ROUTINE Review – 80s Sci-Fi Horror to the Extreme!?

Good things come to those who wait, they say, but in the world of video games, a decade-plus of waiting can sometimes prove too long. Just ask Duke Nukem Forever and its some 15 years of delays how well that worked out. Routine, first announced in 2012—yes, well over a decade ago now—has had a bumpy road to release, with the small studio Lunar Software running into no shortage of financial issues, among others, during development, ultimately leading to the project being temporarily paused until the developer began work again in 2020. Talk about timing, starting work again during a damn pandemic! But now, with publisher Raw Fury backing the project, Routine is here at last, but does this first-person sci-fi horror deliver enough chills and thrills to become an instant classic? Or does it run out of oxygen? Let’s find out in our full review!

Let’s not talk any further about the many twists and turns in ROUTINE’s development. Instead, it’s time to discuss the final product. At its core, this is a game about exploration—exploration that is sometimes spoiled a bit by spooky robots looming in the game’s many fascinating, well-detailed corridors. There isn’t much direction given to players here, either narratively or in terms of gameplay. Instead, it’s up to you to piece together the mystery through memos, solve puzzles using the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool (CAT) (and sometimes your own noggin), and complete objectives in your quest for survival.

Taking place entirely on a Lunar Base, ROUTINE does an incredible job of creating a tense atmosphere. Players will thirst for answers about why this place has become what we see today. Moody flickering lights, destroyed halls, and a once-thriving, now decrepit mall are just a few of the many details that draw you into the experience. It’s absolutely gorgeous, further brought to life by an incredible soundscape that simply must be experienced with surround sound or, at the very least, a good set of headphones. Built-in TV speakers just aren’t going to do this one justice. All of this is to say, if you’re here for the story, visuals, and sound design, you won’t be disappointed by any of those.

The moment-to-moment gameplay of ROUTINE, however, may prove to be more of an acquired taste, as it is often rather slow-paced in its approach. You’ll spend much of your time simply bumping around environments, either looking for the next clue or discovering optional lore. If you’re the type that likes having your hand held, or at the least a map or indicator that points you in the right direction, this probably won’t be the game for you. Anticipate no shortage of puzzles, whether they be environmental or logic-based. Most of these puzzles tend to center around your CAT tool, which has various functions. It can diagnose system errors, deliver a powerful electrical blast that helps with certain puzzles and against enemies in a pinch, and it quite literally stores your data. When connected to projectors that are strewn about the base, you’ll be given the option to save your game, look at notes and clues you’ve collected, and see current objectives. Talk about a multi-tool, amirite?

But that’s not all, as modules can be discovered across the Lunar Base which can be added onto the CAT. One of these offers a thermal view of sorts that will reveal certain images that otherwise can’t be seen. I thought that the tool was a really neat idea, and while it takes a while to get used to its many tricks, I overall enjoyed using it, as the developers have implemented its features in rather creative ways throughout. Unfortunately, where the CAT falters a bit is in combat. Now granted, ROUTINE isn’t exactly trying to be a combat-focused game, but some of its most frustrating moments involve cheap enemy AI that often spots you without issue and tracks you down to no end. On the other hand, sometimes enemies are so dense they will seemingly break down or start pursuing in the wrong direction entirely, making for some confusing interactions.  The game doesn’t offer much in the way of useful stealth mechanics or hiding spots, meaning that I often felt forced to try to blast robots down with the CAT’s energy surge, which, well, doesn’t work all that well.

Even when successful, killing enemies for good is an absolute chore, and they’ll typically resurrect themselves within a few moments. Even worse, players have limited battery and will need to sweep the environment often under duress to find a suitable recharge. Basically, I found that anything involving enemies in this game ruined its otherwise amazing sense of atmosphere and exploration and really pulled me out of the moment, reminding me that yep, this has some frustrating video game moments like so many other video games. 

Going back to the puzzles, they too felt a bit hit or miss. There were a few occasions where answers were quite clever, and I felt a bit stupid for not figuring them out sooner. However, other solutions felt as though they had wasted my time for no good reason, as missing the smallest of details can potentially leave you aimlessly wandering for minutes at a time, backtracking areas that, in all likelihood, you don’t need to be in. One particular puzzle involving infrared, which I won’t spoil here, is clever the first time, but ROUTINE goes back to the well multiple times with the same or a similar solution, which runs dry quickly in a game that might last players around 8–9 hours, depending. Overall, puzzle design is a bit of a mixed bag, with as many moments of brilliance as there are frustrations.

As for character movement, it too is a bit of a mixed bag. Our lead feels rather heavy but can sprint at a decent pace. What’s a bit odd is how the game has you holding a variety of buttons to crouch and peek around corners. This is sometimes crucial to progression and never feels as natural as one would like. That said, aiming the CAT is a breeze, and overall the game doesn’t feel all that bad to play despite some awkward game design choices.

As far as performance is concerned, I was beyond impressed with how well optimized ROUTINE was. I tested it on both a 4070 GPU and a 2070 Super, with my 4070 handling the game maxed out even at 4K, and my 2070 running it just fine with some tweaks at 2K. Granted, there's not a ton of actual living things moving about the Lunar Base, but the lighting, textures, and grainy filter of the game are undeniably gorgeous as I mentioned earlier, so it's wonderful that the game is quite playable across different rigs. On Steam Deck, expect a less than stellar experience. With settings basically all turned to low, I had moments where the game ran at a nice smooth 60fps, and others where it totally shit the bed. Can’t recommend playing on handheld at the time of this review, but hopefully some optimizations are on the way for Valve’s handheld. 

While ROUTINE stumbles in a few key areas, such as its sometimes frustrating lack of direction, very poor and obnoxious enemy AI that kills some of the great exploration, and the occasional wonky puzzle, it still offers an immersive, visually captivating experience with a haunting soundscape that is one of the most impressive things you’ll hear all year. Add in a story that is truly chilling, set across one of my favorite video game worlds of 2025, and a very cool multi-tool unlike anything I have seen in an indie game before, and you’ve got yourself a title that’s worth experiencing even with its many flaws. If you’re a patient player who can deal with some of the warts and doesn’t mind a good deal of aimless wandering and exploration in their games, ROUTINE was made with plenty of passion, and I hope the studio's next game doesn’t take a decade to come around.

GOOD