Let me preface this by saying there will be major spoilers for the game in this post. If you don't want to be spoiled, go play the game first and come back. This is your first warning.

As someone with a huge interest in retro/cassette futurism, I always love seeing how people capture that aesthetic. When a friend told me about ROUTINE, I'd never heard of it and casually added it to my wishlist, thinking, "Oh, another space game." I had no idea how good it actually was.

A month of two later, my partner suggested we watch Markiplier play this new space game. About half an hour into his playthrough, she recommended we play it ourselves (we stream games to each other. It's cute, like when YouTubers say "we last left off..." even though it's just them playing). I immediately bought it on Steam for $22.50 (introductory sale from the $25 retail price), and we started the next day.

Part 1

If you've played Alien: Isolation or SOMA, this game is right up your alley. Though we'd already watched some of Mark's playthrough, I still needed help from my partner since my memory is apparently comparable to a potato chip.

Each of the six chapter displays simply as "Chapter 1," "Chapter 2," etc., followed by the chapter title (simple, but important for later). The first is "Chapter 1: BIRTH."

Watching gameplay doesn't do the creepiness justice. When I say this game's atmosphere is incredible, I'm still understating it. The sound design is amazing as well (Mick Gordon had a hand in it!). After finishing the tutorial (learning to lean, crouch, navigate terminals) and grabbing our CAT gun, or Cosmonaut Assistance Tool, our first task is to fix the "A.S.N." We play as a software engineer sent to the Union Plaza base on the Moon after the A.S.N. activated a security protocol for no apparent reason and shut everything down. Our job is the locate whoever requested our service and shut down the A.S.N.

As we navigate Union Plaza, it's clearly abandoned. No people in sight, belongings scattered everywhere, "trash bags" piled in corners (found out later that they were stuffed with dead bodies). It's looking rough.

Eventually, we reach The Mall and encounter our first Type-05 (T05) robot (shown below). The atmosphere is incredible, again. The T05s sound menacing, and their design is genuinely creepy. After seeing my first T05, the game immediately throws me into a chase. I could've hidden behind a desk, but I didn't know they'd be hostile. I ran past it into the mall only to find two more T05s around corners, scaring the hell out of me.

The next couple of chapters involve lots of running, hiding, and listening for T05s, all still very frightening. You read diary entries and emails on terminals, gathering information about what happened before you arrived, or maybe even while you were in quarantine. You learn there's a "sickness" on the station causing extreme headaches, memory loss, and sleepwalking. Over time, you realize you're experiencing these symptoms too. Were you infected from the start?

Part 2

After running and hiding through the Mall and Living Quarters while experiencing more symptoms, you wake up in the PRISM station, an older facility established about 20 years before Union Plaza. It's clearly nature-focused. There's an apple tree in the main foyer, flower memorabilia everywhere (also important to the story), and tree wood in unusual places.

Reading terminals from the PRISM crew reveals a disturbing pattern. They all talk about a "him" like he's a god. They mention they can't even see "him" with the naked eye. Am I supposed to use my CAT to see him? Fuck that. Did this station go insane? Were they also infected? Will we? These terminals include video files showing "his" existence with giant handprints and footprints, fecal matter on floors and walls, hair growing from ceiling crevices. Very strange. The crew also talks about a "Canal" like it's calling to them. Is this a cult? Is the infection making them think this way?

Navigating through the station, you find the server room. You need to diagnose and restart the server to use an elevator to the Moon's surface. Let me tell you, this room has the most obvious "monster in the vent" vent I've ever seen, but the tension is maxed out. After fixing the server, you're trampled by an unseen force. You rush to the elevator, but pressing the button doesn't work at first. Just as the door starts closing, you hear loud, fast footsteps rushing toward you. But you make it out in time. However, "he" is now on the PRISM station with you.

This section scared me so badly. After exiting from the server room elevator, I ran straight to the save point, pants already shitted. But on my way back, I caught a glimpse of a giant, scrawny man huddled in a corridor. Not know what "he" looked like, I was terrified. As I continued sneaking around PRISM, using my CAT gun (sometimes seemingly uselessly) to track his location, I solved puzzles and learned that "he" is named Entity A.

Entity A apparently decides when to be invisible or visible, which is creepy but sometimes annoying. Still, it added to my fear even in scripted areas where he wasn't supposed to appear. After solving more puzzles and activating the main elevator, you go up to the Moon's surface. As a massive space fan, this was incredible. You could feel the reduced gravity and see Earth at an accurate distance. Just really cool.

After traversing a pathway to the other side of PRISM, you find a science lab area meant to study the aforementioned sickness. You get confirmation that you're infected too. But everything's okay now, right? Entity A is on the other side of the station, you can just relax and figure out what's happening...right?

Here's a gif from my gameplay that answers that question:

Entity A is still here.

This was also my first discovery that the game doesn't pause when you pause. Terrifying.

Listen, I could go on about the rest of the game, but my explanation doesn't do it justice. I highly encourage you to play it and experience it yourself. It's easily one of my favorite horror games and one of my favorite examples of the retro/cassette futurism genre. The ending of the game is abstract and really makes you think and look back at your time during playing.