Routine Reviews
Stylish, subtle, and unsettling in equal measure, Routine surprised me in all the right ways, even though some mechanical aspects may frustrate and pull you out of the moment.
Scary monsters, beautiful locations, and a story that's sadly lost in space.
Sci-fi horror game Routine has been a very long time coming, but unfortunately, it wasn't worth the 13-year wait.
There's a wonderful creepiness to the robots. They're superbly designed.
Unravel the mystery of the deserted lunar base in this psychological horror game.
Routine stands out. It targets a specific aesthetic, a specific vibe, and a specific cadence, and it pulls out every stop to land on those targets.
Routine is one of the best linear narrative experiences I've played this year and is well worth the lengthy wait for release. The atmosphere and aesthetics combine to create a game that oscillates between unnerving and genuinely terrifying whilst the surreal and philosophical storyline will hook you all the way to the game's conclusion. I'm looking forward to a host of video essays dissecting the narrative in the near future.
Quote not yet available
Review in Italian | Read full review
ROUTINE is an excellent puzzle-focused first-person horror game that, despite its slow pacing, is able to keep you at the edge of your seat for 10 hours straight, with a tense, rich atmosphere created by wonderful execution of its retro futuristic aesthetic and stunning soundscape that immerses you in its world and gets you listening for the sound of a pin drop to avoid getting caught. Its narrative may be unable to shine through, but at the end of the day it is altogether an interesting game, a game worth playing again, and the game that Alien: Isolation fans should play while we all wait for Alien: Isolation 2.
This is a game that’s both notable for convincingly placing you in the shoes of its protagonist and for the way it builds tension on the margins.
What Routine lacks in quantity, it makes up for in staggering quality. It's cassette futurism at its most tactile, with an aesthetic direction that's only matched by the novelty of its CAT tool. Lunar Software raises the bar in sound design to deliver a singular experience for sci-fi horror fans.
From the very moment your character wakes up in Routine, confined to a small room with nothing more than a perfunctory bed and shower, you can't...
Routine from developer Lunar Software and Raw Fury is a good space horror game filled with the right amount of intensity and fear, which is complemented by its gameplay elements. The only improvement needed is with the controls.
ROUTINE may have been a long time coming, but it's definitely well worth the experience now that it's finally here, especially for fans of the horror genre. It keeps you immersed at all times thanks to its lack of UI and full-body awareness.
Routine is one of those games that made me feel relief after finishing it. And I will never play it again. But not because it’s bad – on the contrary, it is a terrifying horror with a very immersive world. The atmosphere is so bleak and heavy that it can scare off some players. And that’s good!
Review in Polish | Read full review
ROUTINE is a frightful time on the lunar surface. While the narrative doesn’t entirely hit due to a lack of memorable characters, the sense of immersion and beautiful visuals carry the scares. ROUTINE is a game for horror aficionados who don’t mind basic gameplay and the occasional puzzle, even if some clues might be hidden slightly too well.
ROUTINE combines a retro-futuristic aesthetic with an unnerving sense of dread to create an incredibly engaging and highly atmospheric horror experience.
With a truly spectacular retrofuturistic aesthetic, Routine delivers an immersive sci-fi horror that is incredibly tactile to play, impressively creating tension amongst the silence, but a disappointing ending, frustrating design choices and gameplay repetition stops it from reaching the stars.
Then there are the long walks where silence slowly builds, as the lack of UI and thoughtfully envisioned setting come together to create an alarmingly thin separation between the player and their beleaguered avatar. It’s in these too fleeting moments where the unease of isolation gives way to a particularly terrifying thought: what if we’re not alone?
ROUTINE is a very different and unique game. If you are somewhat fond of atmospheric games where the level design and gameplay are extremely simple, artificial, and rhythmic, this title can become one of the best and most exceptional experiences for you.
Review in Persian | Read full review