The Complex is a 2020 FMV game from Wales Interactive. Billed as an "interactive sci-fi thriller movie," it centers on Dr. Amy Tennant (Michelle Mylett), a young scientist in London. Amy must contend with a bioweapon attack perpetrated by an intern named Clare Mahek (Kim Adis), working alongside her former flame Rees Wakefield (Al Weaver) and the shady actions of her boss Nathalie Kensington (Kate Dickie). Every choice the player makes helps to determine whether Amy comes out of the situation alive and if her efforts to save lives are in vain or not.
Not to be confused with the webcomic of the same name.
This game contains examples of:
- The Bad Guy Wins: In the "Lab Rat" ending, Amy kills Emily (Nathalie's second-in-command) and is subsequently shot dead by security officers. A year later, Nathalie has been made a Dame and Rees is now a guinea pig for Kensington's utilization of the dangerous nanocells.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: It's strongly implied that Rees and Amy had a thing in the past, and Rees is clearly still into her despite their conflict. Depending on player choices, Amy can either genuinely hate him or reciprocate his affections.
- Bittersweet Ending: No matter what choice the player makes, even the best possible endings are not entirely happy. Either Rees or Clare sacrifices themselves, leaving Amy to expose Nathalie's dealings with the Kindharian government.
- Body Horror: The nanocells cause bleeding from the eyes and mutation of the skin.
- Deadpan Snarker: Clare makes a few wisecracks even while she is suffering from the effects of the nanocells.
- Defiant to the End: If she sacrifices herself, Clare goes down flipping off the troops of the dictator who killed her family before activating the heat-flash.
- Fanservice: Early on in the game, players get to see Rees in his underwear and Amy in her bra while they change into protective suits. Amy can choose to check out the goods.
- Fictional Country: Kindhar. It shares some similarities with North Korea as there is mention of a supreme leader and its natives are played by actors of East Asian descent. Unlike North Korea, however, it is said to be a former British colony.
- Foreshadowing: In the opening scene, Amy must choose between saving Dima (and her unborn child) and Talo. She cannot save them both, just as she is unable to save both Rees and Clare at the end of the game.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Supreme Leader Of Kindar, who never shows up but whose deal with Kensington starts the entire plot.
- Heroic Sacrifice: At the climax, either Rees or Clare must die to safely deactivate the security features and allow the other characters to escape.
- Interrupted Kiss: A particularly bleak version. If you get your relationship with Rees high enough, you can go for a kiss at the climax of the game before he sacrifices himself. It's interrupted when he starts vomiting blood
- Noble Top Enforcer: Subverted with Emily. For most of the game, she seems more compassionate and sympathetic then Kensington, and in the Rees ending you can attempt to appeal to her conscience. At which point she smugly tells you that she was fully aware of and complicit in Kensington's actions, and orders her goons to shoot you.
- Non-Standard Game Over: If the player starts a new game after finding at least one ending and chooses the ambulance option, the ambulance fills with poison gas and Amy dies. Thus, the game ends before Amy ever gets to the titular complex.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: At the start of the game, you're informed that there was only one copy of the miracle nanobots in existence. It turns out there were multiple backups, created without Amy's knowledge. Clare destroyed them all.
- Not Quite Dead: Dr. Malkin, the traitor, turns out to be merely unconscious. Fortunately, Amy and Rees throw him down a hole in the floor and solve that problem.
- Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: Justified. The irreplaceable nanocure is destroyed if its host dies, which is used as a bargaining chip in a number of endings.
- Time Skip: After the prologue, the game jumps five years to when the main action is set.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The game features a futuristic drone that functions as a helicopter and Britain is on the verge of putting a man on Mars.
- Video Game Caring Potential: If Amy is nice to Clare, Clare starts to trust her.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: If Amy is dismissive of Clare and her pain, Clare views her as an enemy. If Amy is not careful, the consequences for her can be deadly.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Dr. North is killed off shortly after Amy and Rees enter the underground lab and very little is revealed about her.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kensington is striving to create a miracle cure through her nanocells even if it means helping a brutal dictator kill rebel villages.
