay-wise, if you played Cronos, then you’ll slide right in with the DLC as though you never left.

A new adversary will chase you throughout Cronos: Lazarus, though, which could be the terrifying edge the DLC needs. I hope Cronos: Lazarus isn’t the last we see of the universe, as I feel once Lazarus is wrapped up, there will be more stories to tell.

Did you play Cronos: The New Dawn? Will you be picking up the Lazarus DLC? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.

For more, read ‘Canceled Scream Gameplay Allegedly Discovered in Valve Leak,’ and don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.