It broke sales records for Xbox Live Arcade titles, selling over 200,000 units within the first week of release and as of year-end 2011, has sold over 600,000 copies.

When the player starts a new game, they will lose all the weapons and items that they have acquired, but will keep the character's experience level and any benefits they have already received.

In addition to the main campaign, a number of challenge levels called "Proving Grounds" are available, generally requiring the player to make it to the exit of a room using a limited set of items and health.

Both have heard discussion among the soldiers about their group, the Progressive Restoration, which appears to be ready to launch attacks across the United States.

Jason escorts Claire to the entrance to allow her to contact authorities, while he uses stolen high-tech devices to further infiltrate the complex and learn more.

Lucius further reveals that they have already assassinated the Vice President of the United States, and are planning to launch an airship to attack San Francisco, California.

The story is continued in the novel Empire, in which the President of the United States is dead and the civil war is about to start.

After working on tightening the feel of the player's movement controls with the simplistic map, they began prototyping the rest of the game.

Mustard noted that many players in the Metroid games would "bomb every square" to discover secret areas, but this would not translate to Shadow Complex.

Instead, they relied on the use of lighting to focus the player's attention on certain areas, and created the flashlight tool in the game in order to highlight such secrets when illuminated.

This included the incorporation of weapon aiming through the right thumbstick and other tactical elements such as firing from cover from games such as Gears of War.

Thus, the development team chose to use minimal dialogue, aiming to allow the story to be pushed forward through the setting and design of the game.

[7] As Mustard and others at Chair had worked with Orson Scott Card during the development of Advent Rising, they approached him for feedback on the story they had been considering for the game.

Card offered the idea of a faction of the United States that wanted to create a more imperialistic government, which fit well with Chair's initial concept.

Once Chair was ready to begin work on Shadow Complex, they approached comic book writer Peter David to create the backstory for the game that would run parallel to the events in Card's novel.

[4] Shadow Complex has been met with positive reviews and has been nominated for or received several Game of the Year, E3, and Editor's Choice Awards.

[21] Ars Technica gave it the verdict "Buy", stating that Shadow Complex "may be one of the best games of the season" and that it "is a must-play for those looking for a classic twist on a fresh challenge.

"[25] Giant Bomb's Jeff Gerstmann has given the game 5 stars out of 5, writing "the quality of Shadow Complex makes it well worth its $15 price tag.

[38] Shortly before the game's release, some activists considered calling for a boycott of Shadow Complex due to Orson Scott Card's views on homosexuality.

Around mid-2010, about eight to nine months after the release of Shadow Complex and into the development of its sequel,[7] Apple was preparing to announce the iPhone 4 which they said would offer enough processor power to run games using a 3D engine.

[41] During this time, Mustard stated that they were stockpiling ideas for the Shadow Complex sequel after they completed Infinity Blade.

[41] During 2015 as Spyjinx's development continued, Mustard recognized that Chair had grown large and mature enough to handle a second project.

[44] Chair included keyboard and mouse controls for personal computer users and added in new melee takedown maneuvers, as these were already developed for the anticipated sequel.

[48][49] A physical printing of the remaster was made by Limited Run Games with 7,500 copies being produced for the PlayStation 4, and was released on the distributor's website on August 19, 2016.