(Not so) Routine

[Kopikatsu]

So, a game got greenlit on Steam recently that I took an interest in. That would be Routine. So I looked into it a bit and discovered that it's a survival horror FPS...with a twist. The game features perma-death and no health packs. Just like real life, you have one shot and if you screw it up, you're boned. I'm definitely planning on doing a Let's Play of the game when it's finally released (Because I'm a masochist), but I was wondering how other people felt about such a thing.

On one hand, every moment is extremely tense because a single misstep could spell total doom for your sanity, really adding special emphasis to 'survival horror'.

On the other hand, if the game bugs up and something happens like falling through an elevator to insta-die, well that's a serious gamebreaking problem. Even without that, as mentioned, one mistake could ruin hours of hard work.

I'm a bit on the fence. On the surface, it seems like death has real consequence...but does it? Death in most games just sends you back to the last checkpoint, wasting a bit of your time in exchange for you knowing what's to come so that you can better prepare for it. While perma-death seems like it's more punishing, the concept is the same just the scale has been ramped up. You're trading time for forewarning. And in a game that builds itself around horror, knowing what's to come isn't very scary.

So, basically, I was wondering what others felt about this mechanic.

 

[Dusty Donuts]

Only one gripe at the moment about it.

and no health packs

First aid is still pretty important in not dying, but it wouldn't save you from another direct attack Left 4 Dead style. Hopefully that's considered.

OT: Sounds great to me, although if people only have one chance to make mistakes, the game is unbelievably limited. If people can keep restarting from the start, it can get repetitive. (unless they already dealt with that problem)
And if you glitch. I probably wouldn't be so horrified, but you can guarantee there will be at least one person having a good whinge about that.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Sorta like DayZ ey?

I get the permadeath, but seriously...no way to restore health?

Gotta be super careful.

I'll be honest though, having a persistent health bar with no way to heal yourself is actually an idea that I toyed around with for a video game quite some time ago. I wasn't thinking in terms of survival horror though. It was more that...you had a really ridiculously massive health bar that you had to make last throughout the entire game. It was more or less a third person hack and slash, but I can't remember the specifics. It was quite some time ago.

I remember scrapping the idea after realizing just how difficult it would be to balance a game around that. The easiest solution would be to make the game ridiculously easy (In that you can take a LOT more punishment than you really need to to finish), but that would kind of defeat the purpose.

I think it could work for a short 3-5 hour game though. Although I have no idea how long Routine is going to be.

 

[SweetShark]

Very interesting.
When it comes to the "punish" videogames, I always willing to give it a try.
Challenge in my videogames is always welcome.
However the OP have a point.
The developers must do a good job to give to the player an opportunity to cheat death if they make a small mistake, no sudden deaths, hints of danger to be given through the game etc, etc.
If they do this right, this game will be pure gold.

 

[krazykidd]

Sounds interestig . People die evey day by accident . Cool to see this portrayed in a video game . What's the name of this game?

 

[DoPo]

Sounds interestig . People die evey day by accident . Cool to see this portrayed in a video game . What's the name of this game?

Routine

OT: That's a cool idea. I doubt they'll be able to make the ban mega permanent, though, there would probably be a chance to bypass it. Still, a nice idea. It remind me of that flash game - One Chance.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Sounds interestig . People die evey day by accident . Cool to see this portrayed in a video game . What's the name of this game?

Routine

OT: That's a cool idea. I doubt they'll be able to make the ban mega permanent, though, there would probably be a chance to bypass it. Still, a nice idea. It remind me of that flash game - One Chance.

Perma-death just means that your character is deleted when you die, like in Diablo 2's Hardcore mode. Not that you can't play the game ever again like One Chance.

 

[DoPo]

Sounds interestig . People die evey day by accident . Cool to see this portrayed in a video game . What's the name of this game?

Routine

OT: That's a cool idea. I doubt they'll be able to make the ban mega permanent, though, there would probably be a chance to bypass it. Still, a nice idea. It remind me of that flash game - One Chance.

Perma-death just means that your character is deleted when you die, like in Diablo 2's Hardcore mode. Not that you can't play the game ever again like One Chance.

Ah, my bad. I misread this

if you screw it up, you're boned

as "you are banned". In my defence, it was very early in the morning. Well, it was almost 12 o'clock but still, I had very recently awaken.

Well, in that case, the game sounds loads more fun! Each playthrough would likely be very different from one another.

 

[Hyperone]

Sounds to me like it will either be amazing or total trash. Either way, it will definitely warrant at the least a passing glance.