A promising sci-fi horror game marred by frustrating gameplay

Sci-fi horror game Routine was first announced way back in 2012 and has been trapped in development hell for 13 years. Suffering from massive delays and significant revisions, Routine has been on the radar of horror fans for over a decade, but many lost hope that it would ever see the light of day. Unfortunately for horror enthusiasts who have been waiting ages to play Routine for themselves, its concept turns out to be much more interesting than its execution.

IN Routineplayers wake up on a seemingly abandoned lunar base that they must explore in first person. With no other people in sight, it quickly becomes apparent that something has gone terribly wrong, and it's up to the hapless player character to figure out exactly what happened.

Routinethe moon base looks like what the 80s imagined the future would look like, with players interacting with brightly lit, chunky terminals and exploring retro-futuristic environments that give off serious Alien: Isolation vibes. Going through Routine works mostly as you'd expect from a first-person game, but with a couple of clever twists, like giving players the ability to stand on their toes to look above objects and drop all the way to the floor to look under things. This is an interesting idea and is used effectively for a couple of puzzles in the game, but it is largely forgotten as the game progresses.

The puzzles and exploration of the routines are a mixed bag

Most of one's time in Routine spent stumbling around in the dark solving puzzles that range from satisfying and fun to frustrating and obtuse. Level layouts can be confusing, and a decent amount of back-tracking is required, which doesn't make for a particularly fun time.

For most of the game, Routine players are free to focus on the puzzles and find the necessary CAT upgrades needed to advance. The device gains more functionality as the game progresses, which in turn gives players more ways to solve puzzles. However, sometimes puzzle solving is interrupted by the presence of powerful enemies that can kill the player character in one or two hits, such as the imposing Type-05 robots.

By and large, Routine players are defenseless when it comes to the enemies in the game. The CAT tool can technically stun them, but it takes multiple shots and is rarely a good idea. The best course of action is almost always to hide or run away whenever possible.

The routine will be available via PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on the day of release.

The CAT tool doesn't do much for players who engage with Routines limited combat, but it comes in handy when solving the game's puzzles. Routines puzzle is fairly standard survival horror fare, with players exploring the world for codes and clues that help them access new areas. The enemies add an extra dimension to the puzzle solving and exploration, and one that doesn't make the game better, but makes it less fun to play.

The enemies in Routine can make solving their puzzles especially annoying, because while they don't pose any real threat, they like to trouble you easily every chance they get. Being captured by enemies means respawning at the last save point and losing little or no progress. So what happens is a loop of running directly to where you need to go to solve the puzzle, potentially getting stuck, and repeating the process until you succeed. Even though it resulted in me getting caught and killed, I still found rushing through the stages faster and more efficient than taking the stealthy approach. Routine originally had a permadeath mechanic, and while I think it would have gone too far the other way, there is a middle ground that could have been reached.

The routine isn't scary enough to make up for its gameplay shortcomings

If you are afraid of being easily bothered, Routine is potentially the scariest game of all time. Otherwise, its inability to instill fear is the biggest disappointment. The first few times players encounter enemies, it's an unnerving experience thanks to their terrifying appearance and RoutineAdmittedly brilliant sound design, but once it becomes apparent that their threats are hollow, they lose their luster. There is a really effective jump scare Routine it legitimately scared me, but while the game tries really hard with its dimly lit environments and ghastly sights, it largely fails to scare.

A horror game that isn't scary is hard to recommend, and unfortunately, Routine is not scary. That doesn't mean horror fans won't still find value in it. Takes signals from Resident Evil series, Routine has notes and files for players to read that help slowly unravel its creepy overall mystery. A couple of story moments in Routine left a huge impression on me, and it's the kind of game that will be torn apart and analyzed to death. Each piece of lore is a new piece of the puzzle and kept me going even when I felt let down by the gameplay and scare factor.

Routines story is heightened by its photorealistic graphics and outstanding sound design. The protagonist's strained huffing and puffing as players crawl through cramped ventilation shafts and the bizarre noises enemies make when in pursuit are enough to make one's hair stand on end. Complete scares are still few and far between, but the audio does its best with what it has to work with.

My first playthrough of Routine took about eight hours, but can be done much faster if you're quick with the puzzles.

There is nothing wrong with that Routine from a technical point of view, and its story, visuals and audio are all top notch. The problem is that the game is so tough that it makes it hard to appreciate what it does so well. It can be downright boring a lot of the time, and the horror just isn't there to make up for the lack of engaging gameplay.