Complete Horror Review

A disturbing underground nightmare with an intriguing mutation system, atmospheric environments, and survival mechanics that give this indie horror experience plenty of potential.

Complete Horror is an indie survival horror game that blends traditional horror elements with resource management, exploration, crafting, and an intriguing mutation system. The concept is cool, and it grabbed my attention right away. A small team of about 3 people developed it. It may not have the production values of bigger horror releases.

Still, it has genuinely interesting ideas, especially in how the virus changes your character and the decisions you make to stay alive. What makes Complete Horror interesting is that it’s not only about scary creatures springing out from dark corners. It also features a survival mechanism where your character’s physical health deteriorates as the infection spreads.

This adds another layer of uncertainty because getting infected can actually make you stronger, but letting that illness go too far can eventually become dangerous. I spent a good deal of time exploring the subterranean settings, meeting its creatures, and understanding its systems, and I felt the game had a solid foundation, though some areas need more polish.

The story opens with a news report about a global pandemic that has destroyed cities worldwide.

Humanity is on the verge of extinction until Dr. Kim discovers an antiviral serum that may save everyone. Governments begin rolling out the treatment, offering hope that the crisis may finally be drawing to a close. But it is not as simple as it first appears. You start in an apartment, where the protagonist wakes up and gets ready for work.

The intro shows you simple tasks, such as picking up clothes, dragging and dropping objects, and interacting with the environment. It's a standard start, but things get unsettling quickly. The protagonist wakes up on the railroad tracks at Lazarus Point station, not quite knowing what happened or how she got there after an unexpected meeting.

The story becomes even stranger once you enter the underground station. Strange messages, abandoned rooms, bodies, and proof that something dreadful has happened under the city. One of the most interesting sections is the prologue, where a mysterious voice warns that finding the exit doesn't necessarily mean leaving as the same person you arrived as. It also implies that anyone who wants to leave must give up a piece of themselves.

Once you understand the mutation mechanics, that warning becomes even more fascinating. It gives the illness a purpose beyond being just another disease that threatens humanity. The protagonist’s physical condition seems to change in step with what is happening within the station. The game also features Gus, a station maintenance worker who leaves a log entry outlining how the facility underneath is unusual and highly dangerous.

He asks whoever finds the message to help him find his daughter in exchange for showing them the route out. That adds another goal beyond just leaving, but the early play leaves many questions unresolved about the station, its residents, and the beasts that wander through its tunnels.

In Complete Horror, you explore beneath settings, collect materials, manage your health, and find strategies to survive progressively frightening encounters.

You will spend a lot of time investigating different chambers, searching containers, examining objects, and hunting for important resources that might help you progress. The initial apartment animation introduces a drag-and-drop inventory system. You can mess with clothes and other objects, even if some interactions feel a little clumsy at first.

You need to learn how things are lifted, moved about, and kitted out in the system. It works; however, I would have liked some of the exchanges handled more directly. Once you get to Lazarus Point, it’s much more about exploration. You find various resources, like empty casings and crafting ingredients, which you can use later to make ammo.

You can also find medical supplies to restore your health when things get dangerous. You’ll need keys to enter some rooms, which encourages you to explore your surroundings instead of rushing to the next objective. The game also has save places, which come in handy while exploring unknown areas. Finding these spots is somewhat comforting, because you know you can save your game before you dive farther into the perilous areas.

One mechanic I really like is the mutation mechanism. Your character starts with 74% human gene purity, and the infection is already at stage three. The game says mutation slowly rises over time and changes your character’s appearance and physical capabilities. But mutation is not all bad. As the virus spreads, you gain stronger melee attacks and faster movement.

This means having more infected can be a real advantage in battle. The issue is that if you let mutation run wild, you eventually lose health. This makes for a fascinating risk/reward dynamic. You have to ask yourself if the added strength and speed are worth the possible health implications. Environmental gadgets and potions can help control mutation. Some consumables can reduce mutation buildup and restore some health.

I like the notion because it gives you one more resource to manage, rather than making every survival decision about ammunition and medical supplies. This also ties into the narrative’s idea that you must leave some part of yourself behind to escape the station.

Combat is also a big feature of Complete Horror, but it takes some time to get your head around how it all works. The game has both combat and gunplay, and keeping an eye on your ammo is essential to survive the animals that wander the station. You can loot empty casings and crafting materials, which suggests ammo crafting is a huge part of keeping your ammo up, rather than relying completely on what you find.

 The game doesn't make every encounter feel like something you should battle right away.

Sometimes it is best to escape danger and choose another route, especially when you are low on health or your resources are running out. The mutation mechanic also adds another layer to combat, as more infection can improve your melee strength and movement speed. So you have to consider how much mutation you are willing to endure before it becomes too risky because of its negative impacts.

Some great moments come from the enemies themselves. At the beginning, you come across something big moving through the underground passageways, and the discovery of bodies suggests that whatever happened here was far worse than a mere station accident. Several terrifying encounters with animals make the protagonist run and question whether the fight is worth the risk.

Chapter 5, in particular, shows how severe these encounters are. You can hear the protagonist fighting, shouting, and reacting to the hazards around her. Eventually, the situation becomes overwhelming enough that it seems prudent to return to the reception area to regroup. It’s a solid survival tactic; however, the fighting system needs clearer feedback and more rewarding enemy reactions.

The environmental puzzles and progression goals also encourage exploration.

Moving through Lazarus Point involves finding keys, finding pathways, studying messages, and finding the elevator. That said, the problem-solving itself doesn’t seem to have a strong impact on the gameplay presented. I would have liked more memorable puzzles that actually demand you look around, instead of just looking for the next suitable object.

It’s worth noting that the gameplay presented doesn’t build a traditional experience-point system or character-leveling framework. Instead, the mutation mechanic seems to be the main development element that affects your physical abilities.

As your illness progresses, you get stronger in some areas, namely melee damage and movement speed. This provides you with a reason to try mutation instead of trying to get rid of it immediately. But the health penalty for reaching maximal mutation precludes this mechanic from being a simple upgrade. Collecting resources helps you develop overall.

Collecting crafting materials, ammo parts, medical supplies, and other valuable items keeps you prepared for the dangers ahead. It’s a simple mechanic, but it works well for the survival-horror setting.

The lighting also helps create the mood.

Exploration feels uncomfortable because of dark hallways and poorly lit areas, and you’ll definitely feel uneasy when you hear something moving nearby but can’t pinpoint it. Another amusing feature is the nuclear-powered lantern, although the protagonist's description of it as a portable Chornobyl is perhaps inadvertently comical.

More erratic character presentation. The protagonist has several obvious visual defects, such as her oddly spiky haircut, which may be distracting during gameplay. Some character animations and interactions could use a bit more refinement, too. Overall, the environmental presentation is respectable, and the creature designs do a good job of establishing the infection's unpleasant nature.

There’s potential here, but I’d like to see greater consistency across character models, motions, and environmental features. The underground areas are already solid, and adding small visual details would make the experience feel much more realistic. The sound design is a key element of Complete Horror's ambiance. Strange noises come from the underground station, along with distant movement, heavy breathing, and the occasional scream. It makes the area feel much riskier to explore.

The voice in the opening prologue is effective and mysterious, asking questions without immediately revealing what is going on. It warns you about the sleeping master and the potential of losing a part of yourself. This scary beginning makes you curious about what happens next. The protagonist's reactions also help the creature encounters. Her gasps and screams remind you how frightening these circumstances are, even when the beasts themselves aren't always apparent.

The background music builds tension for the most severe passages, especially when the protagonist is fighting for survival.

That said, the audio presentation could be more consistent. A few interactions don’t feel as impactful as they could, and the overall soundscape could benefit from more variation. Better directional audio would also help you pinpoint incoming threats and make encounters scarier.

Though the sound design does a good job of keeping the game’s horror mood intact, the cryptic audio cues are among the game's most memorable features. Complete Horror is a fascinating indie survival horror experience with several promising ideas, though the execution is a little inconsistent overall. What got me was the underground environment, but the mutation system was the mechanism I was most interested in studying. The idea of becoming physically stronger as an infection advances, while simultaneously putting your health in jeopardy, adds a fun twist to the survival experience.

I also like the environmental storytelling. Lazarus Point has an air about it. It’s seen some dark times; you can tell. The odd messages, the corpses, the strange creatures- they all beckon you to investigate rather than simply turn tail and run for the next exit. Gus’ introduction and his urge to find his daughter also present another narrative strand worth studying.

However, the game has a few flaws that prevent it from reaching its full potential. The controls can be a little perplexing, inventory interactions aren't always straightforward, and some interface elements could use a bit more polish. Combat also needs more satisfying feedback, and the puzzles could be more memorable challenges.

The later stages of the game show that the survival experience can get stressful, especially when you face several perils and need to escape and recover.

Unfortunately, the encounters you can access don’t often give you enough context to realize how deep the combat and progression systems go. Complete Horror has a decent chunk of ambition behind it, especially for a small company. It features an interesting setting, a promising main mechanic, and an atmosphere that still feels genuinely uncomfortable at times.

I’d like to see the devs keep refining the controls, animations, enemy encounters, and overall presentation, because there’s something here to expand on. Ultimately, Complete Horror is hardly the end-all, be-all of survival horror experiences. Still, it offers just enough fascinating features to make it worth a look if you're a fan of underground horror adventures with resource management and quirky character advancement.