Routine just pulled off something gaming rarely sees anymore: a cerebral horror experience that trusts players to piece together what happened instead of spelling everything out. After launching December 4 following a legendary 13-year development cycle, the lunar base thriller is drawing inevitable comparisons to SOMA, Frictional Games’ 2015 masterpiece about consciousness and identity. Both games use sci-fi horror settings to explore uncomfortable philosophical questions, and both leave players debating the ending long after credits roll.
What Actually Happens in Routine
On the surface, Routine seems straightforward. You’re a software engineer sent to Union Plaza, an abandoned lunar base where communications went silent. Armed with the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool, you explore retro-futuristic corridors designed around 1980s visions of space travel, investigating terminals and piecing together what killed the crew. The game gives you almost nothing: no objective markers, no hand-holding, just isolation and the slow realization that something very wrong happened here.
The truth hiding beneath that setup is far darker. The core mystery revolves around the Canal, a cave system discovered by the Prism expedition containing an alien fungal organism. This isn’t a traditional monster. It’s a parasitic intelligence that infects human hosts, hijacks their minds, and uses their bodies as vessels for reproduction. The entire lunar base fell because the crew got infected after exploring the Canal, compelled by voices in their heads to return deeper and deeper into the caves until the organism consumed them.
By the time you arrive, decades have passed since the original outbreak. The facility is abandoned except for killer robots and two mysterious creatures labeled Entity A and Entity B. These aren’t aliens in the traditional sense. They’re hybrid lifeforms created by the Canal using human DNA, representing the organism’s first successful attempts at breeding using host biology. Entity B, the female, died after choking on an apple in a deliberate reference to Adam and Eve. Entity A, the tall hostile creature hunting you through the station, is the grieving male protecting his territory.
The Symbolism Nobody’s Talking About
Routine is absolutely packed with layered symbolism that rewards close attention. The chapter titles describe biological processes: Dormancy, Stimulus, Response, Gestation, and finally Rebirth. These aren’t random. They map directly to the Canal’s reproductive cycle, tracking how the fungus infects, controls, gestates within, and is ultimately reborn from its host. The game’s title itself references this pattern, the “routine” being the organism’s repeating process of manifestation, growth, and survival through human hosts.
Biblical imagery saturates the narrative. Entity B choking on an apple deliberately evokes Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden. The final chapter references Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, positioning the Canal as a cosmic force creating its first perfect man. The Arbor location contains an apple tree displaying similar infection symptoms to human hosts, connecting the fruit motif throughout. Some interpretations suggest Entity B birthed Entity A, inverting the Adam and Eve story where the female came from the male’s rib.
The infection timeline documented in scattered logs reveals a methodical progression. Day one brings headaches and eye strain. By day five, insomnia sets in. Day seven shows cognitive decline. Day 30 causes breathing difficulties. By day 45, victims suffer dehydration. Death occurs on day 60, after which fungal growth sprouts from the body like plants from soil. The organism doesn’t just kill, it transforms its hosts into something new through a 60-day gestation period.
Key Symbolic Elements
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| The Canal | Womb or birth canal where new life gestates |
| Entity B’s Apple | Biblical fall from grace, forbidden knowledge |
| Chapter Names | Biological reproduction cycle from infection to rebirth |
| 60-Day Timeline | Human gestation period compressed into fungal transformation |
| Creation of Adam | Canal as god-like force creating new species |
That Ending Explained
The ending hits differently once you understand what’s actually happening. Throughout the game, you’re not investigating a mystery you can solve. You’re already infected. The Canal has been guiding you, using your own voice in dreams and hallucinations to manipulate you toward completing tasks that facilitate its reproduction. Every action you take brings you closer to becoming its next vessel.
The final sequence reveals the truth. You disable the Automated Security Network, making it easier for the Canal’s influence to spread. You enter the fissure and willingly merge with the organism. The large capsule surrounded by consumed human remains opens to reveal a creature resembling Entity A, but you hallucinate it as a duplicate of yourself. A voice intones: “Through me, you endure. Through you, I endure.” This is symbiosis presented as transcendence.
The final chapter title, Rebirth, confirms what happened. You’ve become the Canal’s newest creation, a perfected hybrid incorporating human intelligence with fungal biology. Entity A and Entity B were early prototypes, flawed attempts that taught the organism how to properly assimilate human hosts. You represent the successful evolution, the moment where the Canal finally achieved its goal of creating sustainable hybrid life that can survive beyond the lunar caves.
Why This Feels Like SOMA
The SOMA comparisons aren’t superficial. Both games use first-person perspective and environmental storytelling to build dread. Both feature isolated research facilities where humanity’s hubris unleashed something catastrophic. Both explore themes of consciousness, identity, and what it means to be human when your biology gets hijacked by something inhuman. Most importantly, both refuse to provide comforting answers or heroic victories.
SOMA asked whether a digital copy of your consciousness is really you. Routine asks whether transformation into a hybrid organism represents death or evolution. Neither game lets you fight back meaningfully. You can’t shoot the alien fungus or destroy the Canal. You’re already part of its lifecycle by the time you understand what’s happening. The horror comes from realizing your agency was always an illusion, that forces beyond your comprehension were guiding you toward an inevitable outcome.
Both games also share minimalist design philosophies that force player engagement. Routine provides no objective markers, no quest logs, no tutorials explaining puzzle solutions. You must actually read terminal entries, remember codes, and apply real-world logic rather than following waypoints. This makes discoveries feel earned rather than handed to you, creating the kind of environmental immersion that makes horror truly effective.
The Community’s Wildest Theories
Reddit and Steam discussions have exploded with interpretations since launch. One popular theory suggests the multiple monsters at the end are previous humans who completed the rebirth cycle, meaning Entity A wasn’t unique but rather one of many hybrids created over decades. This would explain why Entity A seemed fixated on Entity B’s body, recognizing another hybrid as kin rather than prey.
Another theory proposes the entire experience represents a memory played in reverse. The game opens with you arriving at the station, but perhaps you’ve been there all along as part of the infected crew. Your investigation isn’t real-time exploration but rather the Canal reconstructing your memories to prepare your consciousness for assimilation. This interpretation explains why certain events feel disconnected from linear time and why hallucinations intensify as you progress.
Some players argue the voice guiding you is actually your own consciousness fighting back against infection, trying to warn you about what’s happening even as the fungus puppets your body toward completion. The ritualistic elements late in the game, like cleansing yourself and aligning prongs in specific patterns, represent your mind’s attempt to impose familiar structure on incomprehensible biological processes occurring within your body.
Entity A and Entity B Deeper Dive
Understanding these creatures is key to grasping the Canal’s true nature. Entity B was discovered dead, having choked on an apple while her body hosted fungal gestation. Documents suggest she was pregnant or capable of conception, making her death particularly significant. Her body acted as a vessel from which Entity B the creature emerged, explaining why her human corpse was found decades after the initial outbreak.
Entity A displays grief and protective behavior rather than mindless aggression. He wanders the facility because he lost his mate and is trying to defend territory that no longer needs defense. The Canal created him as a hybrid with enough consciousness to experience loss but not enough intelligence to understand his purpose. He’s tragic rather than evil, a failed experiment left to haunt the ruins of his birth.
The swapped Adam and Eve dynamic adds another layer. Entity B died from the apple, the female dying from knowledge rather than gaining it. Entity A survived, the male birthed from female rather than the reverse. This inversion suggests the Canal doesn’t simply copy human biology but remixes it, creating something new that references humanity without truly being human anymore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Routine as scary as SOMA?
Routine delivers different scares than SOMA. Where SOMA focused on existential dread and consciousness questions, Routine emphasizes isolation, environmental tension, and body horror through its fungal infection premise. The game features permadeath and no pause function, creating sustained anxiety. Many players report it as the scariest horror game of 2025 due to these design choices, though SOMA’s philosophical horror arguably cuts deeper emotionally.
What happens to the player character at the end of Routine?
The player character becomes the Canal’s newest hybrid creation, successfully assimilated into the fungal organism after a 60-day gestation period. The final scene shows you entering the capsule and being reborn as a perfected fusion of human and alien biology. Unlike Entity A and Entity B who were flawed prototypes, you represent the organism’s successful evolution into a sustainable hybrid lifeform capable of enduring beyond the lunar caves.
What is the Canal in Routine?
The Canal is a deep cave system on the Moon containing an alien fungal organism that functions as a parasitic intelligence. It infects human hosts through spores, hijacks their minds using their own voices, and uses their bodies as vessels for reproduction. The Canal follows a 60-day lifecycle: infection, mental degradation, death, and finally rebirth as a hybrid creature. It represents both a physical location and the organism’s entire reproductive process.
Are Entity A and Entity B human?
No, Entity A and Entity B are hybrid creatures created by the Canal using human DNA as biological templates. They represent the organism’s early attempts at creating sustainable life through human hosts. Entity B was female and died after choking on an apple while gestating. Entity A is male and survived, wandering the facility in grief. Both propagate fungal spores and demonstrate the Canal’s ability to blend human and alien biology into new lifeforms.
How long does Routine take to beat?
Most completionist playthroughs take between 8 to 12 hours depending on how thoroughly you explore and how quickly you solve environmental puzzles. The game features permadeath and no objective markers, so your first playthrough will likely take longer as you learn the station layout and decipher puzzle solutions. Subsequent runs can be faster once you understand the mechanics and story structure.
Is Routine worth playing after 13 years of development?
Reviews overwhelmingly say yes, provided you curb expectations about scope. Routine delivers exceptional atmospheric horror, clever environmental puzzles, and thought-provoking narrative themes despite being shorter than originally planned. The cassette futurism aesthetic is executed beautifully, the no-hand-holding approach respects player intelligence, and the story rewards careful attention. At $24.99, it offers strong value for fans of cerebral horror games like SOMA, Alien Isolation, or System Shock.
Why did Routine take 13 years to release?
Lunar Software restarted development after being unhappy with the game’s original direction following five years of work. The studio explained they couldn’t release the game as it was, leading to a complete overhaul. The game resurfaced during Summer Game Fest 2022 with dramatically improved visuals and refined mechanics, though its lengthy absence led many to assume it had been permanently canceled. The wait ultimately resulted in a polished experience that reviewers praise for technical optimization.
Why Cerebral Horror Still Matters
Routine arriving in 2025 feels important because cerebral horror has largely vanished from mainstream gaming. Publishers chase safe bets, leading to endless sequels rehashing proven formulas. Indie developers usually lack resources for the kind of environmental density and audio design that makes atmosphere truly oppressive. Routine manages to deliver both thoughtful narrative and visceral scares despite coming from a tiny team working on a shoestring budget.
The game proves you don’t need combat, quest markers, or hand-holding to create compelling interactive experiences. Routine treats players like intelligent adults capable of solving problems, remembering information, and drawing their own conclusions about ambiguous storytelling. This philosophy feels revolutionary in 2025 when most games assume players need constant guidance and validation.
What makes Routine and SOMA kindred spirits is their willingness to leave players unsettled. Neither game provides catharsis or heroic victories. You don’t save humanity or destroy the threat. You simply experience transformation from one state to another, gaining uncomfortable knowledge about consciousness, identity, and what happens when biology becomes something other than human. That discomfort lingers long after the credits roll, which is exactly what great horror should accomplish.
The Verdict on Routine’s Place in Horror Gaming
Routine won’t replace SOMA as the definitive philosophical horror experience, but it absolutely deserves to stand alongside it. The fungal body horror hits different from SOMA’s digital consciousness questions, offering a biological nightmare that feels disturbingly plausible given real-world examples of parasitic organisms controlling host behavior. The Biblical symbolism and rebirth themes add intellectual depth that rewards multiple playthroughs and community discussion.
If you loved SOMA and have been waiting for something that scratches that same itch of intelligent horror married to uncomfortable ideas, Routine delivers. It’s available now on Xbox platforms and PC via Steam for $24.99, with day-one Game Pass availability making it essentially free for subscribers. The game respects your time with a focused 8-12 hour experience that never overstays its welcome or pads length with busywork.
Just be prepared for what you’re getting into. This isn’t action horror where you mow down monsters. It’s slow-burn existential dread where the real horror comes from understanding what’s happening to you and realizing there’s no escape. By the time you comprehend the Canal’s true nature, you’re already part of its lifecycle. Through it, you endure. Through you, it endures. That’s not a happy ending, but it’s an unforgettable one that proves cerebral horror still has plenty to say about what makes us human and what happens when that humanity gets rewritten at a fundamental level.