It is more than commonplace these days for games to get some kind of delay, in fact it’s surprising when the big boy names don’t get one, like, say, GTA 6, which was meant to be out this year, but got pushed to 2026. But it’s rare that most games take more than 13 years to develop, an amount of time which retrofuture moonbase horror game Routine did in fact take. Except now its release is right around the corner!
Yes, yes, I know, you’ll believe it when you see it, but as it currently stands developer Lunar Software says that the game is slated for release this coming December 4th. That’s just over a month away, as long as the way calendars work hasn’t changed since I started writing this, a closeness that would make it surprising if the game received further delays. So, perhaps you’ll be able to actually experience the game for yourself by the end of the year!
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If you’ve not heard of Routine before, it’s one of those survival horror games, one where you explore an abandoned moonbase. There’s mysterious, quite creepy robots that want to kill you (of course!), puzzles to solve (of course), and an aesthetic based around the idea of what the future might have looked like from an ’80s perspective (of course?).
It took so long to make in part because the devs simply couldn’t work on it for a while, both for financial reasons and a general unhappiness with where it was going. Routine did get a re-reveal back in 2022, now with added support from publisher Raw Fury, with a couple of engine changes mixed in somewhere amongst the decade and a bit development period.
Doom 2016 composer Mick Gordon also worked on the soundtrack, but he did leave the project in 2024 due to scheduling issues – a recent Q&A explained that since that point the audio and audio implementation is being handled by “other people.”
I do quite vibe with the aesthetic Routine offers up, I have quite a distaste for that clean, shiny look you see so much of in sci-fi these days, and retrofuturism always has that bit of texture I crave. But, well, it did take 13 years to make, so I have some reservations! Good thing I only learned about it from the re-reveal, so I don’t have those 13 years of expectations like some of you might. On that note, good luck, Lunar Software!
