There's been a ton of interest in the long-awaited first-person horror shooter Routine ahead of its launch on Xbox Game Pass this Thursday (December 4th), and the first reviews have just started going live across the web this afternoon.
And at first glance, these reviews are a little bit all over the place! Some think it's pretty much a masterpiece, a small few seem disappointed by it, and the rest fall somewhere in the middle, leaning mostly towards the positive end.
Here's a nice mix of review impressions for Routine so far:
CGM (9/10)
"ROUTINE doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel when it comes to horror games, but it doesn’t really have to. It does enough to be both an incredibly engaging experience and one that is genuinely tense and atmospheric. For a game that disappeared for so long, I’m glad it returned with a vengeance—definitely check this out!"
Kotaku (Positive)
"Routine was announced over a decade ago at this point. So was it worth the wait? Hard to say, as I wasn’t waiting for it, but I can confirm that a decade after it was first revealed, Routine is a damn fine horror game that stands toe to toe with other heavy hitters of the genre."
PCGamesN (9/10)
"What Routine lacks in quantity, it makes up for in staggering quality. It’s cassette futurism at its most tactile, with an aesthetic direction that’s only matched by the novelty of its CAT tool. Lunar Software raises the bar in sound design to deliver a singular experience for sci-fi horror fans."
Wccftech (8.5/10)
"As a horror fan, I can't help but feel electrified by just how terrifying ROUTINE is. Its jump scares are thoughtfully placed, its visual design is wonderfully retro, and I'd argue it's best enjoyed at a lower resolution than you'd play most modern games, almost made to look like you're playing a game off of a VHS."
Rock, Paper, Shotgun (Positive)
"An elegant, purposefully cumbersome and beautiful lunar horror game that is a lot more devious than its cosseting homages to Alien and 80s sci-fi might suggest."
Checkpoint Gaming (7.5/10)
"ROUTINE is a frightful time on the lunar surface. While the narrative doesn’t entirely hit due to a lack of memorable characters, the sense of immersion and beautiful visuals carry the scares. ROUTINE is a game for horror aficionados who don’t mind basic gameplay and the occasional puzzle, even if some clues might be hidden slightly too well."
GamesRadar (3.5/5)
"Was Routine worth a wait of 13 Earth years? No, of course not; no game would be. But it's an intelligent, atmospheric horror that, despite a few stumbles, remains intriguing from beginning to end. I sure hope you like playing hide-and-seek and tag, though."
GameReactor (7/10)
"Admittedly, I can find something to complain about in all of the mechanical elements, whether it's the rudimentary encounters with enemies or the lack of physicality. And neither the choice of setting nor the themes are particularly original. On the other hand, it's an incredibly atmospheric journey, where every room feels important to your progress, slowly but surely bringing you closer and closer to madness, but perhaps also to the truth. Routine may not write a new chapter in the history of horror, but it retells the old ones in a stylish way."
GameRant (5/10)
"There's nothing wrong with Routine from a technical standpoint, and its story, visuals, and audio are all top-tier. The problem is that the gameplay is such a slog that it makes it hard to appreciate what it does so well. It can be flat-out boring a lot of the time, and the scares simply aren't there to make up for its lack of engaging gameplay."
This is just a sample of what's out there for Routine right now - and as mentioned, the majority of reviews are trending towards the positive end. In fact, the game sits on a perfectly healthy 79 average rating at Metacritic as things stand.
By all means head over there and look at more reviews — you'll find plenty more 9/10 examples as well as a few lower-rated ones — and get yourself ready for a spooky experience when Routine lands on Xbox Game Pass this Thursday.