ROUTINE Aims to Channel Horror Classics Aboard an 80s-Tech Lunar Base IGN First

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00:00As a lover of puzzle games, what can elevate my puzzle-solving experience more than having

00:11horrifying monsters breathing down my neck and ready to snap said neck if I fail to solve their

00:16puzzle in time? I love these types of games that keep me on edge for hours on end, so routine is

00:23exactly the type of aesthetically pleasing and brutally tense kinds of horror experience I'm

00:28always on the lookout for. And with a deeply cool 80s tech lunar setting and the beginnings of a

00:33story that has me interested in seeing more, I'm willing to overlook some of the things I was less

00:38impressed by during the roughly 90-minute demo. It remains to be seen if the story will pay off as

00:44much as its promising setting and compelling vibe might imply, but I'll definitely be diving deeper

00:49in the future to see how it shakes out.

00:58Routine is one of those horror games where you're forced to run around solving little puzzles while

01:04absolutely horrifying monsters stalk the halls ready to kill you on sight if you fail to avoid their

01:09notice. You know, in the same vein as something like Alien Isolation or My Friendly Neighborhood.

01:15That comes with all the same pros and cons as its genre peers, where you have these really tense

01:20moments as you manage to solve a puzzle and rush through a door just before the bad guy you can't

01:25possibly hope to kill catches up with you. But you then also have plenty of instances where you're

01:30stuck in a room waiting for the dumb bad guy to turn around and walk away, leading to lots of

01:34moments where the tension sours into a monotonous waiting game. I tend to really enjoy these kinds of

01:40protracted hide-and-seek sequences, even if they do occasionally involve a bit of waiting. So this was

01:46right up my alley. In this particular case, I found myself on a moon base that had been taken over by

01:51killer humanoid robots, whose lidless unblinking eyes searched for me as I repaired various broken

01:57electrical systems and tried to get through each area unnoticed. The ambiance of this dilapidated

02:03lunar base with an 80s tech aesthetic really worked for me, clearly drawing inspiration from fellow

02:09retro tech science fiction worlds like Alien. But Routine also brings with it a unique sense of humor,

02:16with silly arcade games to play in between sweat-inducing horror sequences and cheeky,

02:21non-murderous robot helpers to find along the way.

02:30This is one of the biggest ways in which Routine sets itself apart, as its immaculately creepy vibes,

02:35unique retro aesthetic, and tongue-in-cheek jokes in between bouts of utter terror all coalesce in

02:41ways I haven't seen before. I didn't get a very strong sense of whether or not the story will deliver

02:46something worth all the stress and jump scares along the way, but hopefully all this neat world

02:50building will translate into something as awesome as the setting. With some solid environmental

02:55storytelling and hints at some kind of mysterious viral disease at work, it has certainly piqued my

03:01curiosity. The areas I explored ranged from fairly unremarkable metallic hallways filled with busted

03:07droids and signs of something catastrophic having happened recently, to really neat areas like an

03:13abandoned arcade with janky retro games to play, and a shopping mall littered with debris. I'm a tad

03:19skeptical that they can manage to keep things interesting when you're stranded on a fairly generic space

03:24station on a barren rock in outer space, but hey, so far, so good. Although much of the demo I played

03:31featured some fairly by-the-numbers puzzles, like finding codes around the world to enter into a keypad to

03:37unlock a door, it also had some neat mechanics built around the cat device you're given early in the

03:43story. This tool is basically just a handheld camcorder that can also do things like fire an

03:49electrical bolt at targets in your path. What's cool though is that it evolved as I progressed,

03:57like when I unlocked an ultraviolet mode called the UltraView module that allowed me to see trace

04:02substances like bloodstains that helped me solve some of the space station's more unintuitive riddles.

04:09I only unlocked two modes in my time with it, but it's clear that upgrading this bad boy is going to

04:14be the primary way in which you power up, and so far I like the idea quite a bit. It'll be interesting to

04:20see what clever new uses they find for it. While you upgrade your CAT, read snippets of lore around the

04:26space station, and solve puzzles, you'll find yourself almost constantly hunted by extremely

04:32violent robots that chase after you on sight with intent to kill. Naturally, that makes even the

04:38most simple brain teasers that much more stressful, as you spend every other second double-checking over

04:44your shoulder, or wincing when you hear a robotic sound come from somewhere nearby. It's not exactly an

04:50original premise, but it's certainly the classic type of horror gameplay I've come to know and love over

04:56the years, and something we could definitely use more of. One thing that was a bit disappointing,

05:01at least during my extremely early time with the story, is just how easy it was to outsmart the fairly

05:06dim robots hunting for me, to the point where I was never actually killed during my time playing.

05:11They make a ton of noise as they march around electronically, give up the chase as soon as you

05:16start running away, since they can't hope to compete with your speed, and don't do a very thorough

05:20job searching for you if you're hidden in an obvious corner they haven't bothered exploring yet.

05:25But that doesn't mean they aren't still as intimidating as hell. The robotic shrieks

05:29they make every once in a while made my skin crawl.

05:36They may not actually be very deadly killers, at least early on,

05:40but they're still pretty damn stressful to be around nonetheless.

05:44For more on routine, keep an eye out for our month-long coverage of this mechanical horror

05:49is part of IGN first. And for everything else, keep stocking the halls of derelict space stations with IGN.

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