It’s been a long while since we heard from Lunar Software about Routine. Now, creeping out from the black of space is a four minute video of the game in action. Claustrophobic, quiet, sparse on details; it looks great.
I first heard word about Routine in the run up to last year’s Gamescom. It’s promise of sci-fi horror set in a randomly generated space station gave my excitement glands a mad tingle and it’s 2001/Moon aesthetic gave me a bit of a thrill.
It was all talk, screenshots, and a fancy trailer back then. It was enough to get the game through the Greenlight process, though.
Now we have a good four minutes of the game in action and it’s got me excited all over again. For one, it doesn’t look like generic sci-fi. Gaming’s back catalogue is full of sci-fi games that look like they’ve been taking their designs and textures out from the same box of Acme scenery. Routine’s corridors look to be more in line with the clean but functional look of Moon.
Also the game’s action looks to be mostly about solving puzzles of exploration, not fighting monsters. Again, this is always a good way to go with horror games. If you’re too well armed there’s nothing to fear.
Really looking forward to seeing more of this in the coming months.