ROUTINE - Game Review

(I tried to keep this review as spoiler-free as I could.)

One thing about me is that I love retro and cassette-futurism, so I'm always chasing that high in any kinds of media. When a friend first told me about ROUTINE, I added it to my Steam wishlist without thinking much of it, thinking it was "just another space game." I had no idea what I was missing.

When I play singleplayer games, I usually stream them to my partner and vice versa. I streamed Red Dead Redemption 2 to her a while back and she streamed Person 3 Reload to me recently. We also have this tidbit where we say that we're playing the game together, despite only one of us actually playing. I think it's cute.

Anyway, we didn't realize we needed to play it ourselves until we watched Markiplier play it for the first thirty minutes. I quickly bought it, started streaming it to her (with some guidance in the first intro because my memory is like a potato chip), and strapped in. What followed was one of my favorite horror game experiences in years.

If you like the feeling of creeping dread in games like Alien: Isolation or SOMA, ROUTINE is a perfect game for you. The premise is spot-on: you are a software engineer sent to the Union Plaza base on the Moon to find out why a security protocol shit everything down all of a sudden. You have to use your CAT (Cosmonaut Assistance Tool) and your common sense to find your way around the eerily empty station and restart the systems.

Watching videos of people playing this game doesn't do the creepiness justice. When I say the atmosphere is amazing, I am way too modest. The environmental storytelling is great with scattered belongings and abandoned terminals slowly telling you what happened before you got there.

The amazing sound design is a huge part of what makes ROUTINE so great, and it's no surprise since Mick Gordon worked on it! You'll spend a lot of time listening carefully as you run, hide, and sneak through the corridors.

The Type-05 (T05) robots, your main enemies, are pure nightmare fuel (see below). Their design is really creepy, and the noises they make are scary enough to make you stop in your tracks. The game doesn't hold your hand either. My first encounter with these guys turned into a terrifying, panicked chase that had me turning myself around more than a few times.

One of the most evil things about some survival horror games is that this game doesn't pause when you open the menu. I had to learn that the hard way, and let me tell you, it makes things ten times more tense. At least for me.

You can see a little bit of that lesson in this clip of my gameplay below:

(SPOILER WARNING: MAJOR PLOT DEVICE SHOWN)

I could go on for hours, but that would mean explaining the story and spoiling the surprises! ROUTINE nails its look and feel, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. The vibe is a near-perfect example of retro and cassette futurism, with an unforgettable mood. The gameplay is very tense and exploring the stations keeps you on your toes. As I said before, it's one of the best horror games I've experienced in years.