Despite being someone who keeps up with gaming news often – even before running Xbox Tavern – I had somehow not heard of Routine. Announced in 2013 as the debut title from Lunar Software, it has undergone multiple delays and changes in the 12 years since. However, the old adage of ‘good things come to those who wait’ rings true; Routine is fantastic.
We play as an unnamed astronaut who is currently stationed on a lunar base. After a little bit of exploring, it’s clear things aren’t going very well here, and almost as soon as we realise we’re alone, the base’s autonomous androids show us that no, we’re not.
Gameplay in Routine takes the form of slow exploration of the base, looking for clues as to what has happened, and how to get out alive. From the word go, we’re fully immersed in this location in a brilliant way. Much like the wonderful Dead Space, everything in Routine is presented to us as diegetically as possible. There are no HUD’s, no tooltips, no button prompts at all. All of the information is gleaned from within the world, such as reading notes lying about, or scanning computer screens for door access. Even saving the game requires a manual interaction with set areas of the base, and it’s here where the only sort of mission and detail log can be found.
Find a door code? You better remember it, as once we’re away from the note and the wireless save point there’s no way to check it. Not sure what we’re supposed to be looking for? Well, best get back to the save point and double check if we can.
This might sound frustrating, but it really helps immerse us in the world, and when the answer to a problem lies beyond a handful of deadly foes the tension cranks up immensely. But it’s also the case that the areas in Routine are never so big as to make it hard to recall what we need, or get the info without too much hassle.
We interact with the majority of things in Routine via the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool (or C.A.T.). It’s both a tool and defence weapon, though it does not come with deadly force. Instead, it can stun the robotic foes for a few moments to let us get away.
In keeping with the diegetic nature, aiming the C.A.T. is grounded in this retro-futuristic vision of Routine, complete with low resolution screen and input lag. Aiming it blocks our immediate centre view though we can still see around the edges, and there’s something terrifying about seeing a lumbering machine charging at us and knowing it’s actually fractionally ahead of where we can see it on the screen. They need hitting directly in their heart to slow them down and the frantic aiming combined with the fact we only get three shots at most before it needs a new battery lends a genuine fear to these sporadic encounters.
A lot of the time we’ll be sneaking by instead, hoping to get to the next door without making too much noise. These robots are unpredictable in their routines, often stopping and starting without warning. Sometimes we might be able to waltz right in front of them, while others we’ll be spotted from across the long corridors and must make a run for it.
The C.A.T. is not just to defend us, but also a major exploration tool. We gradually add new modes to it throughout, one of which lets us use UV light to scour for things like finger prints, while another increases our security clearance allowing us further into the base. Magnetic fields will disrupt the display which will need degaussing manually, and again all of this is done in real time, with no pause menu or button prompts in sight.
The sense of atmosphere in Routine is fantastic. Audio design is top notch, with plenty of unsettling creaks and groans, drips and clanks to keep us on edge, and later on when things get a bit more…uneasy…the accompanying audio genuinely gave me chills as I heard things creeping up behind me. Visually Routine looks excellent too. The use of UE5 brings a realism to the whole affair, and the slight body-cam style presentation only further enhances this. Our character has a full presence in the world, so we often see the edges of our helmet duck into view as we run, or see our legs as we duck and crawl into a tiny space to hide. Brilliantly, there’s even one early puzzle that makes use of our physical presence. What might have been a trip to the pause menu in other games forces us to be present in the world, and it’s a nice touch that only sets us up for the rest of the game and how it approaches this aspect.
I do have one quibble with this insistence on no UI within Routine though, and that is the aforementioned computer screen interactions. Approach one and we’ll see a mouse cursor on screen. This is controlled with the right analogue stick by moving our head around. Fine in theory, but the screens are often tiny, and the clickable elements even smaller, and so trying to control the cursor while still being able to see information on the screen feels needlessly awkward. We can zoom in slightly with the D-pad which makes it mildly easier, but it’s still an awkward system in an otherwise brilliantly designed interface. This could be mitigated by reducing the look speed of our character, but that affects the game as a whole, so it’s either constantly back and forth in menus (which ruins the point of the no-UI interface) or having the setting be off for either general looking or interacting with screens.
Routine is a Xbox Play Anywhere title, and on PC this aspect feels far more natural to control due to using a mouse so is a non-issue there. It’s just a shame that a more controller friendly method hasn’t been introduced to make using these screens a bit less fiddly.
But don’t let this quibble put too much of a downer on Routine. It has been an utterly mesmerising game, one to truly get lost in the setting and mechanics, is creepy yet not gruesome, and treats the player with respect without signposting every little thing. It may have taken a while, but we’re very glad Lunar got Routine over the finish line – it is one of our favourite experiences this year without doubt.
Conclusion
Routine grounds the player within this lunar base, and trusts them to get out alive with a fantastic diegetic presentation, compelling narrative and setting, and genuine creeps and tense atmosphere.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
