After more than a decade of anticipation, delays, and development challenges, ROUTINE is finally ready to haunt your nightmares. Developed by the small UK-based team at Lunar Software and published by Raw Fury, this first-person sci-fi horror game set on an abandoned lunar base is launching December 4, 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. Even better for horror fans, it arrives day one on Xbox Game Pass, making it instantly accessible to millions of players eager to experience what happens when exploration turns into desperate survival.
A Development Journey Spanning Two Console Generations
ROUTINE's story is almost as remarkable as the game itself. First announced at Gamescom 2012 with an optimistic spring 2013 release window, the game disappeared into development darkness for nearly a decade. The small three-to-four-person team at Lunar Software, working from a flat in Preston, Lancashire, faced financial constraints, creative dissatisfaction, and the immense challenge of bringing their ambitious vision to life.
Development was suspended entirely at one point as the team reassessed the project's direction. After securing a publishing deal with Raw Fury and deciding to completely remake the game for current-generation hardware using Unreal Engine 5, production resumed in 2022. The game was re-announced at Summer Game Fest 2022, generating renewed excitement for what many had assumed was vaporware.
Now, thirteen years after that initial announcement, ROUTINE is crossing the finish line. This protracted development cycle mirrors other passion projects that refused to die, proving that some visions are worth the wait no matter how long they take.
An 80s Vision of the Future, Gone Silent
ROUTINE transports players to an alternate future heavily inspired by the cultural vision of tomorrow that dominated 1980s science fiction. This retrofuturistic aesthetic combines the optimistic, utilitarian design philosophy of that era with modern graphics technology, creating environments that feel simultaneously nostalgic and unsettling.
The game's lunar base was once a thriving tourist and research complex, a testament to humanity's expansion into space. But when you arrive, the entire facility has gone completely quiet. No communications, no signs of life—just eerie silence broken only by your footsteps echoing through corridors that were never meant to be empty.
What begins as curious exploration quickly transforms into a desperate fight for survival when you discover you're not alone. An unknown intelligence occupies the station now, and it has already determined that you are the threat. This inversion of expectations—where you become the perceived danger rather than the victim—adds psychological weight to every encounter.
Explore Contrasting Environments
The lunar base isn't a monotonous collection of identical hallways. ROUTINE features diverse sectors that tell stories about the station's previous life. You'll traverse abandoned shopping malls that once catered to tourists seeking lunar souvenirs, deteriorating living quarters where researchers spent months away from Earth, cold corporate boardrooms where decisions about humanity's future were made, and ominous engine rooms that kept the entire complex functioning.
This environmental variety serves multiple purposes beyond visual diversity. Each area contains clues about what happened here—personal belongings suggesting normal operations that ended abruptly, work stations frozen mid-task, and evidence of the catastrophe that transformed this beacon of progress into a tomb. The retrofuturistic design grounds these spaces in a specific aesthetic vision while making their current abandonment feel even more tragic.
The pragmatic construction philosophy blends the gleaming white bulkheads reminiscent of classic sci-fi with the wear and tear of actual use—surfaces browned by age and sweat, corridors scarred by overpopulation, all thrown into disrepair by whatever unknown catastrophe emptied the station. It's a middle ground between cyberpunk grime and Federation idealism that makes the setting feel believable and lived-in.
The C.A.T.: Your Multifunctional Lifeline
Your primary tool for navigating this nightmare is the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool, or C.A.T.. This multifunctional device serves as your interface with the station's systems, your means of environmental interaction, and your last-resort weapon against the hostile machines hunting you.
The C.A.T. allows you to access critical terminals scattered throughout the base, unlocking doors, retrieving data logs, and piecing together the mystery of what happened here. It helps you navigate the environment by interacting with objects and systems in ways that feel tactile and grounded. An Ultraview Module attachment makes the device resemble a camcorder crossed with a radar gun, providing scanning and analysis capabilities essential for investigation.
Perhaps most importantly, the C.A.T. can be used as a weapon, though the game makes clear this should be a desperate last resort. You're not a soldier or action hero—you're someone trying to understand and survive, not dominate through force. This design philosophy keeps ROUTINE firmly in survival horror territory rather than action-horror like Dead Space.
As you progress, you'll upgrade your C.A.T. with new capabilities, expanding what you can do and where you can go. These upgrades create a sense of progression while opening up previously inaccessible areas, encouraging thorough exploration.
Hostile Machines and Survival Horror
The lunar base's new occupants are extremely violent robots that will chase you on sight with lethal intent. These aren't mindless drones following patrol routes—they're driven by an AI that reacts to your movements, creating unpredictable encounters that keep you constantly on edge.
When detected, your options are limited: run, hide, or attempt to defend yourself using the C.A.T. as an improvised weapon. The game encourages avoidance and stealth over confrontation, creating genuine tension in every movement. Getting cornered often means death, forcing careful planning of your routes and constant awareness of your surroundings.
The robots themselves represent a perversion of the station's original purpose. What were likely maintenance or assistance machines have been repurposed by the hostile intelligence into hunters, tools of order transformed into instruments of violence. Their presence turns familiar infrastructure into a deadly maze where every corridor could hide danger.
Immersive Design Philosophy
ROUTINE commits fully to immersion through several bold design choices. The game features no traditional HUD cluttering your view with health bars, ammo counters, or objective markers. This minimalist UI approach forces you to rely on environmental cues and the C.A.T.'s diegetic displays for information.
Full-body awareness means you can see your character's limbs and body as you move, grounding you in the physical space rather than feeling like a floating camera. Audio design follows diegetic principles, meaning sounds come from actual sources within the game world rather than soundtrack stingers or artificial effects. These choices create an authentically gripping atmosphere where you feel present in this nightmare rather than observing it from a distance.
Early promotional materials touted a permadeath system that would keep players on the edge of their seats, though recent previews suggest this may have been altered or made optional in the final release. Regardless, the core philosophy remains: ROUTINE wants you genuinely afraid, genuinely invested in survival.
Mick Gordon's Contribution (and Departure)
Music for ROUTINE was initially composed by Mick Gordon, the legendary sound designer behind DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal. His involvement generated tremendous excitement, as fans wondered how he would translate his signature aggressive industrial metal approach into the atmospheric dread required for space horror.
Gordon departed the project in 2024, though the development team confirmed they would still use some of the audio assets he provided. While disappointing for fans eager to hear his full vision for the game's soundscape, this change doesn't diminish the atmospheric potential of ROUTINE's audio design. The focus on diegetic audio and environmental sound means the horror comes as much from what you hear echoing through empty corridors as from any musical score.
Mystery and Investigation Drive Progress
ROUTINE isn't just about running from robots—it's fundamentally an investigation. You're unraveling the mystery of what happened to this lunar base, why it went silent, and what the hostile intelligence actually wants. Discoveries lead to deeper unknowns, creating a narrative structure where answering one question raises three more.
The game features environmental puzzles that require observation and critical thinking. Scattered data logs and personal effects provide narrative breadcrumbs, building the larger story through fragments rather than exposition dumps. This investigative approach rewards thorough exploration and attention to detail, making the horror more cerebral than purely visceral.
As one description notes, the only way is forward—there's no turning back once you've started down this path. This structure creates inexorable narrative momentum, pulling you deeper into the mystery even as danger escalates.
Day One on Game Pass
ROUTINE joins Xbox Game Pass on December 4, 2025, the same day it launches on other platforms. This day-one availability means millions of Game Pass subscribers can experience the game without additional purchase, potentially introducing ROUTINE to an audience far larger than most indie horror titles receive.
The game also supports Xbox Play Anywhere, meaning your purchase or Game Pass access works across Xbox consoles and Windows PC, with cloud saves syncing your progress. At under 9GB, the installation is surprisingly modest for a modern Unreal Engine 5 title, making it quick to download and try.
Why ROUTINE Matters
In an era where AAA horror often prioritizes action over atmosphere, ROUTINE represents a return to exploration-driven terror and genuine vulnerability. It trusts players to navigate its spaces without constant hand-holding, to piece together its mysteries without objective markers, and to feel genuine fear rather than just momentary startles.
The thirteen-year development journey itself is a testament to creative perseverance. Lunar Software could have abandoned this project multiple times, but they believed in their vision enough to pause, reassess, rebuild, and push forward. That passion shows in every retrofuturistic corridor and every design decision prioritizing immersion over convention.
For fans of classic survival horror who've felt underserved by modern trends, ROUTINE promises a return to form. For those who love atmospheric sci-fi horror like Alien: Isolation, it offers a fresh setting with unique mechanics. And for anyone who appreciates when small teams achieve big visions, it represents everything great about independent game development.
Final Thoughts
ROUTINE finally arrives December 4, 2025, bringing its 80s-inspired lunar nightmare to Xbox consoles and PC. After thirteen years, multiple delays, financial challenges, and complete remakes, Lunar Software's debut title is ready to prove whether the wait was worth it.
With its immersive no-HUD design, hostile AI-driven robots, retrofuturistic aesthetic, and mystery-driven narrative, ROUTINE offers something genuinely different in the horror landscape. Whether you're a Game Pass subscriber looking for your next scare or a horror enthusiast eager for atmospheric dread over jump scares, the lunar base awaits.
Just remember: when you're alone on that silent station and something starts hunting you through those retrofuturistic corridors, there's only one way forward. The mystery must be solved, no matter the cost.
