Bloober Team has spent the past decade building itself into one of gaming's most recognizable horror specialists, and the Polish studio's current workload suggests that it has no intention of slowing down. Following the commercial success of 2024's Silent Hill 2 remake, which has sold more than five million copies, the company now has seven horror projects in development at different stages.
For CEO Piotr Babieno, the present popularity of horror is not simply a market opportunity. It is closely tied to the anxieties people feel beyond games. Speaking during Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok, Babieno argued that frightening fiction tends to resonate most intensely when the real world feels unstable.
"Horror is always at its strongest when something bad is happening to the world," Babieno said, pointing to climate change, wars, and economic problems as conditions that can leave society carrying a deeper fear.
That observation comes at a moment when horror is enjoying a prominent place across games, cinema, television, and books. Economic uncertainty, volatile weather, geopolitical conflicts, and rapid technological change have helped create a climate in which stories about dread, survival, contagion, isolation, and the unknown can feel especially immediate. Babieno emphasized that this is not something to celebrate in itself: a flourishing horror market may reflect audience interest, but it can also be a sign that people are processing a world that does not feel particularly safe.
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For Bloober Team, however, fear has been the company's central creative focus long before the genre's current wave of commercial momentum. The studio's earlier years included casual releases and contract work, but its direction changed substantially with 2016's Layers of Fear. Since then, Bloober has repeatedly pursued psychological unease, disturbing environments, and emotionally driven horror, while gradually expanding from original properties into high-profile licensed projects.
Specialization, iteration, and listening to players
Babieno's explanation for Bloober Team's growth is rooted in focus. Rather than treating horror as one genre among many, the company has attempted to make it the foundation of its identity. He noted that there are numerous talented horror developers worldwide, but believes a concentrated approach has helped his studio continuously improve both its creative methods and its technology.
That improvement is not only about finding new ways to surprise or frighten players. It also involves understanding which elements of past projects worked, where the studio fell short, and how fans respond to its games. In Babieno's view, each new production should represent progress for both the team and its audience. If a project does not offer a meaningful next step, he suggested, it is difficult to justify spending years of development time on it.
This philosophy is particularly significant given the scale of modern game development. Horror games can be technically demanding even when they are not built as vast open worlds. Lighting, sound design, creature animation, environmental detail, cinematic presentation, and carefully paced encounters all play an essential role in sustaining tension. The best horror often depends on precision: knowing when to reveal a threat, when to keep it hidden, and when to let a player's imagination do more work than any on-screen monster.
Bloober Team's games have often leaned into that kind of psychological pressure. The studio has become associated with stories that use trauma, memory, guilt, and distorted perception as part of their horror language. As the company takes on larger productions and a wider range of properties, its challenge will be retaining that recognizable sensibility while proving it can evolve beyond familiar formulas.
Silent Hill 2 became a turning point
The remake of Silent Hill 2 was an especially consequential test. The original game is widely regarded as one of the most important works in survival horror, and any attempt to revisit it was bound to draw intense scrutiny. Early reaction from parts of the fan community was harsh, and Bloober Team faced skepticism while the project was still in production.
Babieno said the studio experienced substantial hostility at the outset, but chose to shut out that surrounding noise and keep its attention on the game itself. The team believed it could deliver a version of the Konami classic that would meet a demanding standard, including for critics who were initially doubtful.
"Silent Hill 2 was a pivot point for Bloober Team," Babieno said.
That description fits both the remake's sales performance and its significance for the studio's reputation. Successfully remaking a beloved title is different from creating an original game. Developers must balance respect for what players remember with the practical expectations of a modern audience. They need to preserve the identity of the original while updating gameplay, presentation, and pacing without making the result feel like a hollow imitation.
The project's reception has seemingly helped place Bloober Team in a stronger position at a difficult time for the wider games industry, where layoffs, project cancellations, and studio closures remain common. While many teams are contracting, Bloober is expanding its organizational structure and its development network.
Seven horror projects and a larger development network
Bloober Team now operates with two first-party studios and has added Broken Mirror Games as a second-party label. Through that label, the company is co-developing projects with five additional Polish development teams. The approach allows Bloober to pursue a broader slate while maintaining a connection to external partners working within its wider horror-oriented strategy.
Four of the seven projects currently known to be in development are a remake of the original Silent Hill, Layers of Fear 3, the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive Onyx: The Dark Grip, and Star Trek: Shadow Frontier. The last of those is especially notable because it brings psychological horror into Gene Roddenberry's science-fiction universe, a setting better known for exploration, diplomacy, and optimistic futurism.
Babieno did not provide extensive detail on Star Trek: Shadow Frontier, but supported publishing partner Paramount Games Studio's stated aspiration for it to become "the best Star Trek game of all time." His response made clear that Bloober would not be pursuing the project without aiming high. The title could offer an intriguing chance to test how the studio's darker creative instincts work within an established universe with a very different tonal legacy.
Babieno was more guarded about reports concerning the next Silent Hill remake. Recent leaks have suggested a 2027 release and named Gabrielle Fritz and Jade Matthew as its stars, but he dismissed those details as rumors and declined to comment further. As a result, those claims remain unconfirmed.
Project H and the search for a third giant horror series
Among the studio's internal initiatives, Babieno highlighted Project H, the working title for the next game from the team behind 2025's Cronos: The New Dawn. The project remains in the late stages of pre-production, meaning substantial details are still under wraps. Even so, Babieno characterized it as a major leap from Cronos and Bloober Team's prior work.
His description suggests the studio is trying to strike a careful balance. Project H is intended to feel new, but it is not meant to abandon the qualities existing fans associate with Bloober. Babieno said the game would retain the company's creative DNA while presenting it in a fresh form. For a studio attempting to grow without losing its identity, that is arguably the most important promise it can make.
The long-term ambition is even broader. Babieno said he loves both Silent Hill and Resident Evil, but sees room in the market for a third enormous horror intellectual property. Bloober Team evidently wants to be a contender for that space, not merely a developer entrusted with other companies' legacies.
That ambition will require more than a full release calendar. Major horror franchises endure because they develop a clear identity, build trust with players, and find ways to remain surprising after audiences have learned their tricks. Resident Evil has survived by changing its structure and tone across decades. Silent Hill earned its standing through psychological ambiguity and atmosphere. Bloober Team's future originals will need to show what distinct territory they can claim.
Cronos: Lazarus is next
Before those larger plans take shape, Bloober Team's immediate next release is Cronos: Lazarus, downloadable content for Cronos: The New Dawn. The expansion is a prequel to the main game and is set to explore events occurring before its story. It will also introduce what has been described as a faster, more aggressive combat style, potentially offering a different rhythm from the base experience.
Cronos: Lazarus is scheduled to launch on December 3 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is planned for early 2027.
With a sequel-minded expansion arriving soon, multiple established franchises in production, and a potential new flagship series on the horizon, Bloober Team is entering its busiest period yet. Babieno's stated aim is not simply to benefit from horror's current strength, but to set new milestones for the industry. Whether the studio can turn that ambition into a lasting third pillar alongside horror's biggest names remains to be seen, but its forthcoming slate makes clear that it intends to try.
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