ROUTINE Returns From The Dead

Every week in the video game industry is filled with news of studios closing down and games sunsetting, so it’s heartening whenever a project returns to life. ROUTINE is a first person sci-fi horror set on the Moon, and it’s made by a three-person studio fittingly called Lunar Software. The studio, and game, sunk into radio silence in 2022 after first being announced in 2012, but now they’re both back.

ROUTINE takes place in an abandoned Lunar Base designed around a 1980’s vision of the future. Players are joined in their exploration by an upgradable Cosmonaut Assistance Tool (C.A.T.), which can be used as a last-resort weapon. Curiously, enemies think you’re the real threat.

“It’s Aaron, Jemma and Pete here, from Lunar Software,” the dev team posted on the game’s Steam page. “We know it’s been a while since our last update. Working on ROUTINE has always been a huge undertaking for a team of our size and because of that, felt it was important to keep our heads down and focus entirely on finishing ROUTINE. But we are aware of the interest in our work and we are sorry for any frustration that this may have caused.”

“In short, ROUTINE is still very much in active development, and we are beginning to approach the finish line for the game,” they added. “We’ve learned a lot from past experiences, one of those is not to commit to a release window before we’re absolutely sure we can hit it. However, we’re confident that we’ll be able to share more news on that front soon.”

A Less-Than Routine Journey to Release

ROUTINE was shown at Gamescom in August 2012, with a slated 2013 release. The game also  had a successful start (in 2009) as part of Steam’s now-discontinued Greenlight initiative; Greenlight involved developers paying $100 to list a game on the platform, with those that received the most ‘Yes’ votes (from interested gamers) getting an actual release. 

Greenlight was superseded by Steam Direct in 2017, in which anyone could get a game on the platform as long as they paid $100 per title and completed a bunch of official forms proving they were involved in the game. Steam Direct is still in effect for the same cost, which gets paid back to a developer/studio as soon as a game has made more than $1,000 (via being sold on Steam or through in-app purchases).

As for ROUTINE, its initial reveal was met with a lot of excitement from gamers and the gaming press. Aaron Foster, the lead dev, spoke to PC Gamer in 2012 about his influences, which can still be seen in the current version of the game.

“I was watching Alien, Aliens, The Thing, everything I could get my hands on, but I rewatched Alien and Aliens. Those movies left such an impression that when I got a little bit older and a little bit more able to find things myself I went off and found all the other late 70s, early 80s sci-fi movies like Silent Running. Even Space 1999, it has a crap plot, but really interesting aesthetics. The design of the base was still really cool.”

However, after the original reveal, updates on the game started to slow down. The initial release date came and went, with Lunar Software posting (in 2014 and 2015) that the game still needed more work. Then, a new trailer was released stating a March 2017 release. This also came and went, with the studio releasing a statement in 2018 that they were still working on the game as they felt it wasn’t up the standard it should or could be. 

Fast forward to June 2022 and Lunar Software made a public statement where it revealed the game was being completely rebuilt. The studio also announced that it had found a partner in publisher Raw Fury (Blue Prince, Knights in Tight Spaces). A Summer Game Fest appearance and Game Pass announcement also reignited interest, and then…radio silence, again. 

A ROUTINE Re-Re-Reveal

Now, once again, ROUTINE is back. Raw Fury is still its publisher, and Lunar Software is still the same core three people based in the UK. A fourth contributor who’s had to leave the project due to scheduling conflicts is Mick Gordon. Gamers into heavy metal will recognise Gordon as the man behind the pummeling Doom Eternal and various Wolfenstein scores, as well as a bunch of other high-profile games.

The good news is his work is still going to be used in ROUTINE: “During his time with us, Mick created many outstanding audio assets that will be featured in the final game and provided invaluable audio direction for ROUTINE. These contributions will now be implemented by a new audio designer and team,” Lunar Software said in its recent update post.

“We know it’s been a good while since we last shared an update on the game, so thank you for being patient and continuing to support us as we work to finish it. It’s been a long road, we’ve poured every spare second we could into ROUTINE. We love this game deeply, and have pushed ourselves as much as we could trying to bring this game to life. We couldn’t be more excited to see you all explore what we have created.”