"Extremely Atmospheric" — First Reviews for Long-Awaited 80s Sci-Fi Horror Routine Are In

ROUTINE combines a retro-futuristic aesthetic with an unnerving sense of dread to create an incredibly engaging and highly atmospheric horror experience.

What Routine lacks in quantity, it makes up for in staggering quality. It’s cassette futurism at its most tactile, with an aesthetic direction that’s only matched by the novelty of its CAT tool. Lunar Software raises the bar in sound design to deliver a singular experience for sci-fi horror fans.

Scary monsters, beautiful locations, and a story that's sadly lost in space.

ROUTINE is a frightful time on the lunar surface. While the narrative doesn’t entirely hit due to a lack of memorable characters, the sense of immersion and beautiful visuals carry the scares. ROUTINE is a game for horror aficionados who don’t mind basic gameplay and the occasional puzzle, even if some clues might be hidden slightly too well.

It's an incredibly atmospheric journey, where every room feels important to your progress, slowly but surely bringing you closer and closer to madness, but perhaps also to the truth. Routine may not write a new chapter in the history of horror, but it retells the old ones in a stylish way.

Unfortunately, while Routine has flashes of brilliance in its found-footage presentation and lovingly rendered Space Race-era tech, it’s unable to live up to a decade-plus of anticipation.