The Dark Complex

Almost a year ago, Jonathan May of Wooly Thinking released on the Web a fantastic puzzle game called The Dark Room. It featured a 3-dimensional square room from which the player had to escape by solving puzzles, one for each of the primary and secondary colors, plus white. It was an instant hit and it remains one of my all-time favorite Flash games, ever.

Well, he’s done it again!

The Dark Complex significantly builds on the ground laid by the first one, featuring 27 rooms and as many new puzzles to solve.

The interface and controls are exactly the same as before. Use the mouse to tilt and rotate the camera in order to view the entire room. Moving the mouse cursor to the right side of the game window will cause the camera to rotate (yaw) to the right; moving the cursor to the left will cause the camera to rotate left. The camera will tilt (pitch) upward when the cursor is moved to the top portion of the game window and, likewise, will tilt downward when moving the cursor to the bottom portion of the window. To stop camera movement, position the cursor within the center of the game window.

Once you’re familiar with navigating the camera, all that’s left to do is figure out what to do next. As with most puzzle games, logic and a keen sense of pattern recognition are your friends. Use them wisely. Draw a map if you must, as there are many rooms to find, but beware: you just may find yourself inside a virtual Rubik’s cube.

Analysis: This game, like the first one, is gorgeous. Jon successfully combines very dark grey, brushed steel backgrounds with brightly colored highlights that appear as LEDs in the dark. The effect is stunning. The high-tech gadetry together with a moody soundtrack and synchronized heavy machinery sound effects set the atmosphere for an immersive high-tech puzzle adventure that will have you mesmerized for days. An automatic save feature allows you to continue where you left off should your game be interrupted for any reason. Very nice.