The long in-development horror game ROUTINE now finally seems to be getting closer to an actual release. A new video of the title has popped up courtesy of IGN, giving us a look at the gameplay in ROUTINE, and how its emphasis on stealth and horror will work out. The video, which you can check out below, isn’t particularly long, but it also gives us a look at the title’s setting, how its in-universe technology works, and how players will be able to deal with the threats they encounter in the shadows.
Quite early on in the title, we get to look at how ROUTINE handles its in-game computer terminals, complete with its own special UI that players will have to navigate. Through this terminal, the player can seemingly upgrade their core tools and get descriptions of the new gameplay options they might open up. The one shown in the gameplay trailer is the C.A.T., which can seemingly be used to neutralise magnetic interference from nearby machines, and even has its own camera and screen. It is worth noting that the C.A.T. is seemingly more of a maintenance tool than a weapon, however.
After the opening parts of the video showcase a quick puzzle being solved by using the C.A.T., the player then finds themselves running through a dark corridor before encountering a room with a computer offering some paths forward. The puzzle design in ROUTINE seems to borrow heavily from real-world computer programming, with the player having to read through various terminals’ diagnostics and error codes, and figuring out how they can then fix these errors by understanding what the codes mean.
The final few moments of the video give us a look at the stealth horror gameplay of ROUTINE, with the player needing to carefully make their way across a room and then a hallway without being spotted by seemingly-hostile robots.
Development on ROUTINE has seemingly been going on for over a decade at this point, since the title was first announced all the way back in 2012. Over the years, developer Lunar Software has been popping up every now and then to release new trailers for the still-in-development horror title, before once more going radio silent to continue work on the game. Back in July, designers and artists Aaron Foster and Jemma Hughes, along with programmer Pete Dissler, reiterated that the game is “still very much in active development”.
Developers of the title acknowledged the studio’s tendency to stay relatively quiet about the game, and largely put it down to the studio’s smaller size, as well as the importance for the developers to keep working on the game.
“Working on ROUTINE has always been a huge undertaking for a team of our size, and because of that, we felt it was important to keep our heads down and focus entirely on finishing ROUTINE,” wrote the developers. “But we are aware of the interest in our work, and we are sorry for any frustration that this may have caused.”
ROUTINE is being developed for PC and Xbox Series X/S, and is slated for release later this year.
