Cronos: The New Dawn - Like Real Poland, Only With an Apocalypse

Grzegorz Like, Lead Writer and Lead Narrative Designer at Bloober Team, has a deep connection to Kraków and its industrial district, Nowa Huta. Known for his work on The Medium, he continues to explore local narratives in Cronos: The New Dawn, a psychological horror that intertwines alternate history, philosophical dilemmas, and the eerie atmosphere of a real Polish city. In this interview, Like opens up about the game’s roots, its unique approach to storytelling, and why Poland — with all its history and quirks — makes the perfect backdrop for horror.

So, let's get down to it. You worked on The Medium, which was also set quite locally. What attracts you to these local narratives?

Oh, right. You know, at Bloober we have this approach where we really want to tell stories from where we are, because we like the places we live in. And we also think it’s a great opportunity to make the game feel more authentic — and at the same time, exotic to players from other places.

You remember, like, way back, maybe ten years ago, there was this trend where every thriller was a Scandinavian thriller, right? So, we thought, why not Poland? Poland could be the new thing for horror, you know? And we have a history of various things… including some really bad horror movies here. So, we wanted to fix that.

Maybe — I don’t know — maybe it’s also about curing our own trauma. But I think that when you put a real place into a story, it makes a big, big difference. People connect to it, they imagine it. They think, “Oh, wow, this isn’t Middle-earth — it’s somewhere real. It could exist.” And that makes the game more personal. You can share something about yourself, and when you do that in a story, I think it pays off. People feel that it’s genuine, that you’re speaking the truth — and people like truth.

Why did you decide to set the story here in Nowa Huta? Is it due to your personal connections?

Both my grandmothers and grandfathers worked here in the steelworks. But, you know, it actually wasn’t my idea to set the game in Nowa Huta. When the directors came to me, they said, “We’re making a new game, we obviously want you to write it, and we’re going to set it in Kraków.” And I was like, cool — because The Medium was set in Kraków, Observer was set in Kraków, so that’s great.

Then they said, “But this time it’s going to be in a very specific part of Kraków — Nowa Huta.” And my mind was blown. I was like, okay, I’m going to tell you everything about this place, because I’m from there. I was really excited.

And it wasn’t, you know, an ego thing, like, “Let’s talk about me and my home.” I just think we chose the right place, because we wanted to tell a story about people facing a huge disaster, people who need to come together to avoid an apocalypse. But in our case, coming together actually merges them into each other — and that’s a big problem.

It also ties into the philosophical themes of the game. You’ve heard about the “hedgehog dilemma” and all that — we kept that in mind, and it’s a big, big element. So I think the setting really rhymes with the story we wanted to tell.

The game is set in an alternate history in the 1980s. What are the differences from real history?

It’s quite interesting, because we asked ourselves: what’s the one thing that could separate our timeline from the timeline of Cronos? We decided on this twist — when Stalin died, that year something happened with the Soviet Union. It started to fall apart, there was this kind of unrest, and over time there was room for Solidarity to emerge and grow.

But we thought, what if there was no Solidarity? What if the communists never eased up on people? What if Stalinism and social realism just got harsher and harsher? And then… well, the apocalypse. So, we decided this would be a much harsher universe than the real one.

How did it happen during the cataclysmic apocalypse, and how do you want to make it feel different from all the other apocalypses we’ve seen before?

The easiest answer is — it’s not New York, and it’s not aliens. That’s one point. But, to be real now, I think it really connects with what the people of Nowa Huta, Kraków, and Poland were going through at the time. It reflects a lot of the themes we wanted to explore, because this isn’t just some sci-fi made to intrigue or to tell a fun story. At its heart, it’s still a psychological horror, and we wanted to capture that kind of global-yet-local character of the city.

By using a real setting and then adding a disease that fits with the themes of the story, we created something that may not be completely unique, but is certainly exotic. And the way we tell it, I think, invites questions. It’s not your generic end of the world — it’s something more. It’s more about asking: what happened?

Where did the idea to harvest the essence or souls of people from the past come from? And how does it work, both story-wise and gameplay-wise?

Well, it’s a fun thing, because as a Traveler you’re sent by the Collective — I can’t say who they are — to extract these people, to take their essences. They not only have very important information about what’s happening, and need to be “fed” to the Collective, but they’re also needed for… let’s just say, another reason. I don’t want to spoil why, but it’s very important.

It’s also one of the big mysteries of the game — what exactly are you doing? It’s a bit of a risky design choice, because you don’t fully know. A Mandalorian knows what he’s doing — he hunts people and gets money. But the Traveler is more like an emissary of the Collective, just following their bidding.

Gameplay-wise, it works like this: you have a limited number of slots for the souls you encounter. You might be sent to collect one person, but then decide, no, I want this one instead — so you make a choice. Let’s say you have three slots. Every soul you keep gives you perks in combat, but they also come with their own personal story.

If you play the game with one set of souls and your friend plays with another, your experiences will differ, because the souls “haunt” you in different ways. They share different information, evoke different emotions, and reveal their stories from unique angles. This also makes replacing them difficult. Maybe you really like one character because he’s a punk rocker and you connect with him — but another soul might offer better perks. That’s the kind of choice difficulty we wanted to create.

Does it affect the story in any way? Could we get different endings, for example, or different playthroughs?

It changes the perception of the story, so the experience feels a bit different each time. It does affect the storyline, but it’s hard to explain because, as you learn more about Cronos and the Travelers, everything twists very quickly throughout the game. You’ll discover many things that influence the endings, so yes — there are multiple endings. What you think you know about the story, the Travelers, and their mission will get twisted as you play, making each experience unique.

Are there any Polish cultural references or Easter eggs?

Oh sure. We have, like, a lot of them, you know. We wanted to create this environment in a very, uh, reflective way, and we really recreated everything. You’ll be on a trip in the game and see exact buildings, real locations like bookstores, and other places that were recreated for the game. And I, as a guy from Nowa Huta, must say I was very, very, you know, angsty about it — like, do it, do it the right way, do it! No, no, it’s a bit different and real, but they did an awesome job.

A lot of people playing the game say things like, “Oh, my grandfather had these cups,” or “I’ve got a vacuum cleaner like this,” and all that. So, you know, it really has this kind of power of revoking memories. If you want to come to Poland and don’t have the resources to do it, just play the game. It’s just like that, it’s wild — but minus the apocalypse.

Thank you — that could be the perfect headline for the interview!