Back in 2018, I wrote a review for the interactive movie ‘Late Shift‘, well guess what! There is another interactive movie out on Steam, PS4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. It was published by Wales Interactive, the same studio behind such games as Moonfall Ultimate, Typoman, and The Bunker. Now they returned to the interactive movie genre, with a bio-chemical thriller which feels a lot like Corona-gone-wrong. Enter The Complex.
The Complex is an interactive sci-fi thriller, which you can compare to the books of Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Prey, Timeline, and Nano). After a significant bio-weapon attack on London, two scientists find themselves in a locked-down laboratory with time, and air, running out. With choose-your-own-adventure style gameplay, your actions and your relationship with other characters will lead you to one of eight suspenseful endings. Having treated the victims of a chemical attack in the totalitarian state of Kindar, Dr. Amy Tenant is a leader in the advancement of Nano cell Technology. Now, in London, news breaks of a blood-vomiting civilian whose identity is far from coincidental. Reunited with an old friend, Amy is trapped in an impenetrable HQ of laboratories—a womb of scientific advancement with a dangerous secret.
Storywriting:
The Complex is written by Lynn Renee Maxcy, part of the Emmy award-winning writing team from The Handmaid’s Tale. The interactive movie stars Michelle Mylett (Letterkenny, Bad Blood), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones, The Witch), and Al Weaver (Grantchester). Actors also include Twitch streamer and former Xbox UK presenter, Leah Viathan. And the storyline is compelling. I like sci-fi ethical dilemma’s, with a hint of dystopian futures. Aldous Huxley already mentioned the use of substances in A Brave New World, George Orwell described a totalitarian state close to Kindar. And it’s probably not a coincidence that Kindar means hateful (or something close) in Turkish since the supreme leader does not has it in for the well-being of his country residents.
Relationship Tracking
Something I liked about the setting of the game was the relationship & personality tracking. Throughout the Complex, you will interact with characters and — depending on your choices — will either strengthen or weaken your relationship. The relationship scores are calculated from the start right through to the very end and will affect specific scenarios as well as having significant consequences in the concluding scenes. The same goes for every decision you make; every interaction, your character’s personality is being tracked. At the end of each playthrough, you are rewarded with a Personality Score and a breakdown to see how you played the game. Discover the five fundamental dimensions of a personality; openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Which of those will your character play? Without spoiling too much, my wife and I ended up with the Altruistic-score, which means showing a wish to help or bring advantages to others, even if it results in a disadvantage for yourself.
Features:
The game offers a lot, so let’s give you a quick rundown:
- Multi-optional storytelling with eight different outcomes.
- Real-time Relationship Status Tracking that influences the story as you play.
- Real-time Personality Trait Tracking that evolves based on your choices.
- Unlockable features include Skip Scene, Personality Assessment, and a Hidden Event.
- They are featuring a Pause Choices option for improved audience participation during live stream (could work over Twitch of Mixer).
Conclusion:
The Complex is a better attempt at creating an interactive movie than Late Shift (storywise), but still has the same problem. When you watch a video, you want to enjoy it. I had to turn on the pause-option to read the text options that were given (tiny font). Instead of enjoying the flow of the movie, I had to re-read the possibilities. This threw me off a few times, which resulted in my wife asking ‘what just happened’. Overall, the replayability of this movie is zero to none in my case. I did the same with Late Shift and ended up getting bored after the third time running through the film (even with the skippable options). But if you are in the market for a fresh movie-setting about nanobots gone rough, The Complex is right up your alley.
