The Complex

Once The Complex enters full-on thriller mode, this compelling choice-driven tale of a trapped scientist facing terrorists and moral decisions doesn’t let up and even provides enough prompting and interesting options to weather multiple plays.

Those who want more involvement than occasionally making a choice from two or three options won’t suddenly get over their frustrations with the nature of what’s essentially a visual novel, but for people who want to enjoy a good slightly sci-fi thriller, I’d really recommend this. I’ve really enjoyed it.

While waiting for the game, I didn’t realise how close to home it will hit. Lockdown here, lockdown there. I like immersion but this is too much. Fun experience though. [06/2020, p.72]

The Complex isn’t as much much a game as it is a movie with some interactive elements. As such, it is well-told and delivers some thrills. However, the decisions one makes don’t have a lot of impact on the overall story. Because of that, repeated playing (or viewing) becomes boring really soon.

Releasing a “viral pandemic” game in this timeframe would normally be an instant success. But the good sets and a very solid camera work are not enough to hide neither the very poor acting of most characters, nor the disappointingly shallow and lackluster choices of this title. A release straight to Netflix would probably work better, both for the game and for the investment from the side of the player.

The Complex can be enjoyed as a decent B movie, with its poorly written plot and cheap visual effects. The actors do their job though and there is real replay value, since the choices made through the game have real consequences on the conclusion, with nine different endings to achieve.

The Complex's potential gets lost amid weird subplots, throwaway characters, and a ton of plot holes. With so few meaningful choices, it's not an experience worth repeating more than once.

A polished but disappointingly by-the-numbers FMV adventure that won't linger in your mind for long.

The Complex is an interesting experiment that sometimes yields the fruits of its labor. More often, though, it reveals precisely why developers stopped using live-action video as a means to tell an interactive story. With a minuscule budget and equally small ambitions for its narrative and characters, The Complex just doesn’t replace the gaping whole that TellTale left behind. I don’t want to discourage Wales Interactive from continuing down this path, however. While it didn’t shine often, there were glimpses of a world in which this can work and work beautifully. I just hope they can secure the funding necessary to achieve their ambition.

The Complex is hardly a game, but rather a bunch of videos glued together with a shallow story. It would be unfair to compare it to true interactive movies like Telling Lies or Detroit: Being Human.

The Complex has some good ideas and solid acting, but for an interactive movie, there's not enough going on here that makes it more worthwhile than just watching something on Netflix.

Thanks to some poor performances and a serious lack of meaningful player choice, it's not a complex decision whether you should check this one out or not.