Cronos: Lazarus Trailer Reveals Pathfinder’s Forbidden Search and Combat Overhaul
Bloober Team has released a new trailer for Cronos: Lazarus that puts the spotlight on the Pathfinder, the younger version of fan-favourite character the Warden, as he defies his own organisation to chase down a person he isn’t supposed to find. The footage, published this month, also confirms a reworked combat system built around teleportation, decoys and a new blade called the Gladius, ahead of the expansion’s Fall 2026 launch on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.
The Pathfinder Breaks Ranks to Chase a Lost Traveller
The trailer suggests that the shadowy organisation known as the Collective is not as untouchable as Cronos: The New Dawn made it appear. The Pathfinder, before he becomes the Warden, is shown looking for a special somebody in violation of The Collective’s orders, with that person seemingly a Traveller who fell prey to the Orphan’s onslaught. He is clearly trying to extract their memories against the wishes of his masters, setting up a story that leans harder on personal obsession than the base game’s survival dread.
Bloober Team’s own announcement frames the stakes similarly, describing the expansion as filling in gaps left after the original release. In Cronos: Lazarus the Warden becomes the main protagonist, wielding a new set of weapons and skills while facing a relentless tracker, a powerful and persistent new threat with the sole purpose of eliminating him. Bloober adds that this isn’t a minor side story, but rather “the missing lore that contains Warden’s evolution and undisclosed secrets of the collective.”
Teleportation, Decoy and the Gladius Reshape the Fight
The clearest change on show is combat pace. Bloober Team says Lazarus will encourage players to be more aggressive compared to the stealthier, slower gameplay of the base game, letting players engage enemies more directly through the Pathfinder’s new capabilities. That shift leans on two signature powers: Teleportation, which lets players travel around the environment quickly, reach new areas and flank enemies during combat, and Decoy, which spawns a hologram of the character to distract enemies.
A new melee option joins the toolkit as well. A new weapon called the Gladius was also announced for Lazarus, described as a deadlier version of the dagger players receive at the start of Cronos: The New Dawn and suited for close-quarters combat. Wccftech’s coverage of the same developer diary notes the blade is pitched as “a sharper, deadlier evolution of the original dagger,” described as faster and more explosive in its damage output, fitting the DLC’s emphasis on quick decisions and aggressive engagement.
The Envoy: A Hunter Built to Corner the Warden
Every new toolset needs a counterweight, and Bloober Team has built one specifically for this expansion. According to Game Informer’s reporting from the DLC’s original reveal, players will be up against the Tracker, a persistent new threat whose only objective is to hunt the Pathfinder down and kill him. The studio has since detailed that enemy further as the “Envoy,” an agent designed to answer the Pathfinder’s mobility rather than simply overpower him.
Twinfinite’s account of Bloober Team’s developer deep dive backs this up, noting that a brand-new antagonist debuts in the expansion, with the Collective sending a special Envoy to hunt the Pathfinder, an enemy specifically designed to counter the protagonist’s abilities. The same outlet reports the studio teasing that the story turns bloody, describing it as potentially “a story about a hunter getting hunted.”
Bloober Team CEO on Expanding the Cronos Universe
Cronos: The New Dawn launched as Bloober Team’s first fully original IP, and the studio is treating Lazarus as proof the world has legs beyond one game. CEO Piotr Babieno said in a press release quoted by Game Informer: “Cronos: The New Dawn is our original IP – an ambitious risk that allows us to create something truly unique. We’re thrilled to expand the Cronos universe with Cronos: Lazarus. The Warden has resonated strongly with audiences, and we’re excited to see Alan Turkington return to this iconic role.”
The framing narrative ties directly into the base game’s ending, with the expansion’s Steam listing describing the setup: isolated in the Terminal and severed from the Collective, the Pathfinder devotes every waking moment to awakening a lost Essence he refuses to let fade, though his sanctuary has been compromised as a new kind of hunter is deployed with one directive: to find and eliminate you.
Release Window Spans PC, PS5, Xbox and Switch 2
Cronos: Lazarus is set to release in Fall 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC, with Bloober Team yet to lock in an exact date or pricing. The cross-platform spread means the expansion should reach Australian and New Zealand players across the same storefronts and roughly the same window as the rest of the world, though local pricing in AUD and NZD has not yet been confirmed by the publisher.
For a studio best known for horror-adjacent projects like Layers of Fear and the Silent Hill 2 remake, betting on a combat-forward expansion of its own original franchise is a notable swing. If Lazarus lands, it could set a template for how Bloober Team supports future original IP with post-launch content that reshapes rather than simply extends the core game.
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