Routine Gameplay Trailer is Shockingly Good

[Andy Chalk]

Routine Gameplay Trailer is Shockingly Good

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I don't want to say that this new trailer for Routine is giving off an amazingly powerful vibe of any particular sort but if you're a fan of System Shock 2, you probably don't want to miss it.

We know very little about Routine save that it's a non-linear, first-person horror/exploration game set on an abandoned moon base. The catch is that it's not supposed to be abandoned: everyone there very suddenly disappeared, and you've been sent to figure out why. What could possibly go wrong?

This alpha gameplay trailer isn't very clear on that point (beyond "everything," that is) but it does show off what very much appears to be My Kind Of Game. The System Shock 2 atmosphere is impossible to miss (unless you haven't played it, in which case it probably feels more Dead Space-y) and there's a distinct element of the more straight-up first-person horror that's become so popular over the past couple of years, too - Amnesia on the moon, perhaps.

I don't know why it is that I hate horror games for what they do to me and yet can't stop inflicting them upon myself, but if Routine is anywhere near as good as this trailer promises, I'll be there on launch day, cursing the game, the people who made it and my own stupid self, while trying to peer under the edges of my monitor to see what's waiting for me around that corner. Yeah, good times.

Routine is being developed for the PC by a three-person indie team calling itself Lunar Software. To find out more about the game, hit up routinegame.com [http://routinegame.com/].


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[vrbtny]

With that headline I was expecting a trailer with a lot of electricity.....

I was disappointed

Aside from that....meh, looks to be Slender....

Spoiler

IN SPAAAAAAAAAAACE

 

[Legion]

Thank you for letting me know about this, it looks great. I definitely got the System Shock 2 vibe and can't believe a three person team has managed to make a game look so good.

According to the website it has:

- A non linear experience lets you explore any part of the fully open Moon base and find out secrets that other players may not!
- Be immersed with Full body awareness, Deadzone aiming, no HUD, no health bars or points system... you must run, hide and survive the best you can against what lurks in the base.
- There are no health packs or multiple lives, in Routine there is a Perma death system that will keep you on the edge!

That sounds pretty cool in itself. Definitely something I will keep an eye on, although it doesn't mention a release date or if it will be on Steam etc.

 

[Beat14]

It's that lack of music that made the atmosphere for me, blew off the roof compared to the Resident evil game im playing atm

Has me interested, damned!

 

[Ishigami]

Oh wow I got motion sickness from watching this gameplay... haven't had this since watching my brother playing doom in 1994...

 

[Zhukov]

Looked interesting right up until he pulled out a gun and shot something.

It's not horror if you can fight back.

 

[Cyrromatic]

Oh wow I got motion sickness from watching this gameplay... haven't had this since watching my brother playing doom in 1994...

The shaky camera-thingymajig got on my nerves, so here's hoping it's either toned down somewhat or on a slider. Otherwise I'm still reeling from seeing that robot lurching closer with its dead, metal eyes.

 

[josemlopes]

Looked interesting right up until he pulled out a gun and shot something.

It's not horror if you can fight back.

Really? So now every horror game has to be "ups, here he comes and I cant do anything about it other then die and retry"?
If the game gives the right amount of ammo for him to defend in key situations it works better, if you only have 2 bullets will you waste it right away or try to run away? You can waste them and you will probably be screwed in a next encounter but at least when you die you can blame yourself for doing the wrong thing previously.

It also looks more like a stun gun so it will only assist the escape meaning that if you are well prepared you can avoid the random game over screen of having an enemy suddenly appear out of nowhere to kill you without the player being capable of doing anything to stop it.

 

[Doom972]

This looks like the bastard son of System Shock 2 and Amnesia. And a PC exclusive as well? I'll probably want to play it.
I really need to get an Oculus Rift as well.

Looked interesting right up until he pulled out a gun and shot something.

It's not horror if you can fight back.

It only seems to stop that thing for a very short time. If the ammo for this thing is in a very short supply, it could still be a good horror game. Also, note that the game has permadeath. If I understand correctly, that meas no saves/checkpoints, so it would be way too frustrating without some "get out of jail free card"-like item in case you make a mistake.

 

[Draconalis]

A) Bad guy is robots?

Laaaaaaame.

B) Why did they send only one guy to find out what happened to an entire population?

 

[Zhukov]

Looked interesting right up until he pulled out a gun and shot something.

It's not horror if you can fight back.

Really? So now every horror game has to be "ups, here he comes and I cant do anything about it other then die and retry"?
If the game gives the right amount of ammo for him to defend in key situations it works better, if you only have 2 bullets will you waste it right away or try to run away? You can waste them and you will probably be screwed in a next encounter but at least when you die you can blame yourself for doing the wrong thing previously.

It also looks more like a stun gun so it will only assist the escape meaning that if you are well prepared you can avoid the random game over screen of having an enemy suddenly appear out of nowhere to kill you without the player being capable of doing anything to stop it.

There's probably a fancy term for the dodgy argumentative technique you just attempted to employ. "False choice fallacy" or something.

No, not neglecting to provide the player with weapons does not mean that "every horror game has to be "ups, here he comes and I cant do anything about it other then die and retry"." That would be a fucking stupid thing to assume.

Other possibilities would include fleeing, hiding, avoiding or distracting. All mechanics better suited to creating fear in the player then, "Boom, headshot."

 

[crimson sickle2]

Thank you for letting me know about this, it looks great. I definitely got the System Shock 2 vibe and can't believe a three person team has managed to make a game look so good.

According to the website it has:

- A non linear experience lets you explore any part of the fully open Moon base and find out secrets that other players may not!
- Be immersed with Full body awareness, Deadzone aiming, no HUD, no health bars or points system... you must run, hide and survive the best you can against what lurks in the base.
- There are no health packs or multiple lives, in Routine there is a Perma death system that will keep you on the edge!

That sounds pretty cool in itself. Definitely something I will keep an eye on, although it doesn't mention a release date or if it will be on Steam etc.

Doesn't have a release date, but it does have a Steam icon on the lower right of the final screen. It also has the Oculus icon, which would be awesome to play this game with.

 

[josemlopes]

Looked interesting right up until he pulled out a gun and shot something.

It's not horror if you can fight back.

Really? So now every horror game has to be "ups, here he comes and I cant do anything about it other then die and retry"?
If the game gives the right amount of ammo for him to defend in key situations it works better, if you only have 2 bullets will you waste it right away or try to run away? You can waste them and you will probably be screwed in a next encounter but at least when you die you can blame yourself for doing the wrong thing previously.

It also looks more like a stun gun so it will only assist the escape meaning that if you are well prepared you can avoid the random game over screen of having an enemy suddenly appear out of nowhere to kill you without the player being capable of doing anything to stop it.

There's probably a fancy term for the dodgy argumentative technique you just attempted to employ. "False choice fallacy" or something.

No, not neglecting to provide the player with weapons does not mean that "every horror game has to be "ups, here he comes and I cant do anything about it other then die and retry"." That would be a fucking stupid thing to assume.

Other possibilities would include fleeing, hiding, avoiding or distracting. All mechanics better suited to creating fear in the player then, "Boom, headshot."

Except from what we saw you cant "Boom, headshot". He didnt die, and you can still (and probably have to since right after the shot thats what the player does) flee, hide, avoid or distract (well, at least the flee and hide was there, the avoid and distract wasnt shown in the video but since its a random generated world then at least the avoid part is probably included).

Amnesia managed the enemy placement well but most of the game's levels dont have enemies and the player is safe (he doesnt know it though, thats where the fear comes from), but games like Slender (where the enemy is always ready to show up) are not that good in that area. You never know if you will complete the game since you never have any input on the game it self, all you do is go from place to place hoping to not get killed. You are better just throwing a coin and see if it comes out heads.

And a lot of games do horror right even with means of defending yourself. So yeah... there isnt even anything to argue about here

PS: Dont come with that bullshit thing of trying to categorize what kind of argument I made, thats annoying and doesnt add to anything. If you want to counter argument then do it and at least justify why your argument stands.

 

[bluepotatosack]

Other possibilities would include fleeing, hiding, avoiding or distracting. All mechanics better suited to creating fear in the player then, "Boom, headshot."

The character tried to hide, failed, slowed it down, and then ran. I really don't get a "Boom, headshot." feel from that at all. This isn't much to go on, but it looks to provide a tense atmosphere so far.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Other possibilities would include fleeing, hiding, avoiding or distracting. All mechanics better suited to creating fear in the player then, "Boom, headshot."

Well, let's be fair here. The trailer was more like "boom, headshot! Oh, wait, that just pissed him off, RUN!"

Given that the player has been sent to investigate what's gone wrong, it wouldn't make much sense for them to send you in unarmed. Then again, they'll need to give us a good reason for why we're there alone, too.

I doubt this is 100% gameplay trailer.

The shaky camera and the part where he looks at the weapons or something that he has in the hand that says 'no signal' tells me it's the game running but a bit modified.

Apparently it's being played with an Oculus.

 

[number2301]

Jump scares, the game!

Also, that on Occulus Rift? I ... I don't know if I could handle that.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

This is Oculus Rift gameplay, so that's why the camera's so shaky and he looks down at his hands. I'm just glad it has full-body awareness, not many games actually have that.

A) Bad guy is robots?

Laaaaaaame.

Bad guy for a survival horror game though? What was the last survival horror game that used actual robots (System Shock 2's don't really count, they're more mutants)? Robots can be silly like in Wolfenstein, but used correctly they can be emotionless, remorseless and un-stoppable killing machines.

Looked interesting right up until he pulled out a gun and shot something.

It's not horror if you can fight back.

Did you not see that when he shot the robot the robot only stopped for like 2 seconds, and after that it ran much faster. The gun pretty much seems to be a way of seeing what's in the fog, and it has a very low frame-rate (the gun's screen). Would you consider the Silent Hill games not horror? What about the early Resident Evils, or Penumbra? Horror doesn't need to be an Amnesia clone to work.