Routine headed to Steam next spring with survival horror and permadeath

Routine, an indie survival horror game built around permadeath, is headed to Steam via Project Greenlight, according to the game's Greenlight page.

The game's developer, Aaron Foster, began working on Routine by combining his interests in science fiction and film to set the tone, Edge Online reports. He also wanted to make the game more meaningful than "pressing the right buttons to trigger cutscenes," so he introduced permadeath as a way to make players' actions consequential.

"That's a good starting point for putting pressure on the player," he told Edge Online. "If a player comes to the game with typical FPS preconceptions and dies I hope the permanent death will make them sit back and question what they do."

According to the game's Greenlight page, Routine is set for release in March or April 2013 on PC and Mac. Its open world environment takes place on a moon base. The game offers no HUD, no health packs and multiple endings depending on the actions players take.

Foster earned a bachelor's degree in Game Design at the University of Central Lancashire, where he now teaches about "3D modeling and creative thinking." He graduated in 2008, worked for Eurocom and decided to become an independent developer.