The Complex, an interactive film a-la Bandersnatch released on gaming platforms this week is, it has to be said, a bit of a disappointment.
Combining mid-2000’s BBC production value with a sort of high-budget porn aesthetic, the finished product looks too much like an outdated television special or a Youtube RED miniseries to be called aesthetically pleasing, and its branching script leaves much to be desired.
The rough plot of the thing sees you, the viewer, put in the shoes of Amy (Michelle Mylett), some sort of scientist-cum-researcher-cum-PR-person who works at the ominously named Complex. After a foreign intern (Kim Adis, ostensibly from a made-up country called Kindar) of the company is quarantined in baffling, alarming circumstances, Amy must find out how high-tech nanoparticles found their way into her bloodstream. All the while, she must work with controversial colleague Rees (Al Weaver) and suspicious boss Kensington (Kate Dickie) to make sure the pathogen (because it’s now a pathogen and not ‘healing nanoparticles’) doesn’t get out into London.
Time and time again, I admit, I was confused by this thing. I was confused as to why the whole of planet earth automatically assumed there had been a terrorist attack because somebody threw up blood on the tube (note: I think the incidence of blood being thrown up on the tube is probably higher than you might think); I was confused as to the motivations of almost all the characters; I was confused by several practices of the titular Complex. The list of things which, to my mind, don’t make sense is too long for me to bother trying to elaborate on in this review – I worry that it’s not worth your time. But the long and short of it is this thing is filled with inconsistencies, logical gaps, and what?! moments all the more baffling for the facts that A) they were scripted by a writer on The Handmaid’s Tale, and B) that far more logical outcomes will be obvious to the viewer throughout.
Most disappointingly, though, is the way in which my in-game decisions didn’t seem to change much of the narrative. There were, it has to be said, one or two choices that felt genuinely hard – but most left a distinct impression of meaninglessness. In particular, two or three of the bigger choices I made caused another character to stop Amy from doing what I had just chosen to do, and forcing her down the path of the other option instead. Although there are allegedly 8 separate endings to find, at least 5 of them are fairly clear from my playthrough (i.e. just swap x person for y or kill x person instead of y).
Still, for what it’s worth, the overall package is slick and seamlessly designed – on my playthrough (on PS4) there were no lags and the experience felt cohesive. Michelle Mylett also gives a great performance in the lead role – this is doubly so in the knowledge that the personality of her character has to change based on what the audience chooses. Waver and Dickie are also convincing in their respective roles, giving The Complex a reasonable prestige sheen that should help to distance it from some other similar pieces of work. Kim Adis is unfortunately all over the place, dropping and switching accents and giving forced line delivery at every turn, although that could easily have something to do with the fact that she’s from a country that doesn’t exist and therefore doesn’t have an accent to cling on to.
Overall, this is a reasonably entertaining, passable diversion from the numbing monotony of quarantine. If you’re interested in seeing something interactive and you’ve already played through Bandersnatch, then there’s probably a lot worse you can do than The Complex, but I can’t see it being anything more than a minor distraction to while away the time in self-isolation.
Read our interview with director Paul Raschid here.
The Complex is available worldwide on PC, PS4, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch on 31st March.