Routine walkthrough – Full completion guide and puzzle solutions

Are you ready to jump into one of the best space horror games of recent year? We absolutely love Routine: its atmosphere and narrative is sublime, and even the odd annoyance of being pursued by an enemy isn’t enough to put us off. Without holding your hand at all, though, Routine can be difficult to know what to do next – and that’s where we hope our walkthrough will come in handy.

Our Routine walkthrough will guide you through the game from start to finish. We’ll tell you where to go, what to do, and how to solve any puzzles you come up against. It’s your one stop to everything you need to know about completing the game.

We haven’t, however, highlighted every item in the game that you can interact with, because most aren’t crucial to completing the game. We would recommend you look at everything you possibly can, because it’s through items, letters and logs that you’ll get the most out of Routine’s story.

FAQs

Chapter 1: Birth

Arrivals

• Interact with the terminal screen and press ‘form’. This will take you through a quick tutorial of movements. Once it’s done, complete a quick survey and you’ll get an ID printed. Go to the printer to pick it up — it’ll fall under the unit. Pick it up.
• Go pick up your helmet from the unit on the wall.
• Interact with the terminal next to the door and choose ‘open door’. Leave the room.
• Head left then, after the large window has opened up, head through the door on the right. You’ll need to use the terminal to open it. Keep making your way through until you reach another room. In here, you’ll find a CAT gun to pick up on a table.
• Scattered around the table are various pieces of information about the gun that might be worth reading. Interact with the slide projections on the wall. Pull up your gun with Y and press the large oblong button on the side of it.

• Interact with the ‘Database’ section of the PDA menu that’s now available on the projector screen. In here, you’ll find a code for the elevator: 9871.
• Go through the next door in the room. Just to the left of the doorway you’ll find a store of batteries. Pick one up. There are more on the shelves in front of the door.

• Go back the way you came and go straight across to the next door. Interact with the terminal, choose ‘Keypad’, and input 9871. Open the door and go through.

Gateway

• Inside, interact with the terminal on your right and select ‘Gateway’ to reach a new area. Go left, and you’ll reach a damaged terminal. To the left is a tape player. Interact with it to listen to it. We need to find someone called Kei.

• Go back down to the closed gate that says ‘Tram Station’. To the left you’ll find a power box. Shoot it with your gun to open the gate. Head through. At the top, move right and enter the tram. Move through the tram until you find a terminal for the tram control. Choose ‘The Mall’.

The Mall

• Leave the tram. There’s a wireless access point just to your right if you want to save your game. Leave the station via the travelator to reach the reception desk and meet ‘IC’. Follow IC to the terminal and sign in using your ID (9718 – it’s on your ID badge pinned to your chest). Choose business or pleasure.
• The terminal will break. Go back to the desk and press the button to call for IC’s assistance. Follow him. He’ll take you back down to the station and guide you to a staff only entrance. Go down the ladder that IC leads you to.

• Follow the corridor to the end where you’ll find a closed access hatch. To the left, you’ll see an electrical panel through a gap in the wall. Pull out your gun with Y and press the smaller button. Shoot the panel. This will open up the access hatch. Crawl through.
• When you reach a sealed door, press the red button to the right to leave. You’ll find yourself in an electrical shop. Head towards the exit – it’ll automatically shut. Crouch down near the checkout desk in the middle and you’ll find a security override button underneath. Press it. This will alert a robot who’ll come and open the door. Hide behind the desk so you don’t get caught.

• Once the robot has left, leave the shop and go right. Follow the corridor around until you reach O’Neill’s Electronics. Huh, it’s locked. A note at the side says you can access via an office at the back of Megazone.
• Leave the area and keep moving through the corridors until you find Megazone – it’s an arcade, and there’s just enough space under the shutters for you to crawl under.

• Once inside Megazone, head down the corridor to find the office. The door’s locked, so follow the cables to a power box. Shoot it, and the office door will open.
• Inside the office, there’s a tape player on the table to listen to. Interact with the terminal. Click the ‘media’ tab and watch the video. Go to the ‘Door Control’ tab and open the Playground door. Make your way back to the entrance of O’Neill’s Electronics that was previously locked.
• Go through, and keep making your way through corridors. You’ll eventually need to crawl under a partially-closed shutter and find yourself in a large round atrium. Here’s where you’ll find the actual entrance to O’Neill’s.

• Go in. To the left, you’ll find a CAT gun display. Take the Ultraview module and install it into your gun. To use it, aim then hold down the trigger. It’ll reveal any hidden messages – test it out on the wall next to the shop display.
• Go look in the office at the back – you can read the emails on the terminal if you like. Once you try to leave O’Neill’s, the shutters will come down. You’ll need a code to open the door back up. Use your Ultraview module to look around the shop, and you’ll see paint trails leading from the wall where you saw the secret test message. One trail leads to the terminal.
• Interact with the terminal and pull up the keypad, then switch to the Ultraview mode. You’ll see four fingerprints over the buttons that have been pressed: the code is 9853. Input it to open the door.

• Leave the shop and make your way back to the start area of the mall, this time going left. You’ll eventually reach Galaxy Video. Inside, find the locked security door and the terminal to the right of it. Once again, use Ultraview on the screen to see what keypad buttons have been pressed. The code is 4751. Input it to open the shutters then go through.
• Lean into the hole, facing left – you’ll see a relay box. Switch your gun back to firing module by using the switch on the top. Press the small square button to degauss your CAT if necessary, then shoot the box.

• Make your way back to Megazone and use the terminal in the office to open the mall shutters.
• Something is happening. Avoid the robots and make your way to the elevator now that the shutters are open. Take the elevator back to the station. If the robots are in pursuit you won’t be able to use it.

Chapter 2: Incision

• Head back to the station and get on the tram. Use the tram control screen and select Living Quarters.

Living Quarters

Note on escaping robots in this area: There are fewer places to hide here, but you can crouch under certain tables to keep yourself safe. Avoid them where possible, sneak past them. Run and hide if you get pursued, and save at access points regularly just in case you do get caught.

• Leave the tram and go up the stairs. Go to the terminal near the door. Press the ‘CAT’ button at the bottom right of the screen, pull out your gun and press the connection button. It’ll run diagnostics on the terminal and present you with some error codes. Match them on the error code tab and you’ll see it needs to be rebooted.
• Crouch down, and pull the lever at the bottom of the terminal. Pull it again to turn it back on. You can now press the button to open the door. Go through.
• In the elevator, interact with the terminal and choose Living Quarters. Exit the elevator.
• Use the Living Quarters terminal. Log in on the screen on the right with code ‘9718’ (you’ll see it on your ID badge pinned to your chest). It’ll take a little while but the gate will start opening.
• Head down, then head towards ‘C’. At the end of the corridor is a locked door and a note about overloading the system. Follow the wires from the terminal and shoot the box.

• You can now go through the door. Make your way through and you’ll eventually reach a crawlspace hidden under a desk. Crawl through and make your way around it.
• Once you reach the end, press the button to get out. Use the terminal in the new room. Go to ‘Camera’ and select ‘Reception’. Use the arrow keys to pan to the note pinned to the terminal seen on the camera, and zoom in to read the code. It’s 4138.

• Use the door control on the terminal to open the door and leave the room. Make your way to reception and use code 4138 on the door to get in.
• Interact with the fire warning on the wall to get rid of it. You can now access the laundrette area.
• There’s a tape recording on the desk here to listen to.
• Leave the reception, and head to the laundrette. Go through the laundrette door and go down the stairs. Walk through the laundrette to enter Apartment 04B.
• Examine the whiteboard and the notes around the room. Look in the alcove above the terminal – it’s Kei’s ID. Pick it up: the code on it is 2448.

• Interact with the terminal. Go to Media and watch the video clip. Go through the emails on the terminal.
• Leave Kei’s apartment and make your way back up to the elevator. You’ll be pursued by robots, so you’ll need to be careful. Find somewhere to hide if you need to.
• When you reach the elevator, go to the station.
• Enter the tram and go to the Gateway.

Gateway

• Leave the station and make your way up the ASN corridor with the broken terminal. Choose ‘Scan ID’. It should now say ‘Scan Valid’ since you’ve got Kei’s ID. Now, use your Ultraview on the terminal’s keypad to see the ASN keycode. It’s 3780.

• The IC robot will start talking to you and, when prompted, shoot it.
• Behind the terminal, go through a door and access a new elevator. Choose ASN.

Chapter 3: Re-Create

ASN

• Move forward through the corridor. Near a dead body, there’s a tape recorder on the floor. Listen to the message.
• In the circular room, move left until you find a terminal with a red glow. On the screen are lots of messages. View the Log. Click the ‘Shutdown’ button, then ‘Initiate’. Huh: it doesn’t seem to work.
• Press the ‘CAT’ button on the bottom right then connect to it with your gun. The error codes we get are ‘High memory usage’ and ‘Reduce memory usage’.

• Close all the messages on the screen and try ‘Shutdown’ again. This time it tells you to continue to the next terminal – it’s the one directly across from it. On this terminal, press ‘Continue’.
• The next message tells you to make sure only nodes A6, A8 and A11 are lowered. The nodes are around the central circular device. Interact only with those three, then go back to the terminal that’s lit up. Choose ‘Continue’.
• Now, it says you need to operate both Manual Release switches. They are now visible in the central area. Once both switches have been pulled, get close to the central sphere and shoot the very top of it.

Moon

• You now appear to be on the moon’s surface. Walk forward – you can’t interact with the large spherical object, so keep moving and eventually a cutscene will cut in.

Re-entry Chamber

• You’ll awaken in front of a TV screen. Leave the room when you’re ready – the door is behind you.

Chapter 4: Adrift

Ward

• Go down the small passageway directly across from you, then head left when you get to the bottom. In this next room, there’s a wireless access point at the bottom if you want to save your game.
• Just to the right of where you came into the room, there’s a small access hatch. Crawl through. At the other side is a power breaker terminal. Click each item to power it. Crawl back out.
• A screen will have now powered on. Press ‘System Reboot’. Then press ‘Enable the Security Interface Monitor’.

• At the end of the room, you’ll see a strange tree area. Go through, and go left through a door that’s now open. Move forward until you see a terminal labelled ‘Henry’s Terminal’. Read the emails, diary entries and watch the video.
• Move to the right and you’ll find a tape recorder on a desk. To the left of the desk is a small corridor that leads to another breaker box. Turn on Reception for now. We think we’ll have to come back here later.

• Come back out of the corridor and to the right is a small hatch. Crawl through (it’s like a catflap). At the first junction turn left, then at the second junction turn left again. You should come out into the reception area.

Reception

• There’s a terminal labelled ‘Sophia’s Terminal’ in here. Take a look at the emails and diary on it. There’s a tape player on the desk – listen to it. You’ll also find a new Interface Module in this area, next to a piece of paper with some instructions. Pick up the module to install it into your gun.

• To use the gun, point it at the screen on the door and pull the trigger. This will open the door.
• Go back to the area we started, back past the tree, and into the crawl space where we found the first power terminal. Reactive everything and, just outside of the crawl space, restart the big screen. Use your gun on the screen to the top of it. This has granted Archive Security.
• Leave the area by going past the tree and where reception is. Go back to the terminal, and ensure Door Commons 01 and Door Commons 02 are powered. Leave the corridor.

Commons

• Move left and open the door labelled ‘Commons 01’. In here, you’ll find Barbara’s Terminal. Look at the email and diary. Go through the doorway next to the terminal and move straight ahead. You’ll find another terminal – Kali’s Terminal to your left.
• From the terminal, head left and investigate the desk and the ‘Incident Report’ note. From here, follow the path down to the left. On the left is yet another tiny corridor leading to a breaker box. Turn on Door Imaging 02 and Lift Servers.
• Leave and move straight forward down a dark corridor. Turn right at the bottom. On your left, you’ll find a tape machine to listen to. Straight across from the tape machine and to the right, you’ll find the door to the Servers. Open this door. Push the lift button next to the door to go down.

Servers

• Leave the lift and follow the corridor round. At the end is a terminal. Click ‘Diagnostics’. When prompted, take out your CAT device and press the connection button. You’ll get a message saying that damage has been detected on C1, H1, F3 and J3.
• Point your gun to the screen just above the server terminal and shoot. We now need to find the damaged terminals. They’re all in the tunnel we’ve just walked through. Interact with J3, C1, F3 and H1, which will pull them out.

• Go back to the terminal and re-run Diagnostics. Once again, connect your CAT gun when prompted. Close the Diagnostics application, and click ‘Server’.
• Leave this area and go back up the lift. You might have to push the button a few times before it works.
• Go back towards the room with the tree – as you get there, the door will close. And now it seems we’re being chased by an invisible alien.

Note on avoiding the alien: You can use your CAT gun to see its outline, but your best tool is your ears, so make sure you have your volume high enough (or you’re using headphones). Running and hiding may be your best defence here.

• Make your way through Commons 01 and head to the breaker box. Turn on Door Imaging 02 and Door Systems. From the breaker box, make your way to Door Imaging 02: head straight forward then turn right. The door is on your left.
• Run left through Door Imaging 02 and follow it around to reach another breaker box. Turn on Door Imaging 01. Leave, and go left and straight forward through the Imaging area. Turn right at the bottom to find the Imaging 01 door. You’ll be back in the room with the tree.
• Head left to go back to the area where we started. Go through the crawl space and activate the Archives on the breaker box. Leave the crawl space and select ‘Begin Reboot’ on the screen. On the next screen, it says we need to go to the Founder in the ‘Annex Station’. Click ‘Continue’. Browse the diary and the media.
• The diary entry is important – it mentions a code to access an important location, and a document stored in a locker. The pin for the locker is 0211. We just need to find the locker.

Finding Kali’s locker and cracking the code

• Leave the area and go back to the area near reception. Go to the breaker box and re-enable Door Commons 01 and Door Commons 02 if they aren’t already turned on. Leave to your left, through the door into Commons. Keep moving through until you find Kali’s locker – it’s next to Kali’s terminal (and the dead body). Open it with 0211. You’ll need to make note of the cypher and the four photos that’s in here.

• The cypher sheet has numbers on the back, and we need four numbers to make a code. The four photos? They represent an area where we’ll find a symbol. One of the photos shows the tree, the keypad in the restroom area of the Commons, part of the reception area, and a wall with two coiled cables which is next to the server lift.
• Make your way to each area. You’ll need to use your Ultraview module in order to find the symbols. In the bathroom area is a symbol that looks like ‘7J’. On the tree is a symbol that looks like an asterisk (*). Near the cables is a symbol that looks like a wide U. Near the reception area is a symbol that looks like a space invader!

• Now, using the decipher sheet found in Kali’s locker you can work out the code. Read the symbols from left to right and see what number is written on the back of it – the code is 2676.
• Head to the bathroom in the common area and use the keypad balancing in the sink. Input 2676 – it will unlock a gate in the corridor just behind you.

Vestibule

• Go down the corridor and you’ll find a large screen to your left. Click ‘Begin’ on the Alignment Process.
• Go into the room labelled ‘Optical’. In here, click ‘Start’ on the screen.
• When you’re done, leave the room and go to the ‘Auditory Room’ just to left. Interact with the screen in here and click ‘Start’.
• Once you’ve completed both activities, return to the main terminal and click ‘Start’. Walk behind you and crawl under the small gap into the watery area. You’ll find James Mason’s ID here – his code is 4358.

• Crawl back out of the area and go all the way to the end of the room. You’ll find James Mason’s terminal, and a tape player at the side of it. Listen to it, then log into Mason’s terminal with 4358.
• Read the emails and diary, then click ‘Security’. When prompted, pull out your CAT gun, make sure your Interface Module is engaged and shoot the screen. This will give you level 2 security clearance.
• Leave this area, and make your way back to the main reception area. Use the breaker terminal here to power the Lift Entrance. You’ll find the lift just to the left – open it with your gun and enter. Press ‘up’ in the lift.
• In this new area, there’s a tape player on the table to read.
• Further past the table is a terminal that reads ‘Initialize Airlock Sequence’. Press to start, then shoot the screen above to provide your security credentials. This will open the airlock.

Chapter 5: Endure

• You can now go out onto the surface of the moon. Head forward, following the path laid out by the markers.

• You’ll eventually reach a new area at the other side. Interact with the terminal and Initialize Airlock Sequence as before. In the next room, walk forward and enter the elevator. Press the button to go down.
• In the next area, there’s a Wireless Access Point where you can save your game. At the other side of the room is a door to the Main Wing. Go through here.
• Ahead is a body. Head right through Laboratory 01 and open the door.
• To your right is a tape player to play. Interact with the terminal (Kenneth’s Terminal), and read the emails and diary.
• Crawl through the hatch just to the right of the terminal, then head left. At the next junction, go right.
• In the next area, there’s a corridor to your right with a Wireless Access Point if you want to save and check your progress. At the end of the corridor, crawl under the gap.
• Go into the cafeteria area in the centre of this new area. On one of the tables, you’ll find an ID card for Maria Ivanov. The code is 9784.

• Just outside the cafeteria, you’ll find Maria’s Terminal. Input 9784 to access it. Look at her emails, then click ‘Exe’. When it’s done, press the X to close the window. That’s opened a door to your right.
• Go through the door. Move right and go through Laboratory 02. You’ll find Yan’s Terminal in here. Read the diary. There’s not much else in here, so leave and go right again through the door marked ‘Solace’. Follow the corridor down then take a left turn. You’ll find a breaker here. Turn on the Main Door Wing.
• Go back down the corridor you’ve just come up and near a seating area, you’ll find a small crawlspace. Enter it, and make your way through the corridors beyond here until you find another crawl space to exit. You’ll be in some kind of lab, and there’s a Wireless Access Point here to save your game.

• In this room you’ll find a note with information about creating a disinfectant for EL-9. Make sure you read all notes. We need a base, an active 01, an active 02 and a stabilizer.

• Once the mixture has been made, go back through the crawl space, make your way around the tunnel and come back out of the crawl space at the other side. Head right down a tunnel and go through the door here which will take you back to the area where we found the dead body. This leads to the main area where we started.
• From here, go through the door labelled ‘Main Control Lab’. This will activate a decontamination sequence. Once done, leave the chamber and enter the room.

• Just behind the desk you’ll find an ID code for a William Davis: 5615. There’s also a tape player on the desk to listen to.
• Leave the room and head right , then right again to make your way to Laboratory 01. Go through the crawl space. Leave the other end, pass through the water treatment facility and exit into the area with the canteen. At the other side, go down the narrow corridor and interact with the terminal: enter code 5615.
• This now opens a shutter to your right. Go through. Go down the ladder. Follow the corridor around, then go down a second ladder. Head down the tunnel, then turn right at the junction. Turn left, then go straight forward up a ramp. At the top, go left, then right, then left again. You’ll eventually reach a red room full of pipes.

• Turn the valve on the pipe by interacting with it.
• Make your way back out, and start making your way up the ladder. After the cutscene, keep making your way up. Leave the area, and you’ll be back in the canteen area.
• Go straight across and crawl under the door. There’s a Wireless Access Point if you want to save your game. Keep moving forward and you’ll find another ladder to climb down.
• At the bottom, make your way down the tunnel. Turn left into the wide tunnel, then take a right to go up another ladder. Keep moving forward until you reach a crawl space. Crouch under and you’ll be in a new room. There’s another Wireless Access Point here.
• There’s a desk with some notes to read and a tape player to listen to. There’s also a terminal: log in with 5615.
• Read the diary and look at the media. Click ‘Security’ when you’re ready, then shoot the screen with your gun to upgrade your security to Level 3.
• Go back the way you came and, once you’re back up the ladder, go through the crawl space to make your way back to the entrance area. Here, you can go back into the lift and make your way back up to the surface. Go through the airlock and make your way across the path on the moon.
• At the other entrance, go through the airlock system again.

Chapter 6: Legacy

• Go through the room with the table to reach the elevator and go down. You’re back in the Ward reception area. At the breaker box here, disable Lift Entrance and Door Commons 02 and turn on Prong 01.
• Go into the tree room and through Imaging 01 door. Go down the corridor to the left and access the breaker box at the far end. Turn on Echography and turn off Door Imaging 01. Go back the way you came, and the door to Echography is just to your left.

• In Echography, there’s a tape machine to play.
• Behind the divider at the other side of the room is a terminal screen, but we can’t do anything until the prongs are aligned.
• Leave the room and head right down the corridor. Go left at the bottom, and keep going to the breaker terminal. Here, enable Prong 02. Turn around and move straight ahead to reach Prong 02.
• Enter Prong 02 and use the arrow keys on the terminal to get Proximity to 100%. Leave the area, and head back to the reception area to find Prong 01.
• In Prong 01, use the + and – keys to increase the Clarity to 100%.
• Return to Prong 02, and now you can increase the Clarity here. Once it’s at 100%, go back to Prong 01, and use the + and – keys to increase the Proximity. Now they’re both at 100% for each, you can return to the Echography room.

• Use the terminal in Echography and press ‘Continue’. Once it’s gone through the process, you’ll be told to proceed to the Ripening and Induction Terminal.
• Leave Echography and turn right. Follow the corridor down to the end and turn right, and then left to go through a new door labelled ‘The Path’.
• Go down The Path and, at the junction, turn right. You’re now in a room with a large fan. Go right past the strange growths and through a doorway at the other side.
• You’ll now be in front of a screen that says ‘Ripening and Induction’. Press ‘Yes’ to Inject Amniotic Brine. After a short delay, you’ll get a message saying ‘The Canal is ready’.

• Time to head to the canal. Go back the way you came, and head to the tree. From here, go through the area where we first started with the server screen, and start making your way down the corridor to the Canal (the blue corridor).
• You’ll be interrupted by the alien – click the screen and it will watch it, allowing you to make your way down the narrow corridor, then left to the Canal.
• At the Canal, interact with the terminal to Initialize Airlock Sequence.

• Lead the airlock and make your way through a rocky area into the darkness. Keep moving forward. You’ll eventually reach a path leading down into a canyon. Take it.
• After a cutscene, you’ll find yourself in a blue area. Make your way forward to the orb.

That’s it – you’ve completed Routine and we hope you found our walkthrough helpful.