Alpha Gameplay Trailer: Routine

By: Derek Yu

On: June 26th, 2013

Routine is an upcoming first-person survival horror title set on an abandoned lunar research station. The game features some roguelike elements, such as permanent death and randomized hazards and key item locations. The game’s three-person development team has also emphasized that there will be no HUD or scoring systems so as to increase the immersion. They are hoping to provide support for the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift at release.

Lunar Software originally announced that Routine would be coming out in March or April this year, but have since changed the release date to sometime in 2013, given the increased scope of the game. It has already been Greenlit on Steam.

  • Zghaun Go

    WOW!! It’s like Teleglitch BUT 3D…………..AWESOME~!!!

  • Ostsol

    Cool, but a nerdy little nitpick: unless the station has artificial gravity, one would not be able to move around like that on the Moon.

  • broAhmed

    It appears to be a very advanced lunar station. Judging by the technology involved, I think it’s a fair assumption they’ve got artificial gravity.

  • Ostsol

    Fair enough, but I just don’t think that there’s any point in setting it on the Moon if nothing of the Moon’s environment is referenced.

  • J

    It’s set in a research station… does an outside enviornment need to be referenced no matter the location?!

  • mako

    Mhm. I’m a fan of ocean platforms for isolated settings.

  • Ostsol

    I just thought that it should inform the gameplay. The Moon is a very specific extraterrestrial environment with its own well-defined characteristics. It is airless, it has one-sixth the surface gravity of Earth, the surface is completely unprotected against Solar flares, etc. None of that appears to factor in this game. For that reason, it might as well take place on the nondescript planet Generica, like games such as Teleglitch do. (Though I loved Teleglitch.)

    Don’t get me wrong — I’m interested in this game, regardless of where it says it takes place. The fact that it takes place on the Moon is, by the game’s apparent admission, irrelevant outside of the backstory. Front and centre is the atmosphere and survival-horror gameplay and how the narrative weaves around these elements.

    Also, like I said: this is a nitpick. It would be interesting for the game to explore different environmental characteristics (like gravity), but it is not necessarily essential to my enjoyment. That said, I find nothing wrong with hoping for a more complete and informed implementation of the stated setting.

  • Mathmos

    Been slowly playing/undergoing Amnesia : Dark Descent lately and I welcome more creeping horror games. Best of luck for this project.

  • Shide

    maybe it makes you felt like you’re alone? coz the moon seems like a very lonely place to be in :)