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Routine Finally Launches Today — Here’s the Release Time, Price, Features, and What Early Reviews Say

Routine is finally launching on December 4, 2025, bringing an end to one of the longest and most unusual development journeys in indie horror gaming.


Routine releases December 4, 2025 — here’s a complete breakdown of its release time, price, gameplay features, and early reviews, plus a look at its 13-year development journey.
Routine | Image: Lunar Software via Gaming Amigos

After more than 13 years in development, Lunar Software’s retro-futuristic sci-fi horror game is ready to step out of the shadows, and if you’ve been following this project since its original reveal back in 2012, you probably understand why today feels surreal. Even I wasn’t sure this game would actually make it to release, but here we are — just hours away from stepping onto its abandoned lunar base.


A Horror Game Shaped by a 13-Year Fight to Survive

Routine first appeared at Gamescom 2012, where its eerie 1980s-inspired vision of the future immediately grabbed attention. According to earlier developer interviews, the game almost didn’t make it; financial problems forced the small UK team at Lunar Software into multiple pauses, with members taking side jobs to keep the project alive. Development essentially restarted in 2020 when they rebuilt the entire game in Unreal Engine 5.


Gameplay Built Around Tension, Exploration, and Minimal Guidance

In Routine, you play as an explorer sent to investigate a lunar base after communications suddenly go silent. The atmosphere leans heavily into 1980s VHS-style futurism: CRT screens with distorted visuals, humming fluorescent lights, and analog tech everywhere you look. The world feels cold, industrial, and claustrophobic — exactly the kind of space-horror setting that thrives on silence.


Navigation is intentionally old-school. There are no waypoint markers, no highlighted objectives, and no medkits. You’re meant to rely on observation and intuition, which can feel refreshing if you enjoy slow-burn horror. But if you’re someone who likes straightforward guidance, you’ll need to adjust your pace here.


The game’s biggest tool is the C.A.T. (Cosmonaut Assistance Tool). Originally meant to be a weapon, Lunar Software redesigned it as a multi-purpose device combining a flashlight, scanner, and environment interaction tool. It’s essential for solving puzzles, opening terminals, and occasionally saving your life.


Combat isn’t the focus — in fact, you’re usually better off running or hiding. You’ll encounter hostile Type-05 security robots that can kill you in one or two hits. Early on, they’re terrifying, but as some early reviewers pointed out, their actual threat level becomes less intimidating once you understand their patterns.


Price, Platforms, and Release Time

Routine launches December 4, 2025, on:

  • PC (Steam)

  • Xbox One

  • Xbox Series X|S

  • Day one on Xbox Game Pass


Price:

  • $24.99 USD / £20 GBP on Steam (confirmed by developers during their Steam Developer Q&A). Same we expect for Xbox.


Steam global unlock time:

  • Los Angeles / San Francisco / Seattle (PST, UTC-8) → Dec 4, 7:00 AM

  • Denver (MST, UTC-7) → Dec 4, 8:00 AM

  • Chicago / Dallas / Mexico City (CST, UTC-6) → Dec 4, 9:00 AM

  • New York / Toronto / Miami (EST, UTC-5) → Dec 4, 10:00 AM

  • Bogotá / Lima / Quito (COT, UTC-5) → Dec 4, 10:00 AM

  • São Paulo / Rio de Janeiro / Brasília (BRT, UTC-3) → Dec 4, 12:00 PM

  • London / Dublin / Lisbon (GMT, UTC+0) → Dec 4, 3:00 PM

  • Paris / Berlin / Rome / Madrid (CET, UTC+1) → Dec 4, 4:00 PM

  • Athens / Cairo / Helsinki (EET, UTC+2) → Dec 4, 5:00 PM

  • Moscow / St. Petersburg (MSK, UTC+3) → Dec 4, 6:00 PM

  • Dubai / Abu Dhabi (GST, UTC+4) → Dec 4, 7:00 PM

  • Riyadh / Kuwait City (AST, UTC+3) → Dec 4, 6:00 PM

  • Johannesburg / Cape Town (SAST, UTC+2) → Dec 4, 5:00 PM

  • New Delhi / Mumbai / Bangalore (IST, UTC+5:30) → Dec 4, 8:30 PM

  • Bangkok / Jakarta / Hanoi (UTC+7) → Dec 4, 10:00 PM

  • Singapore / Kuala Lumpur / Beijing / Shanghai / Hong Kong / Manila (UTC+8) → Dec 4, 11:00 PM

  • Tokyo / Osaka (JST, UTC+9) → Dec 5, 12:00 AM (midnight)

  • Seoul / Pyongyang (KST, UTC+9) → Dec 5, 12:00 AM (midnight)

  • Sydney / Melbourne (AEDT, UTC+11) → Dec 5, 2:00 AM

  • Auckland / Wellington (NZDT, UTC+13) → Dec 5, 4:00 AM


On Xbox, digital versions typically unlock at midnight local time, so depending on your region, you might get in earlier than PC players.


Early Reviews

Critics are divided. Some hail it as a "SOMA successor," "atmospheric masterpiece," and "singular sci-fi horror" (9/10s from PCGamesN, IGN DE, CGMagazine) — tense, 8-10 hour experience perfect for Alien: Isolation fans.


Others, however, felt the gameplay falls short, especially when the scares lose their punch. A few reviewers noted that solving puzzles while avoiding enemies becomes more tedious than frightening, and some mechanics, like crouching to peek under objects, are clever but underused.


Here are some reviews you should check out:

PCGamesN (90/100): "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."


CGMagazine (90/100): "ROUTINE combines a retro-futuristic aesthetic with an unnerving sense of dread to create an incredibly engaging and highly atmospheric horror experience."


PC Gamer (77/100): "Scary monsters, beautiful locations, and a story that's sadly lost in space."


The A.V. Club (5/10): "Unfortunately, while Routine has flashes of brilliance in its found-footage presentation and lovingly rendered Space Race-era tech, it’s unable to live up to a decade-plus of anticipation."


Kotaku: "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."


Rock, Paper, Shotgun: "Routine is just a well-made sci-fi horror game. I wish I had a more elaborate closing note, but I've used up all my adjectives yammering about turbine noises and VHS-C. 2012 was a million years ago, but this elegantly cumbersome chillfest seems none the worse for the interruptions and extended spells in suspended animation. Congratulations, Lunar Software. You pulled off the moonshot. Now, let's get the hell out of here before that thing down the hall notices me typing."

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