ROUTINE story and ending, explained

Discovering that there’s life on the Moon comes with serious consequences, for getting trapped in its deadly ROUTINE will mark the end of your humanity.

ROUTINE essentially follows two crucial events of the Lunar Expedition. Slowly unravel the past to try and make sense of the present, embark on a terrifying journey and learn what happened to the disappearing crew. Here is our interpretation of ROUTINE.

Warning for spoilers throughout.

ROUTINE plot, summarized

Set on the Moon, we play as an unnamed software engineer who enters the Ward to fix the A.S.N. (Automated Security Network) systems. Our journey starts in Isolation Room 03, where we wake from a strange dream, as if something has tapped into our consciousness and is communicating with us—using our voice. The Union Plaza, home to the crew overseeing the Lunar Expedition, has mysteriously vanished. Your job is to figure out how to debug A.S.N. while navigating around a station that’s trying to kill you.

Timeline summary

• December 12, 1977 – The day Edith Stone disappeared on the PRISM Canal Expedition.
• August 29, 1978 – Mathieu Giraud was found in critical condition following his visit to the Canal.
• September 12, 1978 – Entity A is discovered inside the Arbor.
• March 19, 1979 – Entity B is found dead inside the Arbor. This marks the end of the original PRISM Canal Expedition.
• Unspecified, 1999 – Union Plaza employee, John Cooper finds Edith Stone’s body inside the Canal. He re-enters the Ward sick and infects the others. The software engineer (you) is tasked to fix A.S.N. after it activated the Containment and Resource Conservation Protocol.
• August 3, 2025 – An LCRP team enters the Ward to recover data associated with PRISM Canal Expedition. They find a pollen-like fungi inside, having escalated beyond the Canal, courtesy of the software engineer’s interference. The Moon is no longer habitable.

ROUTINE story, explained

Following a routine Lunar quake, John Cooper conducted a perimeter check to note any damage to the Moon’s surface and its fissures. Cooper investigated the Canal and discovered a body within its center, spouting vegetation, much like a blossoming flower. Even though he was wearing a space suit, Cooper was infected by the Canal. Strangest of all was how easily the infection spread across the crew. A.S.N. initiated the Containment and Resource Conservation Protocol after receiving Cooper’s perimeter check footage, causing a site-wide lockdown.

Here’s where we come in. The engineer enters the Ward, starting at the end of a seven-day isolation period, taking a tram to the Union Plaza. The crew has vanished, leaving only Type 05 units and the adorable iC robot. The protocol turned the androids into hyper-aggressive soldiers, following its new command to contain the infection. It’s heavily implied that the trash bags scattered around the Ward are the bodies of the crew, killed and stuffed inside to contain whatever latched onto Cooper.

Unsurprisingly, mechanical life was unaffected by the Canal. This immediately sets the classic sci-fi plotline that the leading threat of ROUTINE—and the only thing to worry about—is the rogue androids. We would soon learn that Union Plaza was doomed from the start because of what PRISM found years prior to ROUTINE‘s events, and it is probably the reason why A.S.N. sent androids to space.

When curiosity kills: What happened on the PRISM Lunar Expedition?

Edith Stone, Lead Geologist on the Lunar Expedition conducted a Canal Survey to collect samples and document her findings in 1977. The Canal Exploration Mission went wrong as Stone wandered into the heart of the Canal, where she never returned.

The crew remained on the Lunar Expedition, studying the Canal’s effects. Though they didn’t find Stone that year, the team sampled a new specimen in 1978—a substance that resembled mucus. This was proof of life on the Moon. By bringing the sample into the Arbor for testing, it latched onto the crew like a parasite. Those who came into contact with the Canal (e.g., Mathieu, Ken, and John) exhibited these symptoms:

• Day one – Headaches and eye strain.
• Day five – Insomnia.
• Day seven – Cognitive decline.
• Day 30 – Breathing difficulties.
• Day 45 – Dehydration.
• Day 60 – Death.
• Death 61 – Fungal growth on the body.

It is theorized that the Canal lures people into it to breed and feast, later birthing from the body like a plant sprouting from soil. The chapters in ROUTINE act as the Canal’s process of rebirth, combining humans with fungi. There’s also a connection with the apple tree inside the Arbor inside the original PRISM station, which displayed symptoms similar to those who entered the Canal.

The crew created a re-entry process for any personnel returning from the Canal to preserve the brain’s integrity and minimize the fungi’s psychological effects. This, however, seemed to suit the Canal’s needs more so than those infected by its mysterious properties. While fixing A.S.N. is the whole reason we were sent out here, our goal slowly shifts to aid whatever has killed all who came into contact with the Canal.

Infected from the start

Since the moment we started playing, we’ve been under the influence of the Canal. It’s clear that we were infected from the start because of our abstract visions. “Chapter 01 – Birth” may have started around the 50-day mark, as our protagonist suffered from memory loss. This would explain why Security sent only one engineer to fix A.S.N. I theorize we were a crewmember when Cooper discovered Stone’s body, as the date of ROUTINE‘s events is never confirmed.

The protagonist suffered from blackouts, evident by the dreams he’s been having, and how he wandered into the Arbor without realizing it (second half of ROUTINE), which he accessed by shutting down A.S.N. (the one thing trying to preserve humanity by sacrificing the infected).

We—like everyone who came before us—were controlled by the Canal. Our C.A.T. objectives weren’t orders from HQ Security, but rather created through our own delusions. As we were initially hired to debug and observe any anomalies within the A.S.N. system, turning it off only helped the fungus grow. This tells us that all biological life inside the Ward (since Cooper got infected) would become a host for the Canal, even if they never set foot inside it.

ROUTINE monster, explored

ROUTINE‘s monster, “Entity A,” can manipulate its form to be invisible to the naked eye. It appears to be the result of Canal’s 60-day process. With large footprints and hair found glued to the ceiling, its size is considerably larger than an adult man.

Another entity was discovered in 1979, inside the Arbor. Labelled “Entity B,” it resembled a large mammal with unnatural characteristics of ten limbs and a 120cm neck. Study suggests this entity is female and that a male mate exists, presumably Entity A. William became obsessed with Entity B, exhibiting signs of infection. His body seemingly morphed with Entity B, showing vegetation like Edith Stone’s corpse, the same fate as other PRISM crewmembers.

The fungus takes the voice of its host and uses it to communicate in their dreams, where the host loses chunks of time, finding themselves moving towards a goal they’re being tricked into completing. The theme of ROUTINE is rebirth; the chapter names describe the process an infected goes through to become a part of the Canal. The title even points to this process being the Canal’s “routine” in how it manifests, grows, and survives. It cannot thrive unless there’s biological life for it to latch onto.

The Canal takes hold of its host and kills them on the 60th day, where it is then born anew. While it isn’t explicitly said, the entities don’t simply come to be. Rather, they must be reborn as one, to endure together. Therefore, Entity B is likely Edith Stone. If correct, how did Cooper find her human body 22 years later? An explanation could be that her body acted as a vessel from which Entity B emerged. This would explain why the creature returned to Arbor, hoping to satiate its newfound hunger.

Though Entity B came before Entity A, the male was the Canal’s first successful attempt at creating a hybrid species. There’s also the interesting reference to Adam and Eve, where Entity B died by choking on an apple, and (though swapped) Entity B (female) may have birthed Entity A (male). The entities act as the first man and woman of their kind, demonstrating the Canal’s ability to create biological life through a human host.

What’s difficult is figuring out who exactly Entity A is. I doubt it’s something simple like Stone was pregnant at the time, so who is the baby we saw in a vision? There’s no documentation or record of a baby in the PRISM’s research. Either Entity A and the baby are one and the same, or they’re separate. This would either mean there were three entities inside the Ward in 1979, or more likely, that the baby came into existence in 1999. Entity A was fully grown in 1978, the same year Entity B died, yet the female was alive in the engineer’s vision.

ROUTINE ending, explained

After bringing down A.S.N., making it easier for the Canal’s embrace to spread, the engineer enters the fissure to become one with it. The process is complete, where we will be reborn like Edith Stone, evident by the final chapter title: “Re-Birth.” The engineer’s final dream is yet another reference to Adam and Eve—The Creation of Adam. The biblical reference paints the Canal as a cosmic being, who is creating its first man, perhaps viewing Entity A as a failure, where it hopes it’ll have better luck with the engineer.

Based on the engineer’s vision of Entity B and how ROUTINE ends, I believe (perhaps in my own delirium) that we were the baby. The fungus grew inside of us, assimilating with our biology until it was ready to be born anew. It had learnt a lot through Entity A and B, but the Canal wanted to evolve beyond its current primitive state.

The infection behaves similarly to the zombie-ant fungus, which uses its host’s body to find a suitable climate for the spore to release, killing its host once it sprouts from its head.

We can only assume that the Arbor has been off-limits from the Union Plaza, seeing as there are still human corpses, Entity B’s body, and Entity A roaming around. We gained access to Arbor by shutting down A.S.N., yet we’ve been in the Re-Entry Chamber before. We learn about this three-step process inside Arbor, created by Dr. Weber on February 19, 1979. Yet, our protagonist has seen the video of a Hollyhock in bloom before (the second part of Weber’s process called “Anchor.”) Either this imagery demonstrates the Canal as a hivemind, or it’s further proof that the protagonist is one of the entities, for the Anchor only temporarily delays the inevitable.

Because we’re playing as an unreliable narrator, there’s little information we can truly trust in ROUTINE. Perhaps none of our actions truly happened. There’s abstract imagery of the engineer reverting to gestation, curling into a fetal position, and emerging from the Ward’s core, its shape symbolic of an egg. The flicker of the engineer’s new appearance also resembles Entity A. Could this represent the Canal’s willingness to try again, until it’s happy with its creation?

The opening depicts the Hollyhock abruptly blooming, then the ending, its petals slowly closing, symbolizing our rebirth.