Preventing enemies from Merging and becoming stronger is important in Bloober Team’s upcoming sci-fi survival horror shooter.

Bloober Teams’ Cronos: The New Dawn has received a new developer diary delving more into the game’s combat. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where most of humanity has been wiped out, and enemies called Orphans roam free, players control a Traveller who must transport the essence of people from the past.

However, conflict with the Orphans is inevitable, and you’ll have to deal with their ability to Merge with corpses and become stronger. That applies to dead Orphans as well, and the lack of ammo doesn’t help. As such, the developer encourages spacing out kills and even interrupting the Merging process. Luring Orphans towards corpses to open them up to damage could also be a viable strategy, though there’s a risk that you may fail to stop the Merging.

The Traveller has several weapons to help in this regard, from the rapid-fire Javelin to the close-range but highly damaging Hammer. Multiple types of Orphans adorn the world of Cronos, particularly the Doppelganger. It’s further separated into Runners favoring melee strikes, and Bruisers, who can take and deal lots of damage. You also have to contend with ranged combatants.

“Special” enemies also appear in some locations, which Bloober Team will discuss in future updates. Cronos: The New Dawn is out this Fall for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.