One of 2025's Best Games Gets Free Mode Add-On, Badass Announcement
Topics: PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2
Featured Image Credit: Bloober Team
Topics: PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2
One of the best games of 2025 is getting a free mode, making it more accessible, and it’s announced in the most badass way.
The year 2025 has truly blessed us with some amazing video games such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Silent Hill f, Dispatch, Ghost of Yōtei, and much more. In fact, you can check out GAMINGbible’s Game of the Year 2025 list to know our favourite picks.
However, with our Game of the Year list consisting of just ten games, many other fantastic titles never quite made the cut, which is at no detriment whatsoever. In fact, that list was so stacked that a ton of amazing games never even made our honourable mentions.
One game that sadly never quite made it is one of my favourite horrors of 2025, Cronos: The New Dawn from Bloober Team, the studio that brought us the likes of the Silent Hill 2 remake, Layers of Fear, Observer, and much more.
“Cronos: The New Dawn is no walk in the park, and it will not hold your hand, and that’s exactly how survival horror games should be,” I said in my review. “Despite some occasional stuttering framerates, this is Bloober Team’s best original work yet, and Cronos: The New Dawn may go down as the best horror game this year.”
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As I mentioned in the quote above, Cronos: The New Dawn does not hold your hand, and even on the normal difficulty setting, it can be quite challenging. It has tough enemies, scarce resources, puzzles, backtracking, and so forth. Some of my ideal ingredients for a survival horror game.
That being said, not every survival horror fan wants a game to be too challenging. Sometimes, they might want to explore and fully immerse themselves in its world without too much of an instant-death threat.
What’s more, sometimes when you’ve completed a game on the normal to higher difficulty settings, an easy difficulty is the best option if you want to gobble up the last few trophies or achievements, and Cronos: The New Dawn is no exception.
With that in mind, announced on the game's official social media accounts, in 2026, Cronos: The New Dawn will be getting an additional, easier difficulty called ‘Temporal Diver Mode’, which is for those who just might want to experience its story and world.
“Travelers! We’ve got exciting news for those who prefer to enjoy the story without struggling with challenging encounters!” tweeted the game's official account. “Temporal Diver Mode (easier difficulty option) is coming to Cronos: The New Dawn in Early 2026! More details in the coming weeks!”
“This is the most badass way I've ever seen anyone announce an easy mode, haha, hell yeah!” replied EightBitVic.
“Love this! Adding an easier difficulty mode in Cronos shows real care for the community,” wrote PixelThroneX. “Not everyone wants Dark Souls-level challenges - sometimes we just want to enjoy the story! Great move by the devs!”
“I'll finally be able to progress beyond the chapel,” exclaimed CosmicD.
Cronos: The New Dawn is out now on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2.