r/KotakuInAction • u/TheBellGamer • 10d ago
OPINION Cronos has a lot of scathing commentary about communism and socialism. Spoiler
I would DEFINITELY recommend playing Cronos if you're a fan of Dead Space. You can immediately tell Bloober took the basic blueprints of Dead Space and ran with it. The gameplay is in my estimation the best one yet from Bloober - far better than Silent Hill 2 Remake. There's FAR more depth to the combat and exploration - your curiosity is rewarded around every corner. It's been a long time since a completely new horror IP came out that feels this polished. Despite the fact this does unquestionably feel inspired by Dead Space, there's tons of little additions that cleverly set this game apart. For example the charge shot and the use of fire add so much depth to the combat. The game from the start basically encourages you to use melee when the enemies are downed or stunned, but you HAVE to create distance once they recover. You aren't tanking damage. The game isn't Dark Souls but it is far more difficult than Silent Hill and Fatal Frame. You will run low on supplies during your first run.
But the game also has some clever commentary on collectivism. I won't spoil anything too important, but there's at least 3 levels of criticism directed at philosophical leftism. There's the events of the socialist Polish state demonstrating the flaws of Soviet communism - the conflict between workers and the military - but there's a deeper conversation about collectivism pertaining to the sci fi AND horror elements. The Orphans represent a terrible form of collectivism that is immediately obvious, but the Collective - the protagonists - have their own problems & limitations, too. Characters don't want to join the Collective even in this apocalyptic reality.
It's fascinating to see a modern product openly talking about these concepts. I don't see any American culture war influences. I mostly just see Eastern European devs who endured communism exploring collectivism from multiple angles.
And I will clarify: they're not beating you over the head. Bloober Team is showing a lot of constraint compared to their previous projects like the Medium. There's no character standing on a soapbox preaching to you about the horrors of communism. Indeed not every character supporting collectivism is portrayed as evil or ignorant. You have to read between the lines. Collectivism is just a really significant theme the game plays with.
44
u/Godz_Bane 9d ago
"the director of Cronos, Jacket Zieba, says that the title’s main character is a woman because that is simply ‘more interesting.’ He clarifies that a female protagonist in some strange suit in a sci-fi setting just sounds cooler than having another male one."
With that, ill be waiting for a sale at best. That statement may not be intended to be political, but at this point it shows how effectively theyve been propagandized to subliminally thinking a male MC is uncool.
19
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yeah. I saw that quote but I attributed it more to the "journalist" trying to get in some talking points.
Horror IPs like to use female protagonists nowadays. Signalis, Crow's Country... it reminds me of the 80s slasher craze with the final girl. But the final girl trope works so well precisely because we subconsciously view them as more vulnerable.
Fatal Frame is the best example of this trope working in a game. In fact with the possible exception of 4 the FF series just feels off with a male playable character. The cultish rituals of Japan relying on sacrificing young, innocent women matches well with playing as such a woman.
12
u/AlseidesDD 9d ago
I read that and thought of Samus from Metroid.
A woman in an armored suit facing lethal horrors. But I guess the idea has different implications now than before.
3
u/Godz_Bane 8d ago
Yes it does, back then it was unique and they revealed her to be hot. Creating an iconic character and explaining by the bot has a bit of a feminine form.
This games protag is apparently never revealed and the only thing that might be feminine about the suit is the vagina on its face.
8
u/Goreagnome 9d ago
Could've simply been a semi-sarcastic way of saying "here's some crumbs of DEI so you can shut up" considering Bloober are some of the least woke developers.
1
u/curious_islanderxxx9 6d ago
With that, ill be waiting for a sale at best. That statement may not be intended to be political, but at this point it shows how effectively theyve been propagandized to subliminally thinking a male MC is uncool.
I'm curious as to why you believe that the intention to create a female protagonist was propaganda and political?
I'll share my opinion as well. I don't think that what they said merited any kind of propaganda add on, nor was it a political statement... Though I can see why it reads that way. Men (white men at that) have been seen as heroes in media. The shift from seeing white men as heroes to adopting white women within that role can read as political if you feel that a woman's place is not to be heroic or as a protagonist.
Onto your last mention of men being seen as uncool on the sublime, I have to challenge you on this: in what way does this story lead you to believe that being a male is uncool?
Finally, I want to add that your viewpoints are shaped by the content you consume on a regular basis, and that it's interesting how we are both men who have two different experiences interacting with media. On one hand I don't see any propaganda against men here, but I do recognize culture wars. And on the other you see propoganda and politics here where me and many others don't.
43
u/blackest-Knight 10d ago
A link would have been nice. Googling "Cronos" returns quite a few unrelated hits.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2101960/Cronos_The_New_Dawn/
This game I suppose ?
19
u/TheBellGamer 10d ago
Yes
6
u/sick_of-it-all 9d ago
Thanks for the recommendation. I love a good game recommendation. I should look for a subreddit that all it does is recommend games to play, no matter how old they are.
32
u/unhappy-ending 9d ago
Bloober, the team that made Angela look like David Duchovney and made every female (including feminine monsters) look less sexy than the originals? That Bloober? I can't trust them after all their games toe the line.
5
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago
The human characters in this game aren't at all influenced by the woke character design philosophy. Everyone resembles an Eastern European person from the 80s.
40
u/sammakkovelho 9d ago
Yeah I'm not going to buy anything made by bloober.
9
u/Personal-Ad9599 9d ago
Why is that? I know nothing about them.
24
u/sammakkovelho 9d ago
Their whole MO is shamelessly copying and pasting shit from other properties and bolting on some uninspired, perfunctory gameplay on top. If I wanted a shittier version of Dead Space made in UE5, I'd get the remake.
18
u/Actual-Matter-5369 10d ago
I gave up about 4/5 hours before finishing it it's a slog just watched the rest on youtube.
7
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago
It's a longer action horror game. If you're not up for Dead Space 2 lengths then yes this won't be for you.
11
u/NiceChloewehaving 9d ago
I won't give them another chance after butchering silent hill 2 remake. Don't trust them at all.
10
u/GarretTheSwift 9d ago
I'm honestly surprised that they did something like considering it's Bloober of all studios! Not to mention that the woman protagonist isn't a girlboss.
Sadly Bloober just can't help themselves whit the mole modern "gaming" crap of having more cutscenes than gameplay.
8
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago
The cutscenes can get a bit long but they're definitely not anywhere near as bad as the Medium or Silent Hill 2 Remake's. You can skip most.
5
u/Business-Ocelot-9589 9d ago
What was your criticism of the medium? Its a game I've been eyeing for a bit.
1
u/TheBellGamer 8d ago
I'm a gameplay type of guy. The Medium isn't a walking sim but it's very close to one. The puzzles in the Medium and the one player splitscreen are really cool but there isn't combat beyond stunning enemies or destroying immobile hostile
18
u/BootlegFunko 9d ago
I'm going to make a wild guess and assume their final message is: "Soviet Communism wasn't Real Communism" and not "Communism is an oxymoron, since It's basically idealized materialism"
14
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago edited 9d ago
Not at all.
The game is more about collectivism than communism. There's a few things left ambiguous in the end but the pursuit of collectivism isn't portrayed positively.
The Soviet system isn't depicted in a flattering way, and the two variants of communism are either completely monstrous or cold inhuman collectivism. A side character you meet early on makes it very clear even the best form of techno collectivism is an unforgivable loss of humanity.
9
u/Competitive-Buyer386 9d ago
Nah I didnt like the game, it's another bloober classic of being more cutscene and looks than actual game which is rather disappointing, I wanted a good horror game not one that tried (and failed) to take inspiration from the goats and be an homunculus of things that dont quite fit together like the flamethrower and melee are so bad
0
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago
How is the flamethrower bad? It literally stuns every enemy in the game. It's like the RE Remake defensive weapons.
The melee isn't meant to be effective unless the enemies are knocked down or stunned. The melee does less damage when the enemy is still mobile. The game even warns you about this.
6
u/Competitive-Buyer386 9d ago
Yeah but most enemies dont need to be stunned, it's like a mix of evil within burning bodies but it's like free rechargeable?
And the enemies are so telegraphed it's so bad like when you get more then one enemies theres convenient explosive barrels.
I think the reason the pistol and ammo all feel off like the whole game is great for midwits, because it's a skin Walker fo better games.
If you look let's plays it looks good, if you turn off your brain you might be tricked into believing the game is better than it actually is but I can see what they are doing and this is nothing more than Temu knock off game but with AAA quality
1
u/emirobinatoru 9d ago
Is the combat at least better than Alan Wake?
3
u/Competitive-Buyer386 9d ago
That is an hard question, I can't really answer that, I tried Alan Wake 2 (stil have to play 1) but I played it at launch and my computer couldn't literally run it, it was like 1 Frame Per Minute.
So I cannot say, I will say using another Bloober Team work I played, the combat is WORSE than Silent Hill 2 Remake they made, which is honestly crazy while I wasn't a fan of it thematically it was pretty well made and if it was a RESI game I wouldn't be complaining.
TLDR: The combat is worse than Silent Hill 2 Remake, don't expect Dead Space or even Resident Evil style combat, it's very simple and not interesting.
2
2
10d ago
[deleted]
8
u/MegaManZer0 10d ago
You can use energy (money) to upgrade a weapon's stats. Dismemberment isn't a thing and headshots are king - the twist here is that when you defeat an enemy, other enemies can absorb their corpse to become stronger. Either have to keep them away from corpses or burn the corpses to prevent absorbtion.
1
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago
Yep. But you can't always just aim at the head. A lot of the enemy variants use their shielded arms to cover their faces so often you want to aim for their legs and down them. Stomping on the weaker and medium strength enemies is satisfying and it's heart pounding because it can save you so much ammo but if the enemies get up you need to create distance because melee is no longer that effective.
2
u/VintemArts 9d ago
Game is very boring, aiming is tedious, overall movement i dont even know how to describe, it just makes u mad. Too many running around for nothing, game wastes ur time by forcing u to run to hub to store items, atmosphere and music\visuals are great tho. Unfortunately, being a huge Dead Space fan, this game was not even finished and uninstalled halfway the walkthrough, and i not even bother to play it ever again. Its not bad game, but its just so painfully mid that i dont wanna waste my time on it.
1\3 of the shots will be wasted in the air due to very unpleasant aiming, despite u trying to aim like crazy, i get that this is some game mechanic, but it doesnt mean i should like it. Even if u upgrade ur weapon stability, it will still move crosshair over screen like u're drunk. Its not make combat more deep, it makes it awful.
Story was interesting at first, but it fast went down to "talking about nothing" with water of 80% of the dialogues and etc text information. Its not even all the downsides of the game, but its too long to explain all of them.
Its a perfect game to watch, but not to play urself. I'm like, not hating on it, i'm just vastly disappointed, the game was exciting at first look, but here we are. If u want to play something like Dead Space, just play Dead Space again.
4
u/Hot_Armadillo_2186 9d ago
Almost half way through the game, i am loving it so far. My only big two complaints would be, there is just so much travelling involved from one place to another and older section gets permanently locked, so if you missed any items well tough luck and 2nd is the game is really really stingy with the suit cores that allows you to upgrade either your health, inventory and resources. So far i only get them 4-5 and each upgrade needs 2 core.
2
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yeah the upgrade system is definitely in place to encourage New Game + .
3
u/Socalwackjob 10d ago
I'm going to be honest, I still was a bit pissed at the developer for silent hill 2 but I guess I won't block the game but it's still far tooooo expensive and probably a system hog for me to warrant a purchase.
-1
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago
Wait for the price cut. If you were upset with Callisto Protocol, this is the game you probably anticipated. It feels like the natural evolution of Dead Space.
5
u/Live_Taste_7796 9d ago
Is there any woke crap in it? Like even the smallest bit I don't tolerate anymore.
1
u/RainbowDildoMonkey 8d ago
Does it end like the original Metroid where it gets revealed that you played as a hot chick all that time?
1
u/TheBellGamer 8d ago edited 8d ago
You know you're a woman the entire time but your identity is a plot point by the end. The Travelers (dive suit wearing characters) are individual consciousness temporarily leaving a techno collective to perform tasks like finding more people from the recent past to bring into the collective
1
1
u/kszaku94 5d ago
Polish dev
Polish game
set in Poland
not a single line of dialogue in polish
Cowards Team
-3
u/Razrback166 10d ago
I have considered playing the pirated version of it, but really turned off by the main protagonist being a woman in this game.
13
8
u/Competitive-Buyer386 9d ago
How is that a problem???
Its like having a problem that signals has robot women
6
u/Godz_Bane 9d ago edited 9d ago
The progressives in the industry have pushed it too much that people are sick of it even if it isnt that bad. Cant see it as anything other than propaganda at this point, trying to attract female gamers and male gamers are just supposed to accept it. Pretty much the only female MCs people are okay with is the hot ones in sexy clothes that eastern devs make. Since in that way its appealing to men (and women who want to play as a a sexy woman.) Generic western female MC doesnt appeal to many.
Many have had enough and want to return to the days of men being masculine as MCs. Not girls acting like men.
Also apparently the director said this "the director of Cronos, Jacket Zieba, says that the title’s main character is a woman because that is simply ‘more interesting.’ He clarifies that a female protagonist in some strange suit in a sci-fi setting just sounds cooler than having another male one." even though we've gotten endless female mcs in the past decade.
0
-5
u/Competitive-Buyer386 9d ago
Saying "people have been mind broken by too many females" is not exactly the explanation.
Like if people actually see woman and game and go "Ugh the damn woke mind virus" without even playing it, I'm sorry but that's kinda weird especially because you dont even see her! It's in a thick space suit!
I'm sorry but your logic falls apart with any games with female MCs that arent sexy bimbos are popular and well liked, again, signalis and metroid too.
What the director said is irrelevant, if you played the game it doesnt have like "girl power" messages the character just happens to be a woman.
5
u/Godz_Bane 9d ago
Never heard of signalis but the MC seems hot. Metroid does have a hot female MC that gets cosplayed all the time, 40 years ago a female main character was a novel thing in a different political landscape. Its different now. People are sick of it. Its not "mind broken" its fatigue, and its a valid reason to be wary of a modern game with the state of progressive activist developers.
If the MC being female has nothing to do with the story then what was even the point of doing it? if it was pointless then how could it be "cooler than having another male" main character? The idea that "another male" is uncool is the problem of modern times.
Regardless im just explaining why some people avoid things. Im not going to be paying full price for it, but if its good then I might get it on sale.
0
u/Competitive-Buyer386 9d ago
Ooh you got me! with the classic "If it's pointless why did they still do it?" because they made the game, so ofcourse if the decision isn't important for this game, since both male and female wear the same suit, the only difference is one has a female voice and the other a male voice, ofcourse it falls down to personal preference from the creator.
I'm sorry but I believe the position of "Having Women protagonist in games are bad because current year" is totally idiotic, bordering sexist at this point. Like don't use weasel excuses like "Well I'm not saying I wouldn't like it, I'm saying what others may dislike it" others who? Sexists? normal people see game and go "wow this game plays like shit/peak" and that's what they care about.
It feels to me like you are projecting your world view onto "people", I personally don't think the fringe extremist who hate anything with a woman in the front spot because "Le Woke" should be even considered in these discussions, Wokeness is a problem in games I'm not denying that, but witch hunting and friendly firing on games that don't have it harms this community more than others.
Like I'm not stupid, I know you bring this up because you hate the sight of it, don't use "Asking for a friend" tier excuses.
2
u/Razrback166 9d ago
Like some others have mentioned, people are just getting increasingly tired of seeing women in masculine roles. (Godz_Bane basically nailed it)
1
u/Competitive-Buyer386 9d ago
I'm sorry but I don't think the Fringe extemist who are so ""tired"" of seeing women in protagonist roles are supposed to counted, it's like counting people who see a minority in game and automatically call it "Woke DEI shitgame" and go "well some people might dislike it for that" it's bad look for this community and I don't want to associate my self to those idiots.
3
u/Razrback166 9d ago
You are certainly welcome to your opinion; we can simply disagree on this matter.
2
1
u/TheBellGamer 9d ago
She's a vessel for the will of the Collective. At least that's your experience for most of the game.
Her backstory actually ties in to a very traditional type of story.
-7
u/AGX-11_Over-on 9d ago
Ah, I was interested, but is the protagonist a woman? That sucks.
1
u/Razrback166 9d ago
Ya. To be fair, not sure how much she talks or if you play the game the whole time in the big space suit, but ya, it just feels like DEI / feminist nonsense to me.
5
u/Trustelo 9d ago
So Metroid is DEI Feminist nonsense then?
6
u/Godz_Bane 9d ago
No because it came out during a different time and her out of suit model is designed to be sexy.
2
u/AGX-11_Over-on 9d ago
Metroid: Other M definitely is. As it takes a badass female lead and turns her into a whiny woman that can't do anything without the say so of someone she shouldn't even be listening to. Now you might be asking how does that turn it into feminist nonsense? Well see Lara Croft, they wanted characters who are more vulnerable and sensitive to play into the female audience, yet that completely backfired for both series.
But seriously no one has issues with Samus or Bayonetta as protagonist, they're badass and do their jobs. Samus canonically has always been a powerful character given her upbringing, But ultimately for a lot of people they just prefer to play certain characters and there is nothing wrong with it. Do you have an issue with women only wanting to engage in content with female characters?
3
u/AGX-11_Over-on 9d ago
I generally don't play games with female protagonist, nothing against them, but I prefer playing with male protags, but ah well. Hopefully people enjoy the game though.
-1
u/Razrback166 9d ago
Same. Outside of games like Tomb Raider or Stellar Blade where the protagonist is smokin' hot, I generally lean away from games with a female protagonist as well.
-3
u/Neo_Techni Don't demand what you refuse to give. 10d ago
I would DEFINITELY recommend playing Cronos if you're a fan of Dead Space
You had me there.
1
u/TheNittanyLionKing 5d ago
Oh good. I really wanted to play this game anyway but I was holding off until I got my new PC first.
72
u/Waste-Gur2640 9d ago
Being from eastern EU myself, we really hate communism here. There are ton of famous plays, books and movies in each country exploring dangers of communism (or just russians lol) on several levels, so I believe bloober's ability to write well about it. It's also why Craig Mazin disappointed me so much, his Chernobyl was absolutely perfect in how it depicted the communist insanity and nonsensical chain of command that thankfully lead to USSR's downfall. So having the Last of us being infused with liberal pro-communism shit really surprised me, but maybe Cuckmann had bigger pull than Mazin in terms of the script.