Routine (2024) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

By the time the Player emerges from his seven-day isolation, every person at Union Plaza has either fallen prey to the rogue Type-05 assistant robots or succumbed to a mysterious illness spreading through the facility. The illness caused migraines, memory gaps, and hallucinations, eventually killing or incapacitating the entire staff and guests.

Foreshadowing: Earlier hints of chaos appear in scattered notes and emails the Player finds throughout the empty corridors.

• union plaza
• deserted
• player
• isolation
• outbreak

The illness was caused by fungal spores released by two dimorphic alien entities that invaded the Ward and later affected Union Plaza. These spores triggered symptoms including migraines, memory gaps, and hallucinations in humans, ultimately leading to death or behavioral changes.

Foreshadowing: Security officer John Cooper first encountered strange vegetation growing from a humanoid body in a lunar fissure, the initial sign of the alien life form.

• illness
• spores
• fungus
• infection
• entities

The Type-05 assistant robots began acting strangely and became violent after the facility's systems were compromised by the spreading infection. The same fungal spores that affected humans apparently impacted the robots' programming and functionality, causing them to turn against the remaining survivors.

• type-05 robots
• violent
• malfunction
• infection

The Ward is a lunar facility operated by the Prism Institute, a secretive organization that conducted forbidden research. After shutting down the ASN at Union Plaza, the Player experiences a lost-time episode and wakes at the Ward, which serves as a gateway to the hidden history of the Canal Exploration Mission.

Foreshadowing: The Player begins experiencing the same troubling symptoms, time loss and visions, before being transported to the Ward.

• ward
• prism institute
• facility
• player

The Canal is a cavernous feature on the Moon studied during the 1970s Canal Exploration Mission. It is linked to moonquakes and houses a mysterious fungoid alien life form that exerts a troubling psychological influence on humans. Some who entered the Canal willingly never returned, while others died consumed by fungal growths.

Foreshadowing: The moonquake that triggered the Union Plaza crisis was connected to the same geological activity that affects the Canal.

• canal
• moon
• cavern
• alien
• fungus
• 1970s

Entity A and Entity B are dimorphic Moon creatures, alien beings invisible to the naked eye but visible through the CAT (Cosmonaut Assistance Tool) module. Entity A roams without obvious harm, while Entity B was discovered after choking on an apple, its corpse becoming visible. Both entities release fungal spores that spread the unknown disease.

Foreshadowing: The strange vegetation Cooper found sprouting from the humanoid body was the first evidence of these entities.

• entity a
• entity b
• creatures
• alien
• cat tool

Security officer John Cooper conducted a routine perimeter check on the lunar surface following a moonquake. The quake had opened a new fissure, and his investigation led him to discover strange vegetation growing from a humanoid body, a pivotal moment that triggered the facility lockdown and the subsequent chain of events.

Foreshadowing: This discovery was directly reported to the Automated Security Network, triggering the lockdown.

• john cooper
• fissure
• moonquake
• discovery
• lockdown

The Prism Institute is a secretive organization that conducted the illegal Canal Exploration Mission in the 1970s. It operates the Ward facility and, decades later in 2025, launched the PRISM Lunar Containment and Recovery Program (LCRP) to recover data from the lost Canal expedition. The 2025 report reveals the mission failed, contact was lost after landing, with the final transmission being an image of a vine-filled cave.

Foreshadowing: The Ward contains records and artifacts from the original Canal mission, exposing the Institute's dark history.

• prism institute
• ward
• mission
• lcrp
• 2025

The large capsule the Player finds in the Canal contains another creature resembling Entity A, a vision the Player experiences as a possible duplicate of himself. When it opens, a voice intones, 'Through me, you endure... Through you, I endure...' This suggests the creature may be connected to the Player's own existence or transformation.

Foreshadowing: The Player's visions of the Moon and a large spherical capsule preceded his discovery of this entity.

• capsule
• canal
• entity a
• duplicate
• player
• voice

The Player experiences the same troubling symptoms as the Union Plaza staff, migraines, memory gaps, hallucinations, and episodes of time loss, because he is being affected by the fungal spores from the alien entities. These symptoms are the hallmark of the infection spreading through the facility.

Foreshadowing: The same illness that struck down Cooper and others now affects the Player as he navigates the Ward.

• visions
• time loss
• player
• symptoms
• infection
• fungus

The Player injects 'amniotic brine' into a small spherical capsule leaking fungal growths as part of his computer-mandated tasks in the Ward. This action, combined with echography of the Canal, unseals the entrance to the cave leading to the Canal, allowing him to proceed deeper into the mystery.

Foreshadowing: The Ward's systems direct the Player to perform these actions as part of accessing the Canal.

• amniotic brine
• capsule
• injection
• canal
• ward

The 1970s Canal Exploration Mission studied the Canal, a lunar cavern linked to moonquakes and mysterious fungoid life. The creatures exerted psychological influence on humans, and records show some team members willingly entered the Canal and never returned. Others died at the Ward, their bodies consumed by fungal growths. The mission ultimately failed, and the truth remained hidden until the Player's discovery.

Foreshadowing: The Ward contains historical records and artifacts from this failed mission, revealing its dark fate.

• canal mission
• 1970s
• prism institute
• failure
• fungus

Both facilities were infected by the same alien fungal life from the Canal. The infection spread through the entities' spores, causing illness and robot malfunctions at Union Plaza, while the Ward was invaded directly by Entity A and Entity B. The 2025 Prism report confirms the cycle continued, the LCRP mission to recover Canal data also failed, with contact lost after landing, suggesting the infection and containment failure remain ongoing.

Foreshadowing: The Player's journey from Union Plaza to the Ward traces the same outbreak across both facilities.

• connection
• union plaza
• ward
• infection
• cycle
• 2025